Your LinkedIn Profile Is Costing You Interviews. Here Is How to Fix It.

LinkedIn has over a billion members. Recruiters use it as their primary sourcing tool. If your profile is not optimised, you are invisible to a significant portion of the people who could change your career.

Here is what actually matters — and what does not.

Your headline is not your job title

The default LinkedIn headline is your current job title. This is a wasted opportunity. Your headline is your 220-character pitch to everyone who sees your name. It should answer: what do you do, for whom, and what is the result? "Finance Manager | Driving cost reduction and reporting accuracy in high-growth tech companies" is infinitely more compelling than "Finance Manager at XYZ Corp."

Your summary should sound like a person wrote it

Most LinkedIn summaries read like a formal biography written by a committee. The people who get the most traction write their summary in first person, with a point of view. What do you care about? What kind of problems do you enjoy solving? What are you looking for next? Authenticity stands out in a sea of corporate copy.

Quantify everything you can

Numbers do the work that adjectives cannot. "Experienced sales professional" tells a recruiter nothing. "Grew ANZ territory revenue from $2M to $5.4M over 18 months" tells them everything they need to know. Go through every role and ask: is there a number I could attach to this achievement?

Skills and endorsements still matter

LinkedIn's search algorithm weights profiles with relevant skills. Make sure your skills section reflects the language used in job descriptions for roles you are targeting — not just what you think your skills are called.

Activity signals intent

Profiles of people who post or engage regularly show up more in recruiter searches. You do not need to post every day. But a thoughtful comment on an industry article, or a short post about something you have learned, signals that you are engaged in your field.

Your LinkedIn profile is your professional shop window. Most people leave it dark.