The Best LinkedIn Profile for a Working Professional
- Build You Marketing
- Apr 10
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 16
As a working professional, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools to enhance your career, increase your earning potential, and stand out at your existing company.
Part of that magic, even if you're not posting, is enhancing your LinkedIn profile! LinkedIn is so important, that 72% of recruiters use LinkedIn when hiring new talent1. That means ~7 out of 10 recruiters will view your profile in the hiring process.
Basically, your LinkedIn profile is the visual version of your resume.
Alright, so now that you're convinced updating your LinkedIn profile is important, we will teach you how to optimize each section of your LinkedIn profile to capture the most career opportunities for you.
Best LinkedIn Profile for a Working Professional
Headshot, Banner & Title
Most people do NOT scroll past your profile header section. That's why it is SO important to make this section perfect.
When you like, comment or share a post the first thing people will see in their feed is your profile photo; therefore, we will start there!
The Best LinkedIn Profile Photo for Working Professionals:
1. See your face clearly
You have to ensure that people in your network know it is you! Grab your camera (or a friend with one), find some fantastic lighting (light in front of you) and snap a headshot photo. Make sure to wear professional attire and smile!
2. Shoulder Length Headshot
Ensure your headshot is zoomed-in to a shoulder length height. Any headshot that is too zoomed out will make it hard for people to see your face and recognize you. Plus, you come off less experienced. It's a low effort update that shows a lot about the professional knowledge someone has.
3. Clean Background
Use a solid color background on your LinkedIn headshot, so that your headshot "pops" more. A lighter background is preferred as it will help you stand out more and the design is nicer when someone is using the dark mode version of LinkedIn.
Banner:
There are 2 LinkedIn banner options that we recommend working professionals choose from.
LinkedIn Banner Dimensions: 1584 x 396 pixels
Show off your Company
Showing off your company in your LinkedIn banner not only shows that you're a loyal team member, but it could spark opportunities to drive new business for your company. This not only can increase your job security (you're driving more revenue for your firm), but your company may have commission opportunities for introducing new prospects.
1. Logo on the Right
Position your company's logo on the right side of your banner as this allows people to see it clearly on mobile. If you place your logo in the middle, it will look completely fine on LinkedIn's desktop version, but it will be covered by your headshot on LinkedIn mobile.
2. Contrasting Background
You want your banner background to be a contrasting color to your headshot background as it is easier on the eyes of a viewer. For example, if the background of your headshot is white, you will want a dark background for your LinkedIn banner.
Focus More on You
If you're job searching or simply do not prefer to have your banner focused on your company, no problem! We get it.
1. Show off your Interests
You may already know this, but adding your 'interests' outside of work is a GREAT thing to tack onto your resume as it creates opportunities of connection outside of the workplace to connect with people on (i.e. recruiters).
For example, if you love skiing, we recommend making your LinkedIn banner show off white, snowy mountain tops. If someone comes across your profile and they're also interested in skiing, they are more likely to reach out or bring it up in conversation when you meet them.
Profile Title:
Your LinkedIn profile title is the second part of your profile that people see on your LinkedIn profile (headshot is #1).
1. Short & Sweet
If you're a working professional, people will care most about what your position is and at what company, so we recommend that you make your title get right to the point of what you do.
i.e. Website Designer at Fire Agency
Not only does this build awareness for your company's name, but it shows recruiters, customers and executives what you're responsible for and your areas of expertise.
About Section
The LinkedIn about section is a fantastic opportunity to share more information about yourself with profile viewers and improve your profile's LinkedIn Search Engine Optimization.
About:
1. Start with 'Why'
Begin your about section with 1 sentence about 'why' you do what you do. People care more about what drives rather than 'what you do' when considering collaboration. You want to show people that you're working in a field that you're passionate about, so starting with your 'why' improves people's perception of you.
2. End with 'What'
Now that you've established your "why" in the sentence before, now is your chance to tell people who you're making that come to life. Use 1 sentence that sums up exactly what you do, so that a 5th grader can understand it.
3. Keep it Short
Remember, people do not care as much about you as you may think. Your goal should be to have people quickly associate who you are with your area of expertise. Hence, keeping it 2-3 sentences MAXIMUM will allow profile viewers to scan your profile and still capture the most important information about you. Nobody wants to read a 10 paragraphs (or 1 for that matter). Be concise and get your point across.
Top Skills:
Top skills are the perfect spot to share your unique value proposition! List of 3-5 of your top skills to feature on your profile. This helps with your LinkedIn SEO as your LinkedIn profile is more likely to appear in the search tab by doing this.
1. Make them Industry Related
In you're website designer for example, then all 5 of those skills should encompass some part of your hard skills.
i.e. Website Design, Graphic Design, Web Animation, Search Engine Optimization, & Python
This shows that you have the actual skills to complete the tasks that your role requires.
2. Think about Thought Leadership
What categories do you want to be known as an expert in? Brainstorming those skills / activities can help you decide what skills you want to add to your LinkedIn about section.
Common LinkedIn Skills Mistakes
We often see a lot of working professionals have skills such as "organization, leadership, Microsoft excel, etc."
While of course these are needed skills to be successful in your role, they go for most roles no matter what you're working in. That said, we recommend your keep these off of your LinkedIn profile and focus on more role/industry relevant skills.
Featured Section
When people scan your profile, the featured section plays a big role in increasing your credibility. You can link articles, media or other items that build your professional ethos.
1. Press Pieces
Prioritize featuring any sort of media coverage you have received. Press features and articles are one of the largest drivers of trust. If Entrepreneur Magazine trusts you enough to feature you, that helps a potential customer trust you too. This also shows that people CARE about what you do. It's basic social proof and credibility.
If you do not have any press pieces, you can nominate yourself to be featured in Bold Journey or CanvasRebel Magazine. Once you submit your own nomination, within 2 weeks, they reach out to you with a written interview. From there, they will draft an article all about you that you can show off on your LinkedIn profile.
2. Media
Another great option to show off in your LinkedIn featured section is any other sort of media that relates to you. For example, if you completed a large project for a client, you can add the link to that to show off your work.
3. Draft your own reflections
Use website such as Medium to write your own articles about projects or experiences you've been through to add to the featured section. This way, if people are curious, they can click the link to learn more about projects you've worked on that relate to your career.
4. Lead Magnets
Lastly, if your company has any free resources that they provide to potential customers as ways to collect their email or drive more business, you can add those to your LinkedIn profile to generate some new business opportunities.
Experience
The LinkedIn experience section is the another area where you want to write about 'what' you do in your role and the impact you have to reinforce what you want people to know you by.
1. Role Name
Let people know your role within the company. This way, profile viewers understand if you're the right person to reach out to for an opportunity.
2. Role Description
Do NOT add 3 bullet points about 'what' you do at the company. First off, everyone does that and it looks too much like a resume. We recommend adding 1 line about exactly what you do in your role at the firm. Again, you want people to be able to scan your profile and still capture the most important information about you.
3. Impact
After you've reiterated what you do in your current role, you now want to share the impact you've had. Technically, anyone can claim they are a website designer, even if they have never designed a site, so adding your impact vastly increases your credibility. Similar to the example above, it can be simple and to the point.
i.e. 104 Websites designed, 400 million+ site sessions
4. Skills
Since the about section only allows you to add up to 5 skills to your LinkedIn profile, you can add any additional skills that you were not able to add to the 'about' section here. This will improve your LinkedIn SEO!
5. Media
If you have any additional media not featured in your featured section from your role, you can add it to the experience section. If not, we recommend putting your company's website so that if people are interested, they can look into where you work. This is fantastic if you have recruiters or potential customers viewing your profile as you ensure they find the right company you're at.
6. Link your Business LinkedIn Profile
Ensure that your company has a LinkedIn profile with the proper logo so that you are able to connect it to your own profile. This increases the design appeal of your profile and boosts your credibility significantly if people see a logo associated with your role.
7. Past Experiences
Leave any past experiences at different companies on your profile, but do not add a description, website, etc. More often than not, profile viewers only care about your most recent experiences. We still encourage you to keep your former roles on your LinkedIn profile because your profile will be recommended to people at your former company. It's a possible great connection point with new people.
Education
You will definitely want to add your college (both undergraduate and graduate) as well as your high school educational institution because this allows LinkedIn to recommend connections to you of people that went to the same schools. Alumni at your alma matter are more likely to accept your connection request and help you out. People love supporting others that have been through similar experiences as them!
Skills
No need to add anymore skills here! These are just repeated from the skills you added to the LinkedIn about and experience section.
Honors & Awards
Add any of your accomplishments to the honors & awards section to build your ethos even more. Awards for impact or recognition can go a long way when someone is choosing whether or not to hire you.
A major issue when hiring is 'trust.' These honors and awards increase trust by showing social proof and credibility.
And now... you have the BEST LinkedIn profile for a working professional. You are now ready to job search, drive more customers to your company, and capture other professional opportunities in general!
Other LinkedIn Profile Tips & Tricks
If this was helpful, you may be interested in a few other LinkedIn secrets that you can check out below:
If you are interested in posting more personal LinkedIn content and optimizing your profile to increase your professional opportunities, we are here to take care of the entire process for you!
Complete our form today to see how we can increase your professional community engagement.
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