How to write the headline ✍🏻
Software Engineer @ Google | ex Amazon?
One of the very first steps of your LinkedIn profile is finding the right headline.
The headline is that short sentence, right below your name / surname, which should give the reader a quick idea of what you do as a job or what field you study.
This element is probably more important than your name. It’s the space where you can really catch the attention of people.
In this post, we will see that there are various ways to trigger this attention. It can be your role, the name of the company you work for, the name of the company you worked for before… 😏
After reading probably thousands of headlines, I think I have a strong idea of which headlines work better on this platform.
But before doing this, let me make an important premise:
While you think about what to write, bear in mind that the headline is not displayed just on your profile, exactly as it happens with your profile picture… (read my post if you haven’t yet)
…your headline is also displayed
in the feed (when you react to a post)
in the suggested people on your profile or on the My Network tab
in the people that visited a profile
when you comment on another post
when you write a post
when somebody searches for you
So, as you can imagine, there is not much space for long sentences. This means there’s a concrete risk that your headline will be cut like this:
“Enthusiast working for a dynamic and innovative comp…” 👎🏻
As a consequence, the very first characters will determine 80% of the perception users will have of you.
From that, we can already tell that we need to compress the important information at the very beginning of the headline, and that, in general, the shorter the headline, the better.
If you are a Student
There are three types of information you might want to add:
which kind of degree (Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, PhD)
which faculty
which University
here is how I would approach it:
❌ Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science Student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
✅ BSc Computer Science @ MIT
✅ Computer Science Student @ MIT
💡 Tip: If you really want to save space, and only if your university is not a super prestigious name (e.g., MIT, Stanford), remove it from your headline and edit your profile:
Fill the Education field with your school
Check the field “Show school in my intro”
This will have the effect of adding a footer right below your headline with the school you are attending. Remember, this is visible only once the user is on your profile.
This way, you have really maximized the available space for your headline.
If it’s your first position
The rule here is pretty simple:
<role> @ <company>
easy peasy lemon squeezy 🍋
There’s not much you need to do. Just stick to the position for which you were hired and the name of the company.
🙋🏻♂️ “Why @ and not at”? Because it’s 1 character vs 2.
For this category, I don’t recommend using acronyms but go with a simple clear description:
❌ Jr. SWE @ J.P. Morgan
✅ Junior Software Engineer @ J.P. Morgan
💡 Tip: Sometimes, you can take the liberty of slightly adjusting your official job title. Of course, you shouldn’t invent things, but, for example, a title like PHP Developer might be a bit too restrictive, as it could tie you forever to that programming language. I recommend staying generic and writing Software Developer in that case.
💡 Another Tip: Once you’re no longer a student, unless you have attended very prestigious academic Universities, it’s not useful to keep your school in your profile. Instead, include the geographical area where you’re based: it’s more relevant for your professional network!
If you are gaining Seniority
It might happen that your official job title is still Software Developer but you have gained seniority and, maybe, inside your company you also manage (or mentor) some people.
In that case, there’s nothing wrong with changing the title in
👉🏻 Team Leader @ <company>
👉🏻 Tech Lead @ <company>
👉🏻 Lead Software Engineer @ <company>
💡 Tip: The general rule is that it’s okay to adapt your role as long as:
You don’t lie
There isn’t another job with that title in your company.
If you worked for multiple companies
Here is where you should reflect on whether it makes sense to structure your headline like this:
<role> @ <new company> | ex <old company>
In this case, keep in mind that it only makes sense to name the old company if:
It is popular
It has good reputation
💡 Tip: If you worked for 3 FAANG companies, it’s really impressive to see
ex Google, ex Amazon, ex Apple
but it’s pretty obvious that the list starts to get long and you basically sacrifice all the space for it. Also, consider that if you are in that situation, it’s very likely that also your current company is extremely popular and with good reputation, so it’s probable that mentioning it, will be enough for your headline.
If you have multiple roles
In this category there are many individuals:
Board members that cover multiple roles
Advisors for different companies
Fractional CTOs
Software Engineers who have a Newsletter
Software Engineers who organize Meetups
Software Engineers who own a service / platform
Software Engineers who are ambassadors for another organization
Anybody with relevant activities apart from their main job
In this case, it makes sense to think about writing:
<role> @ <company> | <secondaryRole> @ <organization>
Depending on your commitment to side projects, you might even extend this syntax to include a third or fourth element.
In rare cases, I’ve seen people list six or seven different roles. Unless you’re already a LinkedIn Top Voice, I don’t recommend doing this.
In general, be very parsimonious with them. The golden rule is, again, space. What matters most is the beginning of your headline.
Also, consider that when somebody visits your profile, reading three or four lines of a headline becomes overwhelming. Paradoxically, people are more likely to pay attention to a short, simple, and clear description.
💡 Tip: Don’t include things that could go in their own section (e.g., certifications). Highlight only what you truly want to promote, prioritizing current activities.
The Secret Bug 👀
When you need more than one line, it would be better for the human eye to break it at each “|”.
However, if you try doing that, LinkedIn Web will continue to display everything like this
However, if you go on Mobile, you see it correctly formatted!
👉🏻 And some extras
If your profile is in multiple languages, remember there’s a headline for each language (and you need to update all versions!)
Avoid UPPERCASE as much as possible (it’s well-documented that it’s less readable).
Select your current position so that the logo of your company appears next to your headline.