LinkedIn Profile Headlines that DON’T Help You! (And what you CAN do)

Your LinkedIn Profile Headline is your professional intro, your opening pitch, a search tool for job and professional opportunities!

So who’s looking at your LinkedIn profile?

Everyone!

For starters, Executive Search firms, Recruiters, Headhunters (yes, they are all different :-). LinkedIn is the go-to choice for finding high quality talent. And not just talent professionals, business leaders and founders routinely dive into their list of connections to find team members, or search for people in their industry, as prospective hires.

Loads of professionals looking for clients, collaborators, vendors, speakers or those simply looking to build their networks, are all very engaged on the platform. 

What can you write in your LinkedIn Headline?

1. Mention a focus area and elaborate with detail

Or

2. Share multiple & different pieces of info

Or

3. A combo of the above 2

You can include (pick and choose, but preferably not everything ;))

• Info about your current job/ role title
• Skills 
• Industry
• Qualifications
• Schools
• Past jobs 
• ‘Success areas,’ 
• Secondary job 
• Volunteer work or advisory roles, 
• Interests, hobbies
• Activism or cause
• Affiliations
• Personal detail (e.g. Parent)

Here’s how you can add or change the Headline in your LinkedIn Profile or see the image below.

Common mistakes or oversights that you should eliminate in your LinkedIn Headline

Too little detail
Your Headline is your no.1 ‘search field’ in your Profile. Which means that if I type the words ‘Account Manager’ in the search field, a bulk of the results are those that include these 2 words in their Headline. 

So would you rather be searchable for one aspect of your profile, or three? 

Which means that if my Headline was more descriptive, like the one below, my chances of showing up in searches jumps hugely.

Here’s an actual example

Despite the minimal headline, this Profile actually has good detail overall, and includes work in multiple industries, dozens of skills, and success metrics like retention rate, efficiency score etc.

What would I write to showcase their range of experience and seniority.

Redundancy/ too much detail 

That can be as bad as not saying enough. You don’t have to fill up the entire character limit of 220, unless you have something meaningful to say. And it’s best to avoid long sentences when a phrase or some well-chosen adjectives will do the job. 

Take this Headline for instance:

This headline repeats the words people and world class; plus, the second line is very generic. And the worst part is that it doesn’t mention the profile owner’s  significant achievements and skills.

How about being specific, succinct and audience-centric

Here’s another example

Sure, this Headline is very relevant, except that the most valuable part of it gets truncated, so in searches we only see the first line.

Instead, rewriting with focus words first and a grammar tweak would serve this headline better.

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Your LinkedIn Profile is like your Resume – how can you make your work stand out?

Explore the top skills to put on a resume and 4 ways to share (with real examples)

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Incomplete role titles 

If you only write – ‘Vice President’ in the headline of your LinkedIn Profile, it really begs the question, ‘of which country?’ 

So this is an essential – be sure to add your company name if you mention a role title. 

If you’re currently between jobs, mention your work area, like ‘Sales Professional’ or ‘Full Stack Expert.’

A  lot of Founders frequently write ‘building something new…’ That too,  at a time when they ’re looking to attract investments, talent, partnerships etc. and need to be more (not less) visible.

So why not add in some clarity like some of these founders – include a few details or founder credentials.

Missing out on Accomplishments 

Call out the uncommon highlights of your professional career. Phrases like Patent holder or Book Author or Former Race Driver often catch people’s interest. And if people click through, your Profile views go up, and LinkedIn in turn shows your it to more people actively.

Basic and blah 

Success and smarts don’t have to be boring. 

Make your Profile well rounded and interesting – you can always mention an interest or hobby in your LinkedIn Headline. It can be a great talking point or potential common ground with your connections. Or even showcase a standout aspect of your personality.

Examples – Sustainability Enthusiast, Long distance runner, Inclusion Advocate, Music Lover….

(Ok to) Embellish but please don’t Exaggerate 

Creating lavish headlines that overstate your skills and job title will only show you up in a worse light when someone goes through the rest of your profile. Even worse, it will cost you job opportunities that are actually in your range.

Avoid adjectives and let your work speak for you!

So stay away from writing Enthusiastic, Hard working, Amazing etc. You can always include them in other parts of your Profile if you so wish.

Typos and Errors

Sounds obvious, but is not. Spelling and grammar mistakes are never an excuse, especially when you can correct a sentence on any phone or computer easily.

Its versus It’s (apostrophe); missing commas, wrong use of articles (a, an, the) are common culprits.

Poor formatting

Use spaces, commas, separators to ensure that each of your headline phrases stand on their own.

It’s okay to use capitals for acronyms etc. but avoid them if not necessary like in the example below.

 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER |  Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data Management. Creating a positive impact on the lives of others while building long-term trusting relationships for success.

Conclusion

These are the small tweaks that offer up significant gains. 

And the final result is a polished, searchable and a very relevant Headline in your LinkedIn Profile.

So head right in!