A LinkedIn summary is one of those additional sections that you can choose to include in your profile. But because it doesn’t contribute to LinkedIn’s criteria for a complete profile, it’s a section may people don’t use. But that’s a big mistake to make and here’s why:
Reason 1
On your resume, you may include a couple of key achievements at the top of your front page, but LinkedIn gives you 2000 characters to use. This gives you much more of an opportunity to shine.
Reason 2
Your LinkedIn summary should be your elevator pitch, telling people:
- who you are. This shouldn’t be clichés about how accomplished you are. It should be facts to show what those accomplishments are.
- what you can do – include lots of action words.
- what you can do for future employers. Most aren’t interested in your goals, they want to know how you could help them with their business/organisation.
- why people should connect/contact/employ you. What’s in it for them?
Your summary not only tells you story, it also sells it.
Reason 3
Before LinkedIn was re-designed, LinkedIn included a section for “Specialities”. Don’t forget to include these. This is your opportunity to include keywords in your profile that will help get you found. Either use “|” or bullets to separate out each speciality.
Reason 4
As well as telling your story, your LinkedIn summary should include a call to action. For example:
- contact me for..
- connect with me if…
Whatever you choose to add, encourage people to do something after they have read your summary.
If you want people you don’t know to reach out and connect with you, then you could include some form of contact information, be it an email address so that you can connect as a “friend” or a telephone number that you can be contacted on.
Beware: If you are including an email and telephone number, then if you have included your summary in your public profile, anyone will be able to see when they Google you. In which case, have a separate email address for recruitment/sales/business. Keep your personal email and telephone number private.
Reason 5
Without a summary, the first thing that people reading your profile will see is your experience. Surely, we are all more than the sum of the jobs that we have worked?
Action Points
- Does your LinkedIn profile include a summary? If no, add one.
- Take a look at your summary. Could someone tell what it is that you do and how you could help them?
- Does it include relevant keywords that will help get your profile get found?
- Does it include your specialities?
- Does it include a call to action?
- Can people contact you if needed?
If you found this blog post “5 reasons why you should have a LinkedIn summary” helpful, then please let me know, and if you feel you would benefit from some help with your LinkedIn profile, then consider getting a full, systematic review of your profile or some one to one training and support.