What should a LinkedIn headline say?
A good LinkedIn headline states the role you do and the skills a recruiter would search for, in plain words, then adds a result or the direction you want if there is room. Career1's free LinkedIn headline generator writes three options and a new About section, and lists searches your profile currently misses.
Recruiters find people on LinkedIn by searching. LinkedIn's own Recruiter help describes filtering by job title, skills, companies, location and free-text keywords. If the words a recruiter types are not on your profile, you are unlikely to appear in their results, however good you are.
This rewrites the headline and the About section around the terms that get searched, and then tells you which searches your profile still will not appear in. That last list is usually the useful part, because the gap is rarely the one people expect.
What makes a headline work
- Use the title people hire for.
- The one in job postings, not your company's internal name. "Associate II, Platform" becomes "Backend Engineer".
- Name two or three skills.
- The ones you would happily be interviewed on, in the words postings use.
- Front-load it.
- Only the start shows beside your name in comments and search results, so the role and main skills go first.
- Write it for a person.
- A recruiter who finds you still has to want to click.
Before and after, by role
Illustrative examples: the people and figures are invented to show the pattern. Use your own.
Software Engineer II at Acme
Backend Engineer | Python, PostgreSQL, distributed systems | Cut checkout latency from 900ms to 120ms
Searchable title and stack first, then proof.
Nurse
Registered Nurse, ICU | Critical care and ventilator management | Open to night roles in Leeds
Specialism, skills and what they want, in one line.
Aspiring professional seeking new opportunities
Data Analyst | SQL, Python, Tableau | Economics graduate who modelled 40k housing listings
Nobody searches "aspiring professional". They search "data analyst SQL".
Former teacher looking for a new challenge
Instructional Designer | E-learning and curriculum design | 8 years building courses as a teacher
Leads with the new role, and turns the old one into evidence.
Common mistakes
- Buzzwords.
- "Passionate", "results-driven", "visionary". Nobody types them into a search box.
- Only your employer.
- "Engineer at Acme" spends the headline on a company name.
- "Open to work" as the whole headline.
- It says you are looking without saying for what. Put the role first.
- A title you do not hold yet.
- Write the move as a direction, such as "moving into product management", so the first question does not undo it.
How to use the generator well
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1
In "Your role", use the job title recruiters hire for.
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2
In the background, give specifics: tools, sectors, numbers, what you shipped.
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3
Fill in the role you want next, so the headlines point at it.
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4
Add the missing search terms to your About and Experience sections too, wherever they are true.
Questions people ask
How long can a LinkedIn headline be?
The headline field allows 220 characters. Only the start shows beside your name in comments and search results, so put the role and main skills first and use the rest for proof or direction.
Does the About section affect whether recruiters find me?
It can. Recruiter search includes a free-text keywords filter alongside title and skills filters, so words in your About and Experience sections can match. Name your core skills there in full sentences.
Should I list every technology I have touched?
No. A wall of keywords reads as noise to a person and dilutes the terms you actually want to rank for. Name the things you would be happy to be interviewed on, which is the same test Career1's interviewer applies.
Should my headline say I am open to work?
Not on its own. A headline that only says you are looking gives a recruiter nothing to search for. Lead with the role and skills, then add the kind of role you want next if there is room.
Where to go next
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