Optimising your LinkedIn profile to find a job

Optimise your LinkedIn profile so recruiters can find you: how recruiter search works, a headline rewritten, a complete About-section example and the fields that carry weight.

Recruiters do not browse LinkedIn — they search it. They type job titles and skills into a search tool, and the profiles that surface are the ones whose fields contain those words. Being excellent at your job puts nothing in those fields; writing your profile deliberately does.

You do not need to start over. This guide reorders the work by what actually affects whether you get found: first how recruiter search reads your profile, then the fields that carry the most weight, with a worked headline and a complete About-section example.

How recruiters actually find profiles

A recruiter with a role to fill searches for the words in the job description: a title ("front-end developer"), skills ("React", "TypeScript"), sometimes a location or industry. The search is largely literal — a profile that says "web developer" everywhere does not surface for "front-end developer", however qualified the person is.

Two consequences follow. First, the fields the search reads — your headline, your skills list, your job titles and the text of your experience — are where your target role's exact vocabulary must appear. Second, you should write for the search the way you tailor a resume for screening software: same literal-keyword logic, same fix. Decide which role you want to be found for, take the words from real postings for it, and place them in the fields below — where they are true.

The headline: your most important field

Your headline follows you everywhere — search results, comments, connection requests, messages. By default LinkedIn fills it with your current job title; you have up to 220 characters, and most people use fewer than 30 of them.

A good headline combines the role you want to be found for with your specialities, in the words recruiters search:

"Looking for new opportunities" is not a term any recruiter searches; "Agile", "SaaS" and "ERP" are. Use the space for vocabulary, not for status updates — LinkedIn has a dedicated setting for availability, covered below.

The About section: your pitch, in the first person

The About section gives you 2,600 characters. You will not need all of them: three short first-person paragraphs answering who you are, what you can prove, and what you are looking for. Put your key skills in the opening lines — only the first sentences show before the "see more" button, and the text is searchable, so the words you want to be found for belong at the top.

Paragraph one carries the searchable vocabulary, paragraph two the proof with numbers, paragraph three the ask and the door. Nothing in it could be pasted into someone else's profile.

Experience and skills

Describe your roles with concrete results rather than lists of duties — one number, one impact or one achievement beats a generic description. If you have already rewritten your resume bullets around results, reuse them here: the job titles and text of each role are part of what search reads.

Fill in the skills section deliberately: it is one of the fields recruiter search filters on directly. Add the skills that appear in postings for your target role, and pin the three most relevant. A few genuine recommendations from former colleagues or managers add credibility on top — one specific paragraph carries more weight than ten anonymous endorsements.

Photo and banner

Your photo is the first thing anyone sees. Pick a recent, sharp picture with your face clearly visible and a neutral background — professional and approachable, no suit required.

The banner, usually neglected, is free space to reinforce your message: your field, a speciality, or one line summing up what you bring.

Signal that you are open to opportunities

LinkedIn's "Open to work" setting tells recruiters you are available, either publicly or visible to recruiters only. Fill it in precisely — job titles, contract types, locations — because those fields feed the same search filters. It costs nothing and only applies when someone was already looking for a profile like yours, so switch it on when your profile is ready.

Using HiredFolio alongside LinkedIn

A profile that surfaces in searches turns into recruiter messages — and messages die in an inbox unless something tracks what each one was, who it came from and what you answered. HiredFolio gives every conversation a card: the role, the company, the stage, your notes, from first message through to interview.

Try HiredFolio for free