LinkedIn For Dummies. Joel Elad

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       Be concise. Remember, this is a summary, not a 300-page memoir. Most summaries are one paragraph long, with a separate paragraph to list your skills and specialties. Give the highlights of what you’ve accomplished and are planning to do. Save the detailed information for when you add your individual employment positions to your profile.

       Choose three to five of your most important accomplishments. Your profile can have lots of detail regarding your jobs, skill sets, education, and honors, but your summary needs to reflect the three to five items throughout your career that you most want people to know. Think of it this way: If someone were introducing you to another person, what would you want this new person to know about you right away? Depending on your goals for LinkedIn, the accomplishments you put in your summary might not be your biggest accomplishments overall. For example, if you’re trying to use LinkedIn to get a new job, your summary should include accomplishments that matter most to an employer in your desired field.

       Organize your summary in a who, what, goals format. Typically, the first sentence of your summary should be a statement of who you are currently, meaning your current profession or status; for example, “Software project manager with extensive experience in Fortune 500 firms.” The next few sentences should focus on what you’ve accomplished so far in your career, and the end of your summary should focus on your goals.

       Use the right keywords. Keywords are especially important if you’re looking for a new job or hoping to pick up some consulting work. Although you should use a few keywords in your professional experience paragraph, you should use all the appropriate keywords for skills you’ve acquired when you write the Specialties section of your summary. Potential employers scan that section first, looking for the right qualifications, before making any contact. If you’re unsure what keywords are the most important, scan the profiles of people in your industry, see what articles they’re posting, or look at job opportunity postings in your field to see what employers want when they hire personnel with your title.

       Be honest with your skills, but don’t be shy. Some people stuff their Summary section with the buzzworthy skills for their industry (even if the person doesn’t know those skills at all) in hopes of catching a potential employer’s eye. Typically, a prospective employer can detect this resume skill padding during the interview phase, which wastes everybody’s time. Conversely, some people don’t include a skill in their Summary unless they feel they’re an expert. You should list any skill or specialty that you believe puts you above the level of a novice or pure beginner.

      1 Click the Me icon in the top navigation bar, and then click View Profile from the drop-down list that appears.Your profile page appears.

      2 Scroll down to and complete the About section:Click the pencil icon to the right of the About section. The Edit About box appears, as shown in Figure 3-8, where you can update your summary.In the Summary text box, enter a paragraph or two that sums you up professionally (as discussed in the preceding section). You can enter your skills and specialties in a separate list or paragraph. You’re limited to 2,600 characters; keep your text concise and focused. If you decide to create a skills list, separate each item with a comma and don’t put any punctuation after the last item in your list. You don’t need to press Enter or Return between skills.

      3 Click the Save button.This step updates your summary (About section) in your profile.