3 Practical Guidelines For Writing A Better LinkedIn ‘About’ Section

LinkedIn has become a routine way to learn about a new business contact and share news and insights. But your LinkedIn profile doesn’t need to be routine. Colleagues, potential clients and employers head to LinkedIn to learn about who you are. They may look for facts about where you’ve worked and what skills you have, but what they really want to know is how do you show up. Who are you? What will it be like to work with you?

So instead of listing your key skills or qualities in cliched language such as “strategic thinker” or “dedicated to my clients,” show these in a memorable and human-centered way. The following three guidelines for writing your LinkedIn’s About section will help you get there.

1. Start Your LinkedIn Profile With An Intriguing Beginning

You want a profile people will remember. So choose a story or turn of phrase that will make people ask questions.

Sharing personally has efficacy on LinkedIn, but you want to do it strategically so it retains its power. As LinkedIn content expert Colin Rocker shared in a post for LinkedIn Guide To Creation, “if your content doesn’t land emotionally, you’re missing out on the secret sauce that causes people to really resonate with [you].”

Therefore, it’s a good idea to be selective about what story you choose for your About section. Picking a quirky habit or personal tendency is a great way to separate yourself from the crowd. How many introductions start with these words “I am passionate about…” or “I am a [job title] and I’ve accomplished [remarkable feat].”

Let’s see how different the following About section is:

“When I was five, my dad took me to the Radio Flyer factory for the first time. I remember the smell of grease and paint, the punch of the machines, and rows of red wagons gliding down the line like magic. I was hooked.” Robert Pasin states on his LinkedIn profile. “Years later, I walked back into that same building — this time as a third-generation leader stepping into a company on the brink. Sales were down. Culture was stagnant. And the magic? Disappearing.”

With a story like that, you want to know what happens next. People scanning your profile will definitely keep reading.

My colleague Gina Fong also starts her profile in an intriguing way. Instead of listing her clients and institutions to claim authority, she uses intrigue: “As a marketing professor, I love transforming the classroom into a curiosity gymnasium so students learn to think with their head, heart, and gut.”

What’s a curiosity gymnasium? How does she reach her students so fully? As a reader, I’m intrigued by the creativity and humanity she’s demonstrating in how she frames her story.

2. Choose Your Main LinkedIn Audience

Anyone can come across your LinkedIn profile, but that doesn’t mean your profile needs to appeal to everyone (which is impossible, anyway). So think about who you most want to read your profile closely. Give this group of people a reason to care about you. Use your intriguing beginning to showcase a skill or quality about yourself that you want your key audience to know.

Jobseekers have the goal of getting hired. Business development professionals are constantly on the lookout for prospective customers. But there are 10 smaller steps that must occur before these ultimate goals are reached. Therefore, it’s important to think about the next small action you want your audience to take. Do you want them to invite you for an interview? Sign up for your newsletter? Be realistic and immediate.

Sharing an intriguing personal story highlights your humanity and relatability and it should serve as a springboard. So follow up your intriguing beginning with analysis. In my example above, Pasin continues his story to show how he’s a purpose-driven leader. Fong lets her readers know that her curiosity-driven teaching approach has an impact — she was honored by the university’s highest teaching award.

3. Remember, Everything Is Forgettable. Especially On LinkedIn

Do you remember the addresses of your first three jobs on your resume? Probably not.

This is certainly true of colleagues at a business meet-and-greet and hiring directors during an afternoon of interviews with job candidates. That’s why we have resumes and cover letters (and LinkedIn) to remind prospective employers of our very forgettable credentials and work history.

Whoever you want to connect with is most likely not going to remember your job title or other facts about you. They will even forget that memorable introductory story you worked so hard to write to make yourself stand out from the crowd. What stays long after we have left the room or after they’ve clicked away from our LinkedIn page is the emotion we brought with us and inspired in them.

When we meet someone new whether we are in person or on LinkedIn we want them to know about Credentials, Competence and Character. Most people lead with credentials and competence because those are the easiest to talk about. But your character is what your audience is going to respond to. Weaving in a story about your character is what’s going to help you stand out from the crowd.

That’s why you shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to let your character take center stage in your About section. The rest of your profile will cover your competence and credentials.

LinkedIn About Section How To’s

So this new year, as you update your About section keep your goals in mind:

• Who is the audience you want to connect with?
• What part of your character do you want them to know about you?
• How do you want them to feel about you?

There’s a story about you that can answer all these questions efficiently. You just got to find it. Don’t know where to start? Read how two people turned to ella AI, a new AI business storytelling tool, to help them uncover their meaningful stories and structure them for a business setting.

The best part of re-working your LinkedIn About section is that it will help you reflect on who you are, what you have already accomplished, and what your goals are for the new year.