How to write a LinkedIn About section people actually read

What the About section is for

Three different audiences read this section, often for different reasons. Recruiters land on it after finding you through a keyword search and want to confirm, in seconds, that you're relevant. Hiring managers who've been sent your profile by a colleague read it more slowly, looking for evidence and personality. Potential clients or collaborators read it to work out whether you can solve their specific problem. A good About section serves all three without trying to be everything at once.

The first two lines rule

LinkedIn truncates the About section after roughly the first two lines on both desktop and mobile, hiding the rest behind a 'see more' link. Most readers never click it. That means your opening line has to work as a stand-alone summary of who you are and what you do — not a warm-up sentence like 'I am a passionate professional with over ten years of experience...'. Lead with the most useful, specific information you have.

A simple structure

You don't need a rigid template, but most effective About sections follow a similar shape:

1. 1.Hook — one sharp line that says what you do and for whom, doing the job of a headline before the reader even sees 'see more'.
2. 2.What you do and for whom — a short paragraph expanding on your focus area, the kind of organisations or problems you work with, and your approach.
3. 3.Proof or achievements — a few concrete examples of results, projects or experience that back up the claim above, without turning into a list copied from your CV.
4. 4.What you're looking for, or how to reach you — a closing line inviting the right kind of contact, whether that's job opportunities, freelance enquiries or simply connection requests from your industry.

First person vs third person

First person ('I help...') tends to read as more personal and conversational, and works well for most individuals, freelancers and job seekers. Third person ('Jane helps...') can suit senior leaders or public-facing profiles where the section is written with a slightly more formal, biography-style tone. Neither is wrong; pick one and stay consistent rather than switching partway through.

Keywords recruiters search for

LinkedIn's search treats your About section as searchable text, alongside your headline and experience. Think about the exact terms someone would type to find a person like you: job titles, tools, methodologies, industries and certifications. Weave the two or three most important ones into your opening lines, since that's the part search results often display, and repeat the rest naturally through the body rather than listing them at the end.

Length guidance

There's no fixed word count, but the About section works best as a handful of short paragraphs rather than one dense block. Long enough to give real substance and evidence, short enough that someone scanning on their phone doesn't give up halfway. Break it into paragraphs with line spacing, since LinkedIn has no bold or bullet formatting in this field beyond what you type manually.

Example openings for different situations

These are examples of the approach, not templates to copy word for word — the details should be specific to you.

Job seeker

"I'm a supply chain analyst who enjoys untangling slow, manual processes and replacing them with something a team can actually rely on. Over the past six years I've worked across retail and logistics, most recently reducing reporting turnaround from days to hours."

Freelancer

"I write long-form product content for SaaS companies who need their docs and blog to sound like the same company. I've worked with early-stage teams through to established platforms, usually brought in when the existing content isn't converting or isn't being read at all."

Career changer

"After eight years in secondary school teaching, I'm moving into instructional design, bringing everything I learned about explaining complex ideas clearly to people who didn't ask to be confused. I've spent the past year building e-learning modules alongside my teaching role and I'm now looking for my first full-time position in the field."

Mistakes to avoid

• Starting with a generic line that could describe thousands of other profiles.
• Writing it as a copy-paste of your CV summary, dates and all.
• Overusing buzzwords like 'passionate', 'results-driven' or 'synergy' without backing them up.
• Leaving it blank or with the LinkedIn placeholder text still showing.
• Never updating it after a career change, so it describes a job you no longer do.

If you'd rather not start from a blank page, the LinkedIn Profile Rewrite tool can draft your About section alongside the rest of your profile, giving you a starting point to edit into your own voice.