EFL 5. Writing an effective LinkedIn Experience Section

Is the LinkedIn Experience Section a copy of your resume?

No.

Although this is a section that mirrors your resume with your specific skills, accreditations, education and work experiences, the Experience Section should not have as many details as your resume. It should rather be a summary of your experience that spotlights your main accomplishments. And it is important to use specific details and numbers to support your experiences and achievements, if you have them.

The Experience section should focus on your successes, results and impact. It should be your professional advertisement and show why someone would want to give you a job or work with you.

Let’s compare the most recent experiences in the Experience Sections from two different chefs, Ari and Tariq (from Jolda, 2019 [6]).

Comparison Example: Experience Section and achievements

Ari

Executive chef, Bistro Grill.

Managing a restaurant specializing in French cuisine,
controlling inventory weekly,
overseeing food production and
managing overall budget.

Tariq

Executive chef and owner, Lakehouse Restaurant.

I create memorable dining experiences that connect people to classic American Midwest culture through food.
I own and operate The Lakehouse Restaurant where our goal is to immerse you into elevated Midwestern cuisine one bite at a time.
As the winner of two James Beard Awards for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant, we’re just getting started.
I’ve built this business from the ground up in less than four years and grown profits more than 40%.

Tariq is successful in focusing on the impact he is making, and he highlights his dedication to and passion for creating memorable dining experiences. He tells a wonderful success story that features awards, the growth of his restaurant, and how he built up his business from nothing.

successful chess move like successful LinkedIn Experience section highlighting achievements — Write a winning Experience Section with achievement statements

Tip: Shorter phrases vs full sentences

On a language note, Ari uses brief phrases in his Experience Section while Tariq uses full sentences. For people who have little experience or are uncomfortable writing about themselves, phrases will be a good choice. If you have no good story or set of impressive accomplishments to share, the reader will appreciate reading a shorter and briefer Experience Section.

So, how do you plan to write the Experience section? Proctor (2019) [7] recommends a three-step re-writing formula to convert Work Experience from your resume to your LinkedIn Experience Section:

Step 1: Copy the information

Copy the work experience from your resume over to your LinkedIn profile. Break it up by company or position.

Step 2: Reformat

Remove the bullet points. Select your major achievements–quantifiable if possible–and remove the rest of the content. Put the most important information in the first four lines (before the cutoff).

Step 3: Edit

Make your content language like a conversation and engaging. It’s okay to say “I did XYZ.” Switching to the first-person perspective might take some rewriting, but it will make it more readable.

Look at your resume and select the main accomplishments and results you want to add to the Experience section

Practice

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Now, let’s take a look at an example of how a resume duties description compares to a LinkedIn Experience Section with revision notes in the middle column (modified from [7]).

Revision example 10. Before → After. Resume to Experience section with a focus on key achievements.

The original resume description here contains a lot of information about job duties and some achievements (in bold).

Director of Sales, Southwest Region – Chase | Los Angeles, CA

Led a team of two account executives. Together we managed a portfolio of 50+ clients and agencies. Our client base consisted of Fortune 500 companies from a wide range of industries including Entertainment, Auto, Technology, Fashion, Technology, and Travel.
Launched the company’s first app download campaign with a re-targeting strategy resulting in a two-day $500K package.
Managed risk by partnering with clients and other stakeholders for a seamless campaign launch.
Achieved sales pacing of 70% for the year a 150% year-over-year increase in annual revenue to $7.5M.Built relationships to foster better communication between the sales and operations teams, including weekly calls to collaborate on campaigns that resulted in a 33% increase in performance.
Streamlined client communication to be more responsive and timeline management that increased staff productivity.

In the following revision for the LinkedIn Experience Section, you can see that the main information (in bold) is still there, but the focus is only on the achievements. The other less important information has been removed.

Led a team that managed a 50+ client portfolio; we launched the firm’s first app download campaign while partnering with stakeholders to minimize risk and to streamline client communication.
Increased annual revenue by 150%, and team performance by 33%.

The writing of your Profile is the most important thing you will do on your LinkedIn account, so the writing needs to be clear, concise, correct and effective. The tips offered above will help you here.

However, here are some additional bonus tips to enhance your LinkedIn user account:

Customize your URL to make it easier to remember
Make connections
Endorse people for skills
Ask others to endorse you
Add attachments to the “About” section, such as awards, certificates, case studies, relevant reports or case studies you made, or testimonials; these attachments can be PDFs, photos or videos.

Now you have the guidelines to write an outstanding LinkedIn profile, just do it and get on the network that can help you make connections with over 740 million users who might be a recruiting headhunter, potential business connection, client or partner.