Optimize Your LinkedIn

Andy Mowat
Jan 3
9 min read

Updated: Aug 12

LinkedIn is the modern resume - it is the first thing recruiters and hiring managers look at. We’ve been taught to optimize for search engines and pack our profiles with keywords. But for senior roles, an algorithm is less likely find you than you being proactive. Instead, optimize your profile for the recruiter, hiring manager, or potential referrer to make it easier for them to help you.

Recruiters and hiring managers spend 10-20 seconds on a first review of your LinkedIn. They will decide whether to dive deeper or not based on this cursory glance so you need to be clear with who you are. Some common mistakes we see people make include:

Not being clear on your niche
Not telling a coherent story
Optimizing for the algorithm
Appearing desperate
Sending the wrong message about you focus

This article will guide you on how to avoid these mistakes. It is written for executives looking for full-time roles but can help anyone.

💡 Before you edit your LinkedIn profile, make sure your network doesn’t get notified about updates by turning off notifications. You can do this by going: ‼️ But... make sure not to lock-down your profile too much. Too many people prevent folks from viewing their last name and other key details, making it harder for recruiters to find them. Review your visibilty settings and relax them where you feel comfortable doing so.

Background image (aka banner)

Be thoughtful about this, innovation can hurt, rather than help.

Never have a blank background - its just wasted real-estate
If you are at a company (or recently left), the best option is your corporate background. It shows you are currently employed and sends the right signal.
If you have a personal branded background you will likely be perceived as not interested in full-time work
Using a generic scene background is always fine (and safe) if you are truly between jobs. We are building a library of ones we think are effective and neutral

If you aren't in a job, here is an example of an effective generic scene background that doesn't send an "out of work" vibe

Your Photo

Make it a good one - don’t get funky.

If you are going for a C-Level role, a professional photo of you on stage with a microphone makes you look even more important;).
Don't look too old in your photo (ageism is real in hiring). It is totally ok to use a photo from 5-10 years ago.
If you need a more professional photo check out Secta Labs.
AND.... Make sure your photo displays even if people aren't connected to you

Headline

Align this with your one-pager to be really clear about what role you do, your super-power.

Make clear your focus on full-time roles: Remove pieces of the headline that could suggest you aren’t focused on full-time roles (i.e. advisor, thought leader….). We also see a lot of people put board member in their headline to indicate you want to be a board member but now is not the time to confuse things.
Highlight your current (or recent) company: If you don't put your current company in your headline you seem a little desperate. Even if you have been gone for a few months you can include your current company / role succinctly (i.e. CRO @ Vendr)
Niche down: The more specific you are with the role you are seeking and the value you drive the more it engages people.
Put the title you have had/want in your headline: Recruiters are looking to find people that have done the role before / can clearly do the role.

Words are so important. Absolutely put the title you have/want in your LinkedIn headline. Alexis (the Fairy Job Mom)

Highlight past logos: We love highlighting meaningful logos in your headline (i.e. ex Uber/Salesforce)
Be creative + memorable: Highlight your super-power succinctly and help people know / remember you personally. Use action words, power words, and attention-grabbing phrases to make your headline stand out. Make people want to read further and learn about you. Some of our favorites of all time, although probably wait until you get your next job to be super creative:
- I wrangle chaos and bring strategic quality to the revenue tech stack
- more coming soon....
Don't optimize for the algorithm: Don't optimize your headline for search with lots of keywords about all your skills. Those you will cover in your role descriptions

"Don't optimize your LinkedIn headline for algorithms (don't list skills, keep your headline simple). At the senior level, skills are table stakes vs. differentiators." Whispered founder

Finally, be concise: Longer headlines with lots of keywords indicate desperation. Try to be concise and to the point. Some great headline examples include:
- CRO @ Vendr | ex Salesforce / Uber

About (Description)

Have a punchy description that engages people in the first person (3rd person is creepy:).

Use stories to engage people who visit your profile.
A simple approach is to use the “Value I Drive” content from your 1 pager.
Also add a few side passions to give yourself some personality / provide hooks for people to engage with.

Featured Section

You can feature article(s) in this top section. You should definitely take advantage of that but rather than overwhelm with the paradox-of-choice, be clear in the one link/article/resource you want to highlight.

Experiences

Logos: Never have an experience without a logo… you can always create a company with a logo if it doesn’t exist or link to something fun. Here are links to some useful ones:
- Career Break: A way to professionally own a break
- Various Companies: A great company to put all your advisory roles under. See below
- Various Startups: If you are advisor and in a break but fractional this is a nice way to position it. We've also seen people group multiple short-term roles under this in some cases.
Impactful Descriptions: Make sure the description for each experience provide succinct, provide clear insight into the impact you drove + scope you managed and quantify impact.
- People will NOT click "see more" so prioritize making the first 2 lines impactful
- Don't waste this valuable real estate describing what the company did
- Put quantitative results where you can. On LinkedIn you can have more swagger and fun with the impact you drove but put numbers!
- Don't put long-lists with key-word stuffing. The more succinct you are, the ore you give off a perception of being successful
- Put details in.... as these help make your profile appear in more LinkedIn searches
- Include the size of the teams you managed. Don't make people guess
- See some of our favorite examples here
Fractional / Advisory / Community Experiences: Since you are looking for a full-time job, We recommend NOT listing each advisory role as an experience - it will look like you aren’t focused on full-time work. Instead, put all fractional / advisory roles under a single item on LInkedIn.

"In 2021 when the job market was hot, only the best people were fractional. In 2025, anyone out of work is fractional. If you are fractional today.... I now think you suck." Top Recruiter

If you are looking for FT work you should go all in on that.. and not “advertise” yourself as fractional… of course if you want to quietly look for some $ opps to tide you over go right ahead. Neil Weitzman

Above the Fold: Be really thoughtful about the experiences “above the fold”. You want the key elements of your career story front and center. While they will always show by date, you can merge/delete/don’t show things that will push your key experiences “below the fold”
Role Progression: If you've been promoted in your role and you've been there a while, show each position you had. It helps show progression within that company vs. one long experience.
Skills: We don't recommend using LinkedIn skills on individual roles. These can be distracting and at at a senior level people aren't looking to understand what tools you have experience with but your soft-skills.

💡 Skills do help the algorithm prioritize you in recruiter searches so this is one you can play with adding/removing them. Skills are typically geared for <Director level as they are more tactical and we recommend them for more junior folks.

Titles: Consider refining the titles on your roles to best position yourself for the role you are focused on. You can adjust titles (assuming the adjusted title doesn't mislead) to align to the role you're targeting.
- LinkedIn indexes heavily on
  - Your current / most recent title
  - Your historical roles
- We recommend being consistent in titles. If you want to rank for VP of Marketing, having historical titles like GM, Product Strategy will confuse the both recruiters and the algorithm
- If you have title inflation in past roles, you could change your level from VP -> Head of
- Retitle company-specific titles that don't match typical titles in the market
- Some examples to bring this key point home
  - If you're applying to a Content Marketing role, but your previous role was a growth role, change it from growth to content marketing and only list content marketing responsibilities.
  - If you have different variations on your past titles (i.e. Sales Strategy, Marketing Operations, Sales Systems...) and you now targeting a senior role, you can retitle them all to RevOps

"Recruiters find talent by looking up the role title they're trying to fill. The more frequently that title appears in your experience / your headline, the more likely you are to show up on their search and ultimately seem like a good fit when they review your LinkedIn." Kareem @ Relentless

Company Acquisitions: If you worked for one company and then it was acquired by another, consider changing the name on your LinkedIn to the acquiring company / merging the two experiences together to convey a longer tenure
Featured Articles: If you have written / spoken about topics related to your experience, you can link those posts / articles to specific experiences. You can also feature these on the top of your profile.
Explain Gaps/Short Stints: If you have a gap in the past, don't worry too much about those because the fact that you got hired again overcomes most of that. We find it is better not to try to insert roles to explain gaps more than a few years in the past if you have more recent employment. For recent gaps, most companies appreciate people who are candid. If you have just 1 gap/short stints, we like the approach of putting a quick note at the top of the roles description in parentheses for a role can be effective so people aren't guessing. Effective examples we've seen include:
- (Left to focus on a family situation)
- (Part of company wide layoff after 6 months)
- (Company acquired by PE firm)
Ageism is Real: As you get older, feel free to pull off your very early experiences and remove dates from education.

Recommendations

Asking for recommendations on LinkedIn is an excellent way to showcase your skills and expertise to potential employers and recruiters.

Try to have everyone you would give as a reference to also add a reference on LinkedIn.
A great way to warm up references and reconnect by saying “I’m about to look for the next role, I wanted to ask if you would be a reference (and also share one on LinkedIn)"
Recruiters judge people with strong references higher
See our article on references for a deeper dive

Recommendations also boost you on the LinkedIn algorithm. Make sure to get them to include keywords aligned with roles you are focused on.

Open to Work

Turn on LinkedIn “available for hiring mode” to appear on recruiters radars. This is especially effective if you are in a role similar to the one you are searching for. It can yield a lot of inbound opportunities.

Note: We don’t suggest to make “Open to Work” visible for all on your LinkedIn profile. From convos with recruiters / execs, “it can appear desperate”

"You lose all leverage when you have "Open to work" on your profile as a senior candidate. Companies will deprioritize your application because they know they can have you." Chris Gannon, Founder at Captivate Talent (epic post here)

💡 LinkedIn will re-index you at the top of search when you turn on "Open for Work" (recruiters want to see new candidates first) so every 4-6 weeks, turn it off for a few days and then turn back on.