By turning resumes into a functional social networking profile, LinkedIn has revolutionized the way folks look for work. It’s a place where, as well as being able to reach out to like-minded professionals, you are able to build your own brand and allow them to reach out to you.
In fact, LinkedIn is such a valuable resource when it comes to modern employment, it is usually recruiters’ first port of call when it comes to finding a candidate who is the right fit for a job. And this is why, according to TikToker Michael, your LinkedIn headline is so important.
Posting under the handle @findfulfillingwork, Michael has built a formidable TikTok following by providing advice on careers and how to search for a job in the digital age. He’s made content on a variety of different issues in the past, including finding the perfect job as an introvert, and in his latest video, he explained how LinkedIn headlines can be the key to getting the job of your dreams.
“On LinkedIn, I’ve been seeing these posts where people have been applying for jobs for months and haven’t heard anything back, even some of them facing homelessness,” he began. “And I always go to the profile, and I’m noticing a pattern of those people.”
@findfulfillingwork #jobsearch #linkedin ♬ original sound – Michael | Career Advice
From there, Michael showed a number of common LinkedIn headline styles and explained why they wouldn’t lead to success in the job hunt. One headline example, which said “Creator, Leader, Entrepreneur,” wouldn’t lead the candidate to employment because, according to Michael, it is “too generic.”
“A recruiter is not going to be able to find you,” he explained. “And if they do find you, this is going to make them abandon your profile.” He urged that when it comes to building a LinkedIn profile, “your headline needs to talk about the job that you want.”
Along with vagueness, he added that another common pitfalls when it comes to LinkedIn headlines is making them too “creative” or “personal”—one example of a headline like this he used was a LinkedIn user who referred to themselves as a “puzzle master extraordinaire,” which doesn’t work on a platform like LinkedIn because, he explained, “LinkedIn is just business.”
So, how do we make the perfect LinkedIn headline? For Michael, the perfect headline has three main components.
“First, you put your current role,” he explained.” If you don’t have one, put customer service professional or marketing professional. Then, [put] the industry you want—you might put direct-to-consumer, SAAS, medical, healthcare,—and the last [part] can be a problem you solve, or specific technologies you know.”
In other words, when it comes to the world of LinkedIn, it really is as easy as one, two, three. Once you’ve got your perfect headline, the final step, Michael added, is to “optimize your LinkedIn”—something he says is easily achievable by just copying over whatever’s on your resume.
The Daily Dot reached out to Michael via email for comment.