Step 2: Build your materials · topic 3 of 5

Set up your LinkedIn headline, photo and settings

Your name, photo and headline travel with you everywhere on LinkedIn: search results, comments, connection requests, the top of every message. They're worth 20 minutes of care.

Write a headline that goes beyond your job title

LinkedIn gives you 220 characters for your headline ^[1]. If you haven't edited it, it may simply show your current title and employer, which says little about where you're heading.

A useful formula:

[Role you want or do] | [what you're known for, with a keyword or two] | [one proof point or specialty]

Examples:

• "Operations manager | Scaling customer onboarding and vendor programs | Cut onboarding time 57% at a 200-person SaaS company"
• "Product marketer moving into B2B fintech | Launches, positioning, pricing research"

Put the role first. In my experience, search results and phone screens often cut a headline short.

Make your job titles findable too

LinkedIn Recruiter, the paid search tool many recruiters use, has separate filters for keywords, job titles, location, skills and more ^[2]. Keywords in your headline help with keyword searches. The job title filter looks at the titles in your Experience section. So use the words a recruiter would type in your headline and in your job titles and descriptions.

If an official title was unusual, add the common equivalent in brackets, such as "Client Success Lead (Customer Success Manager)", as long as it's accurate. Keep your location setting accurate too.

If you're between jobs, you don't have to say so in the headline. Lead with the work you do.

Add a clear, recent photo that strangers can see

LinkedIn says members with a profile photo get up to 2 times more profile views and 3 times more connection requests ^[3]. You may have seen bigger numbers quoted, such as "21 times more views". Those come from a 2017 LinkedIn blog post ^[4], and LinkedIn's current help page uses the smaller figures.

What tends to work: your face fills most of the frame, you look like you would on a video call with a new client, the light is even, and the background is plain. A phone photo near a window is fine.

Then check who can see it. LinkedIn lets you limit your photo to your connections or your network ^[3]. If yours is limited, the strangers you write to will see a blank circle. Set it so all LinkedIn members can see it, and show it on your public profile too.

Check your public profile

You can control which parts of your profile people see when they aren't signed in to LinkedIn, and whether search engines such as Google can show it. The setting is under Me, then View profile, then "Public profile & URL" ^[5]. During a search, I'd make the whole profile public. While you're there, set a custom URL with your name, so it looks tidy on your resume.

Fill in Open to Work carefully

LinkedIn's Open to Work feature asks for the job titles, locations, workplace types (on-site, hybrid or remote) and start date you want, and LinkedIn says this helps your profile show up in recruiter searches ^[6]. Add three to five title variants that recruiters actually use.

Then choose who sees it ^[6]:

1. "All LinkedIn members", which includes people at your current company and adds the #OpenToWork frame to your photo.
2. "Recruiters only", which shows your interest to people using LinkedIn Recruiter. LinkedIn takes steps to hide this from recruiters at your own company but says it can't guarantee complete privacy.
3. "Visible only to you", which tailors your own job recommendations and doesn't tell anyone else.

If you're employed and your search is private, choose recruiters only. If you're not working, either of the first two is reasonable. Opinions on the visible frame differ: some people like it because friends offer help, and some recruiters read it less warmly. You don't need the frame for recruiters to find you, because "Recruiters only" already shows them. Pick the one you'll feel calm about.

Pin one piece of work

If you have one piece of work you're proud of, such as a write-up, a talk or a portfolio, pin it in the Featured section of your profile. It's the closest thing LinkedIn has to an attachment.