Many people think that recruiters or freelance clients see headlines, banners, and profile pictures on LinkedIn. While these elements remain on the preference list of hiring managers, there is another essential thing that they look into in a candidate’s profile. Here, we are talking about a LinkedIn summary, which can easily be found at the top of your profile.
Just like optimizing other things on LinkedIn, creating a well-optimized summary is also important. Wondering why? Let’s discuss it in detail. Apart from that, let’s learn how you can write a compelling LinkedIn summary to impress recruiters at first glance. Are you excited to know the key strategies to stand out on this professional platform? Let’s roll.
Why Should You Have a Strong LinkedIn Summary?
Recruiters don’t visit your profile to see your picture or banner design. Instead, they come with a clear objective: assessing your capabilities for the vacant position they have. While your resume serves a key role in this regard, your LinkedIn summary builds the base for your compelling impression.
It helps the hiring manager know
- Who you are.
- What you do.
- From how long you do.
- What makes you different?
- What value do you bring?
- What you aim for.
- What you are good at.
- How’s your personality?
A strong summary provides a clear view about all these things and helps the recruiter reach a decision. When you mention your job titles, skills, personality, and goals accurately, it creates a memorable impression in the hiring person’s mind, which brings them back to you.
Key Strategies To Writer a Compelling LinkedIn Summary
Here are some key practices that enable you to write a standout LinkedIn summary:
Start With a Compelling Opening Line
The opening of your summary must be attention-grabbing. So, instead of starting with a generic line like “I am a professional video editor,” begin with a hook. This is your first opportunity to stand out from others who haven’t bothered to customize their summary’s opening section.
Your first line could be a bold statement, a question, or a powerful fact. For instance, it may start with the line, “Helped 30+ experts build their personal brands—Want to be one of them?” This is just one example. Spend sufficient time brainstorming such hooks or exploring other summaries to come up with the right one for yours.
Follow Up With Your Professional Story
Recruiters connect with stories. They find it engaging to learn about how you started and how you achieved the position you are now in. So, after the opening, explain your professional journey briefly in the form of an interactive story. But remember, your explanations must be realistic, not imaginative.
One important thing to keep in mind is to be authentic when stating previous work. The job titles, key responsibilities, and years should perfectly match the details written in the dedicated professional experience section. Another thing to remember is to not lengthen your story unnecessarily. Instead, try to sum up things in the fewest words.
Highlight Key Skills and Achievements
After you share your story, move on to your skills and achievements. This is the part where you can demonstrate your abilities effectively. Backing up your experience with your relevant traits and capabilities builds a stronger impression. It signals to the hiring managers what you have done and what you are capable of doing.
When listing your skills and achievements, be specific and to the point. Don’t mention generic or irrelevant things. Instead, prefer those that suit your professional image the most. Apart from that, use numbers with your achievements to help the recruiters gauge your capacity properly.
Give a Peek Into Your True Personality
Remember, a standout LinkedIn summary is not just focused on work. Instead, it provides the profile viewers a glimpse into your real personality. Please don’t make your summary robotic by stuffing it entirely with work-related things. Instead, along with sounding professional, you should sound human.
Openly say what you like outside of your work. Mention your key hobbies and interests. Let your creative side shine through your summary. This helps the hiring managers understand whether you will be able to adopt their work environment and company culture or not.
Incorporate Relevant Keywords Naturally
Everyone wants their profile to get noticed in relevant searches. However, only a few know the secret. One thing that many people are unaware of is using the right keywords in the profile summary. The more relevant you use the search terms according to your industry, the higher the chance of your account appearing in relevant searches.
So, don’t forget to incorporate appropriate search terms in your summary. However, remember to avoid stuffing your summary excessively with the keywords. Instead, choose two or three top ones and use them naturally in your content.
End With a Clear & Concise Call To Action
Just like the opening of your summary, the ending should also be compelling. A great way to end is to write a clear call to action to enable the profile visitors to take your desired action. So, instead of leaving the recruiters unclear about what to do next, guide them using action statements.
A simple and friendly CTA like “Feel free to drop a message if you’d want to discuss an exciting opportunity” works well. You can further keep it short. However, make sure that the action you want to drive is complete and clear.
Cut The Fluff to Remove Wordiness
Once you have completed your LinkedIn summary, it’s time to cut the fluff. While writing, you may have used extra wording that needs to be eliminated. So, review your summary from start to end and identify things that can be removed or further shortened. If you think your summary has exceeded the ideal length (2000 characters), use summarizing techniques to shorten it.
For best results, you can use an AI-powered summarizer. With its assistance, you can not only achieve the desired length but also ensure that the quality of the summary is not compromised.
This approach enables you to reduce wordiness while keeping your summarized text ready to impress recruiters.
Wrapping It Up
After going through this guide, it should be clear to you why you need a standout LinkedIn summary and how to create one. Now that you know all the key ingredients and strategies, apply them practically to make your profile more appealing and persuasive than others.