How to Format a LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is more than a digital resume, it's your professional storefront, working for you 24/7. A well-formatted profile isn't just about listing your jobs - it's about telling a compelling story that attracts opportunities, builds your brand, and connects you with the right people. This guide breaks down exactly how to format every section step-by-step to get the results you want.

First Impressions Count: Your Profile Photo and Banner

Before anyone reads a single word about your experience, they see your photos. These visual elements set the tone for your entire profile and can either invite people in or make them scroll away. Paying attention to them is a simple but powerful first step.

Your Profile Picture: The Virtual Handshake

Your profile picture is your digital first impression. A blurry, cropped photo from a friend's wedding isn't going to cut it. Aim for a professional, high-resolution headshot where your face takes up about 60% of the frame. It tells people you’re friendly, approachable, and take your professional presence seriously.

Do:

• Use a recent, high-quality photo. It should look like you. Don't use a picture from ten years ago.
• Smile genuinely. A warm, authentic smile makes you seem more approachable. Think of it as a friendly first handshake.
• Dress professionally. Wear what you would wear to work or to a meeting with a new client. This doesn't necessarily mean a suit, but it should be professional for your industry.
• Use a simple or blurred background. The focus should be entirely on you. A solid-colored wall, a blurred-out office, or a simple outdoor setting all work well.

Don't:

• Use a selfie. The angle can be distorting, and it just looks less professional.
• Include other people. Your profile picture should be of you and only you. Don't make recruiters guess which one you are.
• Have a distracting background. A messy room or a crowded party scene takes the focus off of you.
• Wear sunglasses or a hat. Let people see your eyes, it builds trust.

Your Banner Image: The Digital Billboard

The default blue banner on LinkedIn is a huge missed opportunity. It’s like owning a billboard and leaving it blank. Your banner image is prime real estate to quickly communicate your brand, value proposition, or personality.

Ideas for formatting your banner image:

• Show What You Do: If you're a photographer, use a stunning landscape shot. If you're a developer, maybe an abstract image hinting at code. If you speak at events, a picture of you on stage is powerful social proof.
• Display Your Brand or Company: If you're a business owner or a proud employee, using your company's official branding is a great choice. It reinforces your affiliation and shows brand alignment.
• Include a Tagline: Use a simple tool like Canva to create a banner that includes a tagline or a short sentence about who you help and how. For example, "Empowering SaaS Startups with Data-Driven Content Marketing."
• List Your Services or Areas of Expertise: You can use simple icons and text to highlight what you specialize in, like "Social Media Strategy | Personal Branding | Content Creation."
• Contact Information: For professionals like real estate agents or consultants, adding a professional email or website directly onto the banner can be very effective.

Whatever you choose, make sure it’s high-resolution (LinkedIn recommends 1584 x 396 pixels) and complements your profile picture rather than clashing with it.

Craft Your Perfect Pitch: The Headline and About Section

After your visuals, the next thing someone reads is your headline. If it grabs their attention, they’ll move on to your About section. These two pieces of text are your elevator pitch - make every word count.

Your Headline: More Than Just a Job Title

By default, LinkedIn populates your headline with your current job title and company. That's fine, but it doesn't tell people what you do or why it matters. A great headline is part job title, part value proposition, and part brand statement.

Instead of just "Marketing Manager at Company X," try a formula that communicates value:

Formula: [Your Role] at [Your Company] | Helping [Your Target Audience] to [Achieve a Result]

Example: "Senior Content Manager at InnovateTech | Helping B2B SaaS Companies Build Organic Traffic & Drive Pipeline with Strategic Content"

Other effective headline formats:

• Highlighting specialty keywords: "Software Engineer specializing in Python, AI, and Machine Learning | Building Scalable Solutions for the Fintech Industry"
• Stating your mission: "Founder & CEO | On a Mission to Make Financial Literacy Accessible for Everyone"
• Focusing on the benefit you provide: "I help burned-out project managers streamline their workflows so they can get 20 hours back in their week."

Use the full 220 characters LinkedIn gives you. Pack it with keywords people might search for to find someone with your skills.

The About Section: Your Professional Story

This is where you bring your personality and professional journey to life. Do not write it in the third person or just copy-paste your resume. This section is your chance to tell a story and connect with your reader on a human level.

Structure your About section for readability and impact:

1. The Hook (First 1-2 Sentences): Start with a strong statement that grabs attention and summarizes your core value. This is the only part people see before clicking "See more," so make it count.
2. What You Do & Who You Help (The Body): In the next two paragraphs, elaborate on your hook. What problem do you solve? Who do you solve it for? What's your unique approach or philosophy? This is where you can talk about your passion and expertise.
3. Proof of Your Expertise (Achievements): Add a short, bulleted list of 2-4 key accomplishments. Quantify them with numbers whenever possible. For example: "Led a content strategy that increased organic traffic by 300% in 12 months."
4. A Glimpse of You (Optional but Recommended): Add a short sentence about your interests outside of work. It helps humanize you and creates another potential point of connection. "When I'm not writing code, you can find me hiking with my dog or mentoring at the local coding bootcamp."
5. Call to Action (The Close): Tell the reader what you want them to do next. Do you want them to connect? Visit your portfolio? Book a call? Be specific. "Feel free to connect or drop me a message. You can also view my portfolio here: [link]."

Tell Your Story: Formatting the Experience Section

Many people treat the Experience section like a simple resume upload, listing drab job duties. To make your profile stand out, format each role to showcase results and contributions, not just responsibilities.

Focus on Accomplishments, Not Just Duties

Under each job title, use 3-5 bullet points to highlight your most important achievements. Anyone can guess what a "Sales Manager" does, but they want to know what you achieved. Instead of describing your tasks, describe the outcome of those tasks.

Boring Duty:

• Responsible for managing social media accounts and creating content.

Impactful Accomplishment:

• Developed and executed a multi-channel social media strategy that doubled platform engagement and grew our follower count by 50k in one year.

Struggling to think of achievements? Use the STAR method to frame your points:

• Situation: What was the context?
• Task: What was your responsibility?
• Action: What specific steps did you take?
• Result: What was the quantifiable outcome? (e.g., increased revenue by X%, reduced costs by Y%, improved efficiency by Z%).

Enrich Your Experience with Media

Don't forget to use the "Add media" function within each job role. This is an incredibly powerful, yet underutilized, feature. You can link to articles you've written, videos you've produced, presentations you've given, or projects you’re proud of. This brings your work to life and provides concrete proof of your skills.

Establish Trust: Skills, Endorsements, and Recommendations

This section is all about social proof. What you say about yourself is one thing, but what others say about you carries much more weight. A well-formatted skills and recommendations section acts as third-party validation of your abilities.

Strategize Your Skills and Get Endorsed

LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skills. While you should use as many relevant slots as you can, the top three are most important because they appear "pinned" on your profile without readers needing to expand the section. Pin your three most valuable and relevant skills to the top. When people endorse you for these skills, it immediately signals your top area of expertise.

Actively Seek Recommendations

A personal, written recommendation is far more powerful than a simple skill endorsement. It speaks to your character, work ethic, and specific contributions. But most people just wait and hope to receive them.

Instead, actively request them from former managers, clients, or colleagues you’ve worked closely with. When you request a recommendation through LinkedIn, don’t use the generic template. Write a personalized note reminding them of a specific project you worked on together to jog their memory. For instance: "Hi Jane, I hope you're doing well! I'm updating my LinkedIn profile and was wondering if you’d be willing to write a brief recommendation about our work together on the Q4 product launch last year. I especially valued your feedback on the project management side." Don't forget to give recommendations as well - it's a great way to build goodwill.

Show, Don't Just Tell: The Featured and Activity Sections

These final sections are about showcasing what you’re working on and thinking about right now. They prove that you’re an active, engaged professional in your field.

Spotlight Your Best Work in the Featured Section

The Featured section sits prominently near the top of your profile. Use it to pin your most valuable content or proudest achievements. This is your personal portfolio. You can feature:

• LinkedIn posts or articles you've written.
• External links to your blog, portfolio, or a project you've completed.
• Media like presentations or short videos.

Update this section every few months to keep it fresh and aligned with your current goals.

Your Activity Shows You're Engaged

Your activity section shows a feed of your recent posts, comments, and likes. Someone viewing your profile will likely check this to see if you are active and to get a feel for your professional opinions. Simply posting thoughtful content or leaving insightful comments on others' posts a few times a week shows that you're an active voice in your industry. It keeps your profile from feeling like a dusty, static document.

Final Thoughts

Formatting your LinkedIn profile isn't a complex mystery, it's about shifting your mindset from creating a passive resume to building an active and engaging professional landing page. By carefully crafting each section, you tell a cohesive story that works for you every single day.

Consistently posting and engaging on the platform is what truly keeps a profile alive and in front of the right audience. To manage our team's content strategy across all social platforms, we rely on Postbase. Having a visual calendar helps us plan our LinkedIn content alongside everything else, so our profiles are always showcasing fresh, valuable insights without the last-minute stress.