A Professional Headline Makes a Winning LinkedIn Profile

By Joshua Waldman from Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies

Your professional LinkedIn headline defines who you are and what you can do for an organization. It appears just below your name as well as on every communication you send. LinkedIn doesn’t call this section job title, yet many people make the mistake of simply stating their role, such as sales executive or VP of Finance.

When you first sign up to LinkedIn, it puts your job title in the headline area. You need to edit this along with the rest of your profile.

In your LinkedIn professional headline, you have 120 characters to really communicate your identity — what you do, who you are, and what your level of motivation is. This spot is also your chance to show a hiring manager that you understand the needs of her business. What can you do to help her company?

Because LinkedIn’s search algorithm indexes the headline first, be sure to include your most powerful keywords and keyphrases.

Here are some examples to consider for rewriting your headline:

Turn Database Engineer into Capable CRM optimizer who thrives on finding efficiencies and saving organizations money

Turn Marketing Professional into Effective Marketing Communications Specialist: Creating business value through focused messaging

Turn Social Services Manager into Enthusiastic program manager who loves organizing outreach for the benefit of clients, volunteers, and the board of directors.

If you currently have a job, mention it by name in your headline. Employed people sometimes have an easier time finding other jobs. So take advantage of this trend by explicitly calling out your current employer and what you’re doing there.