Lesson Introduction
The About section of your LinkedIn profile, previously known as the Summary, offers a unique opportunity to present a well-rounded view of your professional self. Unlike the more structured Skills and Experience sections, the About section allows for creativity and personalization, enabling you to weave a narrative that connects your past achievements with your future aspirations.
The Purpose of the About Section
- Personal Branding: It’s where you can express your professional identity beyond job titles and skills.
- Engagement: A well-crafted About section draws readers into your profile, encouraging them to explore more.
- Connection: This section can make your profile more relatable, building a stronger connection with your audience by sharing your motivations, interests, and professional philosophy.
Expert Tip
In courses two and three we will be optimizing your Skills Section and your Experience Section. It is highly likely that you gain a fresh perspective that will see you editing your About Section again.
Crafting Your About Section
- Start with a Hook: Begin with an engaging opening that captures attention. Consider starting with a question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement. If you’re really happy with your LinkedIn Headline covered in the previous course, you can consider starting with that.
- Tell Your Story: Share your professional journey, significant achievements, and lessons learned. Highlight experiences that demonstrate your skills and values.
- Professional Philosophy and Aspirations: Briefly touch on your professional ethos, what drives you, and where you aim to go in your career.
- Skills and Expertise: While you’ve listed skills elsewhere, here you can contextualize them within your career narrative, explaining how they’ve been critical to your success.
- Personal Touch: Add a sentence or two about your interests outside of work to provide a glimpse into who you are as a person.
- Call To Action: Conclude with a prompt for the reader to connect with you, whether they’re potential employers, colleagues, or collaborators.
Best Practices for the About Section
- Keep It Concise: You have a whopping 2600 characters to play with, but you don’t have to use them all. Ultimately aim for four to six short paragraphs. You want to be thorough yet succinct. But don’t worry if it’s ten paragraphs if your story is amazing.
- Keep It Positive: Celebrate your past and current profession achievements and journey.
- Use the First Person: Write in the first person to keep your summary personal and relatable. Use words like I and We.
- Optimize with Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords naturally to improve your visibility in LinkedIn search results and Google/Bing search results.
- Break Up the Text: No one enjoys reading a wall of text. Use spacing and bullet points to make the section easy to scan.
CONCLUSION
Your About section is more than just a summary of your professional life; it’s the heart of your LinkedIn profile. It’s where you can truly engage with your audience, share your story, and articulate your professional vision. Invest the time to make it compelling, and it will enhance every other section of your profile.
Action
Review and possibly rewrite your About section. Does it capture your professional essence and make a memorable impression? Ensure it aligns with your overall LinkedIn strategy, adding depth and personality to your profile.
Update Your About Section
- Go to your LinkedIn profile.
- Scroll to the ‘About’ section and click on the pencil icon to edit.
- Craft your narrative, focusing on making it engaging and reflective of your professional journey.
- Save your changes once you’re satisfied with your entry.
