Let's Make A Killer LinkedIn Headline

Intro

One of the most valuable pieces of real estate on your LinkedIn profile is your headline.

Let me explain.

Remember, recruiters don’t use the regular LinkedIn website that you use as a job seeker. We use a completely different website/platform called LinkedIn Recruiter that pretty much mimics a job board.

As we are sifting through profiles while running through a search, your headline is the first thing we see.

Keep in mind, recruiters are extremely busy and move at lightning speed. If you have a generic headline that doesn’t pop out, you run the risk of a recruiter scrolling right past your profile.

Let’s dive in…

Step One: Everyone’s headline looks the same

Your official title might say “software engineer” but that doesn’t mean you have to use that on LinkedIn.

Doing a quick search on LinkedIn for java developers, this is what pops up. All I searched for was Java + Spring Boot + Microservices + Rest API + AWS.

These three headlines are very generic. Is it a deal breaker, no.

But - they do run the risk that recruiters are just scrolling right by their profile since “software engineer” can mean 50 different things in the tech world.

Not every recruiter is going to want to click through every single profile to make sure you’re the proper fit.

Also - keep in mind - UNLIKE the ATS - outbound recruiters don’t look through every profile (I mean, cmon, there are 11M results here). They only look until they have enough viable candidates.

So by sticking with software engineer, how do you know you won’t get stuck at the end of this pile?

2: Searching by title

Piggy backing off the above example, recruiters can also search by title when they are running a search.

So if you put your title as “software engineer”, chances are you won’t show up when a recruiter runs a “java developer” title search.

(Plus you’ll likely get spam DMs for other roles that dont fit your background because you call yourself a software engineer)

3: Title | Keywords

The best way to grab a recruiter’s attention. Both things we look for in your resume, your LinkedIn profile, all summed up in your headline.

You can’t miss us this way.

In this example, I ran a Java/Scala search for a client. This guy immediately pops up and stands out as I am sourcing profiles. No shot a recruiter would miss him.

The only thing I’d potentially add (not a deal breaker) is some sort of value prop. For example:

Software Developer | Java + Scala | Developing best-in-class consumer lending platforms

PS, I got this guy an interview within 24 hours.

4: Use the right keywords

Use the proper keywords to make sure you get picked up in our searches with your headline as well.

You don’t need to overload it, you can use the top 3 technologies your strongest with (and most marketable).

Title + Keyword, keyword, keyword.

They “keyword” (pun full intended) is the marketability. If you put HTML or CSS as UI Developer, that’s not going to matter that much.

But, if you add something like React + Redux + NodeJS…

You end up in my search when I didn’t even search by title. Magic!

5: Let’s Create A Killer Headline!

Remember: Title | Keywords | Value Prop

Software Engineer | Java + Spring Boot + AWS | Writing Clean, Concise, Scalable Code

UI Developer | Angular + TypeScript + APIs | Developing amazing responsive web designs

Data Engineer | Spark + Scala + SQL | Optimizing Data Infrastructure'

Product Manager | B2B Customer Journeys & Insights

For my entry/junior level folks…

Aspiring Software Engineer | React + Redux + JavaScript | Check Out My Github/Portfolio/Personal Projects

If you need more help…

Check out my job seekers ebook for half off!