How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile in 2025

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile in 2025

LinkedIn has over 1 billion active monthly users across 200 countries and territories.  With such a high volume of members, it can be difficult to differentiate yourself in the job market. So what can make you stand out, and maybe more importantly, land you a job? 
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We are here to help you build and improve your LinkedIn profile in 2025. We’ll cover the basics of creating your profile and show you how to make it appealing to recruiters. Plus, we will discuss using AI and common mistakes to avoid. 

Building Your First LinkedIn Profile

Whether it is your first time logging into LinkedIn, or you have left your account dormant, these are the basics to get you started on building and optimizing your profile.  It’s your first impression to the professional world, so it is crucial to get the basics right. We’ll break it down section-by-section so you know exactly what most job recruiters are looking for on candidates profiles. 

• Start with a high-quality, up-to-date profile picture. This is the first thing people see when they navigate to your profile. Make sure it is a professional, high quality photo that accurately represents you. 

Pro Tip: If you have a headshot from your athletic media day, this is great to use as you are looking for a job. After you graduate, it is best to update this to a more professional headshot. 

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• Include a Background Photo. LinkedIn provides a variety of background photos you can include on your profile. If you are currently employed, your company’s marketing team may have some branded photos available for you. This can help you be an excellent employee advocate. 

Pro tip: You can also use graphic design tools such as Canva or Adobe Photoshop to create a unique background photo for yourself. Make sure it is 1584 x 396 px! 

• Customize your Headline. LinkedIn headlines are a unique feature that can help you stand out. Your headline will automatically use your current job title from your “Experience” section, so try to customize it to showcase some of your strongest skill sets. Try to use action-oriented words. 

Pro Tip: Record and show how to pronounce your name in your headline. This way, when you meet someone from your network, they will know how to say your name correctly. This is a new feature that LinkedIn now offers.

• Keep your “About” Section Relevant. This is the place where you can share more about your experiences, expertise and interests. You can also share your vision you have for your role, your company, or potential employers. Try to update this quarterly to make sure it is relevant to who you are and what you do. 

• Make the most of your experience. Detail your current and past work experience to showcase your professional prowess. While this doesn’t need to read exactly like a resume, it is helpful to organize your experience in individual bullet points to make it easier to read.

Pro tip: You can list important skills for each job. This shows the high-level skills you gained in that role. 

• Tap into your Network. Now that your profile is built, start adding connections! You can start with current co-workers, friends, and family.  You should also add your Education as this allows you to expand your network further. You can use your school’s alumni group to connect with other graduates, make connections across industries, and search for job opportunities. 

• Request Recommendations. Recommendations can help you build credibility, social proof, and add a personal touch to your profile. Have a previous manager or coach who you connected with? Ask them to write you a short recommendation! You can do this directly through LinkedIn. 

• Be an active member of the LinkedIn community. Share relevant content, add comments, and showcase projects you’ve worked on that you are proud of. Show that you’re professionally engaged with your network through consistent engagement. 

For more information, check out our blog post for a comprehensive overview on how to build your LinkedIn Profile. 

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Building a Profile that Recruiters will Love 

Now that your profile is built, there are ways you can optimize it further to get noticed by recruiters. This means creating a stand-out headline, crafting your personal brand, and tapping into LinkedIn Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

• Showcase Your Unique Strengths in your Headline. This is the best place to advertise yourself to recruiters. Your headline should demonstrate the value you will add to future employers. It should include keywords for a job you are interested in, the industry you want to work in, and a unique value that is objectively true. As a collegiate student-athlete, include your major, professional interests, and athletic accomplishments.

Example: Team Captain | University of Michigan Women’s Soccer | Biology Major | Resilient Leader with a Passion for Global Health and Community Impact

• Indicate You’re Open to New Opportunities. You shouldn’t state this explicitly or generically in your headline. Use the “Open To” button to customize your ideal workplace, including location, in-person versus remote, and job preferences. 

Pro Tip: If you do not want your current employer to know you are searching for new roles, choose the “Recruiters only” option.  

• Create a Custom URL. This is a great hack to include your LinkedIn on your resume or business cards. You can personalize it with your name or company. You can do this by clicking on the pencil icon in the top right corner of your profile underneath “Public Profile & URL.” 

• Strategically Highlight Non-Work Interests. As worklife balance is becoming more prioritized, it is important for recruiters to see what your interests are outside of work. There is a specific “Interests” section you can add to your profile to showcase this, but you can also sprinkle personal details throughout your “About” section to spruce up your personal brand. 

• Elevate Your Personal Brand by Highlighting Key Achievements. Within your “Experience” section, focus on achievements alongside responsibilities. Quantify your achievements with numbers, percentages and specific outcomes you achieved on a given project. For special projects and achievements, make a post to show your pride for your hard work. Thank those who helped you reach this goal or milestone. 

• Leverage your Education. Join alumni groups and engage in professional networking. As you are searching for jobs, you will be able to see school alumni that work at particular employers. Don’t hesitate to reach out to them to get more information. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help you just based on the fact that you attended the same university. Networking on LinkedIn can be tough, so read through our other blog post on how to effectively network on LinkedIn. 

• Include Relevant Licenses & Certifications. This is great to add if you have a specialty or certification relative to your industry. This can show your level of expertise and value add for particular jobs you are applying for. 

• Tap into Social SEO. Social media is quickly becoming the next search engine. This means you should have relevant keywords on your profile for your interests and expertise so people can find you in their search results when they are looking for candidates on LinkedIn. 

Ways to Use ChatGPT to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile 

It’s nearly impossible to avoid the topic of AI when thinking about language optimization. While Chat GPT and other AI tools can be effective in enhancing your profile, be cautious not to overuse AI support. Here are our tips on how you can use Chat GPT to optimize your LinkedIn profile: 

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• Refine Your About and Experience Sections with AI Support. If you feel like concise writing isn’t one of your strengths, this may be a great opportunity to leverage AI. You can use it to improve your “About” section or to add in some keywords to make it more appealing for certain industries. A word of caution: do not use AI to completely generate these sections, you should just use it to refine something you’ve already written. Recruiters are keeping their eyes out for AI assisted content. 

• Discover High-Impact Keywords for LinkedIn SEO. Not sure where to start with LinkedIn SEO? Ask AI what is trending so you can try to fit this into your profile or posts. 

• Get Tailored Content Ideas. Sometimes it is difficult to come up with original content ideas or to figure out how you can contribute to trending conversations. This is another great opportunity to use AI to figure out how you can position yourself as a thought leader by making relevant and meaningful posts. 

5 Common LinkedIn Profile Mistakes To Avoid

There is a lot to think about when building an optimized LinkedIn profile. Take it one step at a time and work on it section by section so you don’t feel overwhelmed. When working on your profile, try to avoid these mistakes to ensure your profile is getting noticed. 

• A Missing Profile Photo. Nothing screams “bot” like a missing profile picture. People need to see and recognize you, and an up-to-date, high quality profile picture is the best way to do this. 

Pro Tip: Do NOT use AI to adjust or change your profile picture. This also gives signs of fakeness and may deter recruiters. 

• A Generic Headline. With over a billion users, a generic headline is one way to ensure you will blend in with the crowd. Adding in at least one unique element to your headline will increase your chances of standing out to recruiters and other users. 

• Underselling your story in the About Section. Neglecting your “About” section shows that you aren’t actively using LinkedIn, and that you don’t care to showcase your value to the world.  Use this area to keep your followers and recruiters up-to-date on your career journey and to hold yourself accountable in being an active member of the LinkedIn community. 

• An Empty Experience Section. Similar to your “About” section, your “Experience” section is crucial to showing recruiters and employers your skills and experiences. Leaving this section blank would be like forgetting to submit your resume on a job application. 

• Avoid Overloading or Underwhelming with Activity. LinkedIn is much more than a place to build a digital resume. To show your contributions and expertise beyond your experiences, you must engage with posts and other users. But finding a balance is crucial. Aim for at least one type of engagement per day and three posts per week. 

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