How To Write a Professional And Compelling LinkedIn Summary

LinkedIn is the biggest B2B social network in the world.

This explains why 40 million people use the platform for job searches every week.

What’s more, 80% of LinkedIn users are decision makers, making the social network a strategic tool whether you’re looking for a new job or new clients.

That’s why I recommend that you use your LinkedIn summary strategically. Your LinkedIn summary can be a powerful tool in your job search toolbox to help you uncover incredible employment opportunities!

How so?

In this blog post, I’m going to tell you why your LinkedIn summary is so important. And I’ll also share some LinkedIn summary examples to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing.

Why Is A Good LinkedIn Summary So Important?

Knowing how to write a good LinkedIn summary is critical because it can set you apart from millions of other LinkedIn users.

Make A Good First Impression

Your LinkedIn summary (or ''about'' section) sits right below your name and job title. So, when a user lands on your LinkedIn profile, this is pretty much the first thing they’ll see. This means that your ‘’about’’ section is your chance to capture your target audience’s attention and make a good first impression.

Show Your Personality

Whether you’re looking for a new job or want to find new clients, we live in an era where people want to get to know you before doing business with you. They want to know who is behind your polished LinkedIn profile. A professional LinkedIn photo and a well-written section about your professional background and goals aren’t enough anymore.

Nowadays, you need to inject a bit of personality into your LinkedIn summary while keeping it professional. You need to show prospective recruiters or clients what you’re all about and share your personal values. 

Helps With LinkedIn SEO

The ''about'' section offers a fantastic opportunity to optimise your Linkedin Profile for searches and boost your visibility. So, it’s critical that you leverage these 2,000 words to include keywords that recruiters or clients might be typing when looking for someone like you.

Some tools can help you optimise your LinkedIn profile by analyzing it and highlighting keywords you should be using.  

How To Write The Perfect LinkedIn Summary

Like with any marketing asset, a good LinkedIn profile should include an attention-grabbing hook, a compelling career story, and optimised search terms. 

Let’s dive into the key tips on how to write the best LinkedIn summary to stand out from your competition.

Write An Attention-Grabbing Opening Statement

Your first sentence should act as a hook. The average attention span is shrinking, so you literally have a few seconds to grab your target audience's attention. 

Consider these two summaries:

When I was 18, I climbed Mount Everest. This once-in-a-lifetime experience taught me to always push my boundaries to become a better version of myself and develop a growth mindset. Since then, I've consistently overachieved in my roles.

I have over 15 years of experience in sales and I currently work as a sales manager for L’Oreal. I always strive to overperform.

Now, if you’re a recruiter, which profile would resonate with you most?

I know which person I would want to know more about 😉   

Open Up About Your Career

Sure, your LinkedIn summary should be clear and concise. Yet, adding some context to your career to date is the perfect way to help recruiters better connect with your profile. 

Try to make your summary flow and highlight the logic behind each of your job transitions. Your career should follow a thread. And if you happened to change careers along the way, your summary should touch on the reasons behind it. It should also show how your past experiences helped you succeed in your new career path. 

Use your LinkedIn summary to create a connection with recruiters and let them see your personality.

Mention Your Accomplishments

Some will call it bragging, others selling yourself. The key is to highlight your biggest accomplishments in 1-2 sentences without sounding arrogant. And the best way to do that is by stating facts. 

For instance, if you’ve been a sales manager for a few years, you could explain how you increased the bottom line of your department. Use numbers to put things in perspective.

Make It Digestible

While you can write up to 2,000 characters in your LinkedIn summary section, I’d recommend following the best practices below to make your summary easy to read:

• Use bullet points to break down the information.

• Write short paragraphs (3-5 sentences max).

• Use numbers and awards.

• Write two or three all-caps headers.

Add Relevant Keywords

Think about keywords prospective employers would be typing in the LinkedIn search bar when looking for someone with your skillset. Look at similar profiles and use keyword optimisation tools to uncover the main keywords you should be using. And once you’ve come up with a list, add them strategically to your LinkedIn summary. 

A word of advice, though: avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Keyword stuffing will make your summary harder to read and deter recruiters from reading past the first few sentences.

Add A Call To Action

Don’t forget to share your details and let recruiters know that you’re open to having a chat. The end of the ‘’about’’ section is one of the best places to do that. After you’ve captivated your audience with your incredible career story and achievements, this will prompt them to reach out.

3 LinkedIn Summary Examples

Now, unless you’re a professional copywriter with extensive marketing experience, chances are you'll find writing a compelling LinkedIn summary challenging. Yet, as explained before, your summary is critical if you’re hoping to land your dream job.

A dull summary will quickly bore prospective employers and deter them from getting in touch with you. On the other hand, a carefully crafted paragraph with a fantastic hook and a compelling narrative can prompt them to immediately reach out. 

That’s why to help inspire you, I’m sharing my three favourite LinkedIn summary examples below.

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Example #1: Ez Khan at Spencer Lane

​Ez Khan is the founder of Melbourne-based recruitment agency Spencer Lane. 

What I really like about his profile is how much personality Ez managed to inject while still sounding professional. 

The opening statement is quite powerful. Telling people he has a smile on his face every day when he goes to work helps potential employers and employees better connect with him on a personal level. Plus, I don’t know about you, but it makes me want to smile too!

Also, throughout the first paragraph, his passion for his work is transparent.

The rest of the paragraph gives a great overview of his skills, what makes him tick and the value he brings to a team and to his clients.

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Example #2: Katrina Ortiz at Crown Data System

Katrina's LinkedIn Summary is snappy, compelling, and professional. She tells a story and does it well. Indeed, the software developer uses a metaphor as a hook and continues on the same theme, linking it back in the second paragraph. As soon as she clicked the play button on her first-ever Python tutorial, the spark ignited and she caught fire. This narrative instantly grabs her audience and pulls them into her universe. 

Her summary feels authentic, using colloquial language such as ‘’meh’’. She even uses humour, adding a lot of personality to her ''about'' section.

I particularly like this example because software developers are usually considered geeky and even sometimes awkward. Yet, Katrina shows the exact opposite. Her summary is fun and energetic while still highlighting her core skills and conveying her passion for the job.

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Example #3: Pedro Cortes at Cortes Design

Pedro Cortes is an independent consultant specialising in helping SaaS companies improve their branding and increase their sales.

Pedro’s summary is designed to appeal to his target audience: SaaS companies that struggle to convert their web visitors into paying customers.

He clearly highlights their pain points, ensuring his LinkedIn summary perfectly resonates with his readers. What’s more, he also explains in detail how he can help them and even creates FOMO by only working with a few select clients. 

Last but not least, Pedro includes a call to action in his summary to let people know what they should do next if they want to work with him.

I hope these three LinkedIn summary examples will help you better understand how to make yours eye-catching and compelling. 

Need more inspiration?

Here are 80+ professional bio templates to help you create a compelling narrative for your LinkedIn summary.

Where To Find An Experienced Copywriter For Your LinkedIn Summary

Now, writing a great summary requires skills. Whether your goal is to attract qualified employees, land new clients, or a new job, our experienced copywriters can craft the perfect LinkedIn Summary for you. 

Also, content creation has increased by 60% in 2020 on LinkedIn, placing quality content creation at the heart of a successful LinkedIn marketing strategy for millions of businesses. 

And the great news is that our versatile wordsmiths can also craft high-quality blogs for you to publish on your LinkedIn profile. Regularly posting native content will make potential clients, employees, and recruiters see you as an authority in your field.

If you’re not sure how a copywriter can help you, here’s a post I wrote providing 6 reasons why you should hire a copywriter.

If you’re ready to boost your LinkedIn profile, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. My team and I will be happy to help!

Frequently Asked Questions About LinkedIn Summaries

Question: How do I write a good LinkedIn summary?

Answer: Great LinkedIn summaries share a common denominator. They follow the best practices listed below.

For your summary to stand out and fulfill its purpose you should:

• Write an attention-grabbing opening statement
• Open up about your career
• Mention your accomplishments
• Make your summary digestible
• Add relevant keywords
• Include a call to action

Question: How do I describe my role on LinkedIn?

Answer: While your summary is a great way to grab recruiters’ attention, the job section is the next section they’ll check after reading your summary. Therefore, you need to spend time crafting each job description and make sure they’re engaging and relevant to the role you want next.

Here is how to describe each of your roles on LinkedIn:

• Write a sentence or two to describe your employer and the industry you were operating in
• List your duties and main responsibilities: limit your duties and responsibilities to 10 and focus on the ones that are most relevant to the type of role you want next.
• Add 3 achievements for each of the roles

Question: How do I optimise my LinkedIn profile?

Answer: Optimising your LinkedIn profile can make all the difference between having to job hunt for weeks and waking up to a full inbox.

Here are ten steps to optimise your LinkedIn Profile:

• Use a professional profile picture
• Add a relevant background photo
• Write a compelling LinkedIn summary
• Add relevant keywords to your summary
• List your main duties, responsibilities, and achievements under each job and add relevant skills
• Ask for recommendations and work hard to get endorsements
• Take a skills assessment
• Regularly publish and share relevant content
• Don’t add every single job you’ve had if you have a long job history. Focus on the most relevant ones.
• And any certifications, degrees, or awards

Further reading

Now that you know how to write the perfect LinkedIn summary, here are some additional resources to help you land your dream job:

• This 9-Word Email Works Like MAGIC!
• 99 Best Power Words For Sales Pitches To Land New Clients 
• 5 SEO Content Writing Tips You Should Know