If you want recruiters to click on your LinkedIn profile, you’ve got to have a good headline.
And this edition is gonna teach you how to write a good headline so you get more hits and get more traction on your profile.
‘Cause you want recruiters to see you.
With LinkedIn, when people are doing a search for individuals, what they see is a profile photo.
They see the headline and they see the title.
And if your headline says something bland amongst a list of others that are very succinct and give them what they’re looking for, then the others are gonna be clicked on.
They’re the ones that are gonna get viewed.
First of all, why is a headline important?
Why does it matter that you’ve got a good headline?
Getting the Attention of Recruiters and Hiring Managers
Let’s talk first of all about recruiters.
When they are using LinkedIn, they’re typically using it to headhunt people to try and find them for different opportunities.
Let’s say there’s a niche role that is difficult and hard to find.
They’re on the platform trying to find individuals who would have that level of experience.
Equally, they’re about to launch a role, and when you launch a role, you get floods of candidates coming through.
And that’s a lot of admin, that’s a lot to deal with, especially in today’s market when there are so many on the market.
From time to time, recruiters will talent scout.
Rather than just posting the job, they might look in the network and see if there are people they want to tap on the shoulder before they post it.
‘Cause if they can hire without a recruitment process, that saves a lot of time and energy from everyone involved.
It’s important to make sure that your profile gets their attention when they’re doing those searches.
Next you’ve got hiring managers.
When they are interviewing people or shortlisting people for interviews, they look at your CV and they make a decision, but they might wanna learn more about you.
They click on that button to find you on LinkedIn, and at this stage, they don’t know what you look like.
All they know is where you’re based and what the CV says.
Unless they’ve been given a note to click, you’ve got to have something that makes them instantly recognise you as the person who’s applying for that job.
It’s important to make sure that your headline tells the story in the right way, that matches you to the opportunities that you’re going for.
And then finally, your network.
If people are searching on their network for people who can help and support them, having the right headline lets them know exactly what you can do or exactly how they can help you.
All of that is really important to get right.
Again, people click and look at your profile and know exactly what you do at a glance before they bother reading the about sections, all about your work experience, and the skills that you fill in as well.
How to Set Up a Winning Headline
Let’s talk about how to set up the profile end and make sure that your headline is in the right space.
With the headline, let’s start with a bad one first of all.
This one simply says “Open to work.”
That’s not strong enough.
You can’t tell what you’re open to work in order to do.
I know that you’re looking for opportunities, but you can’t really succinctly tell what kind of background you’ve got.
A recruiter or a hiring manager doesn’t know at a glance who you are and what you do.
This is a wasted opportunity to showcase your skills and experience.
The next one is a poor choice as well.
This is what I would’ve used back in my corporate days before I really recognised what LinkedIn can do for me.
And this is simply my job title and the company I worked for.
That’s not gonna be strong enough either.
Whilst it does give an indication of what you do, and it’s nice to put the company in there but you have 220 characters here.
Look at all that wasted space.
All it tells you is your job title and the company you work for.
And your LinkedIn profile is not your company’s, it’s yours.
You don’t necessarily need to include that company unless of course it’s a reputable organisation and you want to showcase that you work there.
In my case, PwC is great, and I do want to showcase that.
But in terms of your profile, make sure that it’s not just your job title, because there are better ways to utilise this space.
The Top-Performing Headline Formula
Finally, this is the top-performing headline that you’ve got.
This is what I could have used when I was in corporate before I got into this type of work.
It gives an overview of my background, the types of roles that I can do, and the skills that I have.
It outlines how I can help individuals, some of the industries that I work in, the sectors that I’m involved in, and the roles that I’ve done in the past.
Let’s say for example, the skills-based workforce planning part isn’t interesting to people, but resource management is.
Then people can see that in my headline at a glance and then click to learn where I got my resource management experience.
All of that really helps give an overview of what you can do.
And if people look at that helicopter view and think, “Well, I need workforce planning, I need resource management, I need transformation,” they definitely want to click on your profile.
Use that space to really showcase all of your skills, industries, backgrounds, and all of that type of stuff so that you can come across as a professional in this industry.
And ultimately, recruiters click on you so that you can get hired and get more opportunities.
Key Takeaways
- Stop wasting your 220 characters on just your job title and company name, unless that company is a significant asset to your credibility.
- Make sure your headline gives a helicopter view of your skills, sectors, and past roles so recruiters can see exactly what you do at a glance.
- Avoid vague phrases like “Open to work” that completely miss the opportunity to actually tell a hiring manager what you bring to the table.
Good luck with your job searches this week, and if you’d like to learn how I can help you further, Book a free, no-obligation 30-minute consultation with me and tell me your story.
Let’s see if I can help you shift the dial and secure your new career.