With so many people accessing LinkedIn & posting highly visual content on their profiles, it gets very hard to grab & hold the attention of your customers, collaborators & future employees on your profile.
Today, I’ll share some of the key tips that could make your LinkedIn profile stand out by making a few simple changes to your headline & your about/experience section.
Why is your Headline important?
You must have noticed that apart from the name & picture, a Headline is the only section of your profile that is visible to users in the search results.
Your position on the LinkedIn ranking depends on your headline when anyone uses a search filter.
Even when you comment on a post, it is your headline that is visible to everyone & could potentially create an impact. A perfect headline can build your chance to pull others to your profile to find out more about you.
What should your Headline say?
Your headline is what makes you stand out. So, it should give an impression of who you are & what you do.
By default, LinkedIn puts your current position & company as your headline.
But wait!
Do you really have to stick to that?
Of course Not.
You have 220 characters in which you can sum up all your skills.
So, choose your words wisely.
Choosing the Right Words
You have 220 characters to describe yourself so each word counts.
Your headline should contain keywords that your prospects or employers would most likely be searching.
Those keywords also help LinkedIn to decide how to rank your profile in the search results. The more relevant keywords you use, the higher you rank.
Be Creative
A simple & catchy brand slogan is something that always stays in your mind.
Since, you are also selling your services, you can wrap your selected keywords with a catchy phrase or a sentence.
This will make your headline sound more original & authentic. Thus, making your headline stand out amongst your competitors.
Make it Visually Attractive
Wondering how you could structure your headline?
Well, it is not important that all your 220 characters have to be letters only. You can make a list of all skills instead of sentences & separate them by using symbols.
Here are a few symbols that you can use with your keywords in the headline:
★ ✶✮✭✯☆✰⛥✫ ╰☆╮ * ✪☼❊
⊙ ◍ ❅✺ ■ 
️ 
️●
️
✦♦ ◆
❖
♫ ♲ 
♺ ♼ 
◑
️☼
✺✻✼
❅❆
❈❉❊ ⊕ ✇ ∆ 
️
️ 
️
️
️ ϟ ☾ 
♡
️
️
️
️
️
️
♘♞
️
️
️ 
️
️
️
️
️
️ 
⚐ ⚑➢ ►◄ ➤▷◁ ▹◃⇌⇛➧➛➙➜➥ ➸ »––>⇝➺⇥ 
⇨⇦ ⇧ ⇩↔
️
��
✘
️
️
️
√ 
️①②③④⑤⑥⑦⑧⑨⑩ ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏ ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓1️⃣ 2️⃣ 3️⃣ 4️⃣ 5️⃣ 6️⃣ 7️⃣ 8️⃣ 9️⃣ 1️⃣ 0️⃣ ⓦ ⓔ ✆ 
️ 
≤ ≥ ❝ ❞ « » ‟ ⟨ ⟩
# ⛶ $ ¢ £ ¥ € ™ © ® 
🆂🅴🆁🆅🅸🅲🅴🆂
️
️✎
✐
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬ ▢ ▣ ▤ ▥ ▦ ▧ ▨ ▩
Traditional Bullets & Ticks
■ □ ◊ ● ♦ ◘ √ ✘ ☐ ☒ ✓ ✕
Bullets
■ ♦ ◆ ● ۞ ☼ ◊ ◘ ▬ ╔
Stars
★ ☆ ✱ ❉ ❊ ✪ ✯✰✚ ✜ ❂ ⋆ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯ ✰ ★ ✱ ✲ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ❅ ❆ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ╰☆╮ ❂
Arrows & Pointers
☛☚☜☞☟⇨ ► ◄ ► » ► ◄▲▼⇒⇓⇔⇕⇖⇗⇘⇙⇚⇛ –► ⋘ ⋙
➟ ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➚ ➘ ➙ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➸ ➲ ➳ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↰ ↱ ↲ ↳ ↴ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ↼ ↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇎ ⇏ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣ ⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇧ ⇨ ⇩ ⇪
✎ ✑
Phone
✆ ☏
Fun Symbols
��♫ ♥ ツ ❢ ✽ ♥ ☊ ☗ ♘ ♝ ♫ € ₤ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♭ ♮♯ ت ツ ッ シ Ü (◕‿◕✿) ●‿● ಠ_ಠ 【ツ】��
Queen, King & Chess
♕ ♔ ♛ ♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙ ♚ ♛ ♜ ♝ ♞ ♟
Miscellaneous Symbols
™ © ® ℠
Ratios, Numbers, and Alphabet
⅟ ½ ⅓ ¾ ⅔ ⅕ ⅖ ⅗ ⅘ ⅙ ⅚ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ ⅰ ⅱ ⅲ ⅳ ⅴ ⅵ ⅶ ⅷ ⅸ ⅹ ➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅ ➆ ➇ ➈ ➉ ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏ ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓ ⓐ ⓑ ⓒ ⓓ ⓔ ⓕ ⓖ ⓗ ⓘ ⓙ ⓚ ⓛ ⓜ ⓝ ⓞ ⓟ ⓠ ⓡ ⓢ ⓣ ⓤ ⓥ ⓦ ⓧ ⓨ ⓩ
Horizontal Lines – Dividers
☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲☲
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Birthday Greetings
♫♪♥♥[̲̅̅H̲̅][̲̅̅A̲̅][̲̅̅P̲̅][̲̅̅P̲̅][̲̅̅Y̲̅] [̲̅̅B̲̅][̲̅̅I̲̅][̲̅̅R̲̅][̲̅̅T̲̅][̲̅̅H̲̅][̲̅̅D̲̅][̲̅̅A̲̅][̲̅̅Y̲̅]♥♥♫♪
★ *˛ ˚♥* ✰。˚ ˛˚ ♥ 。✰˚* ˚ ★
.•°*”˜˜”*°•. ˜”*°• •°*”˜ .•°*”˜˜”*°•.
.•°*”˜ Happy Birthday !!! ˜”*°•.
.•°*”˜.•°*”˜.•°*”˜ ˜”*°•.˜”*°•.˜”*°•.
★ *˛ ˚♥* ✰。˚˛˚ ♥ 。✰˚* ˚ ★
♫♫.•*¨`*•..¸♥☼♥ ¸.•*¨`*•.♫♫♫
╔═════════ ೋღღೋ ═════════╗
*♫H░A░P░P░Y░♥B░I░R░T░H░D░A░Y♫ *
╚═════════ ೋღღೋ ═════════╝
Feeling a bit childish?
Oh c’mon!
These symbols may seem to be a little immature but if you want to make your profile interactive, these symbols are a must.
This will make your headline noticeable, thus, giving you an advantage over others who are just using simple text.
Do try this out!
Your Summary & Experience Section
In January 2018, LinkedIn updated its privacy settings, after which you could only see the contact details of people you are already connected to.
This update surely built a barrier between your customers, collaborators and future employees. On the other hand, spams were significantly reduced.
You can use iconography in the summary to make your contact information visible.
Strategic Placement
To place your symbols correctly is very important.
You can use symbols in your summary section to engage readers faster because most of the viewers are suffering from scroll-fatigue & they just don’t want to that anymore.
In this situation, your symbols will pin point the keywords in your summary, making your summary more noticeable & a lot easier for the viewer to read.
Experience Section
Keeping in mind that you can use symbols in your headline, remember, the symbols given in this blog are just a fraction of what you can really use. So, check out all the symbols that are there in your phone.
You can also use symbols instead of bullets to make your achievements & skills really stand out.
Another big mistake that people make is that they simply cut & paste their resume in this section.
Never do that!
This gives the reader absolutely no reason to get in touch with you. So, give short overviews of all your action-oriented works.
The example below demonstrates how iconography enhances readability & makes the subject more interesting…
