Adding courses to your LinkedIn profile is a great way to showcase your education, skills and interests. Whether you recently completed a course or want to highlight courses from earlier in your career, LinkedIn makes it easy to add courses and display your academic achievements.
Why Add Courses to LinkedIn?
Here are some of the key reasons to add courses to your LinkedIn profile:
- Showcase your education – Adding courses displays your academic background and helps validate your skills and knowledge in certain subjects.
- Highlight continuing education – Displaying courses demonstrates your commitment to ongoing learning and improving your skills over time.
- Share specific skills – Courses allow you to highlight proficiency in specialized programs, software, techniques and other areas that may not be obvious from your work experience alone.
- Connect with classmates – LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with other people who have taken the same courses and tap into shared interests and experiences.
- Stand out in search – Courses make your profile more well-rounded and can help you stand out in LinkedIn searches, especially if you have limited work history.
- Support career goals – Showcasing relevant courses and certifications can give your profile a boost when it comes to recruiting, job searches and career advancement.
Overall, adding courses serves as an opportunity to fill out your profile, demonstrate your passion for learning and potentially connect with more like-minded professionals on LinkedIn.
How to Add Courses on LinkedIn
Adding courses to your LinkedIn profile is a simple process that can be done in a few steps:
- Go to your profile page and click on the “Add profile section” button. Choose “Education” from the dropdown menu.
- Click on the option for “Courses”. Then click on the “+” icon to add a new course.
- Search for the course name and select it from the results. If the course doesn’t appear, you can manually enter the details.
- Add information including the course name, organization, dates attended and description.
- Choose whether you want the course to appear under your Education or separate Courses section.
- Click “Save” to add the course to your profile.
Once you save the course, it will appear in your profile and will be visible to other LinkedIn members. You can add as many courses as you like and rearrange the order in which they are displayed.
Tips for Adding Courses
Follow these tips to make the most of the courses section on your LinkedIn profile:
- Add both online and in-person courses – Don’t just include certificate programs or formal qualifications. Add any relevant seminars, conferences, workshops and informal classes as well.
- Include details – For each course, provide information like the instructor’s name, topics covered, skills learned, duration, etc. This gives viewers more context.
- Focus on relevance – Only highlight courses that are related to your target career path and areas of expertise. Don’t clutter your profile with unrelated or outdated courses.
- Include logos – If the course has an organization logo, add it to make the listing more visually appealing.
- Use keywords – Incorporate keywords from the course in your description so it’s easily found in LinkedIn searches.
- Link to certifications – If you received a certificate or digital badge for completing a course, provide a link to verify it.
- Reorder as needed – Edit the sequence of courses to showcase your most recent or relevant classes first.
Connecting with Classmates
One of the benefits of adding courses is being able to reconnect with former classmates who are also on LinkedIn. Here are some tips for leveraging your shared educational experiences:
- Review classmates – Look at who else from your courses is on LinkedIn and connect with relevant individuals.
- Join alumni groups – Search for school or course-specific groups to network within those communities.
- Mention connections – In your profile, note if you’re already connected to anyone noteworthy from your courses.
- Give recommendations – Endorse classmates for skills you know they possess or write recommendations to validate their abilities.
- Comment on updates – Engage with your connections by commenting on their posts and reacting to their updates.
- Send messages – Directly reach out to classmates to start meaningful conversations and rekindle relationships.
Tapping into these shared experiences and contacts can be valuable for networking, mentorship, career advice and much more.
Showcasing Certificates or Accomplishments
For some courses, you may have earned a certificate, digital badge or other symbol of completion. You can showcase these accomplishments on your LinkedIn profile:
- Add certification details – Include the certification name, issuing organization, date obtained and expiration if applicable.
- Link to credential – Provide a URL link that verifies the credential, if available publicly.
- Upload image – Add an image of the certificate or badge to your course listing to make it stand out visually.
- Note accomplishments – Highlight key details like if you graduated with honors or earned a high score on a certification exam.
- Feature badge – LinkedIn now allows you to add digital badges to your profile. Enable this in Settings to automatically showcase badges.
Proper validation of any credentials you’ve earned can give you more credibility and help you stand out to employers or clients.
Editing or Reordering Courses
Over time as you take new classes or your priorities shift, you may need to make adjustments to your LinkedIn courses. Here are tips for managing courses after adding them:
- Reorder as needed – Drag and drop courses to customize the order in which they appear on your profile.
- Delete outdated courses – Remove any old or irrelevant classes that are no longer helping your profile.
- Expand space as needed – The courses section can be expanded to include up to 50 courses total.
- Edit details – Update any information like dates attended, descriptions, organizations etc. as needed.
- Adjust visibility – Use the visibility tool to tweak which connections can see your courses if needed.
Actively curating your courses section ensures it remains current and optimized to support your career goals at any given point.
Using Courses for Recruiting
Courses can be useful for both recruiters viewing your profile, and for your own job search efforts. Here are some recruiting-related tips:
- Highlight relevant skills – Tailor courses to emphasize abilities needed for the roles you are targeting.
- Showcase credentials – Draw attention to any certifications that validate key skills or knowledge for the industry.
- Demonstrate interests – Curating courses shows passions and areas you want to develop professionally.
- Find inside connections – Look for recruiters or employees at target companies that took similar courses.
- Search course alumni – Discover which employers have hired graduates from your academic programs.
- Look for training – Research companies offering on-the-job training or tuition reimbursement related to your completed courses.
With some strategy, your courses can significantly enhance your visibility and attract exciting new career opportunities.
Course Listing Best Practices
Follow these best practices when adding courses to your LinkedIn profile for maximum impact:
- Lead with the most recent and advanced courses.
- Keep descriptions concise – 2-3 lines per course maximum.
- Quantify accomplishments whenever possible. For example, note scores or honors achieved.
- Only include courses relevant to target employer needs and your future goals.
- Use keywords from job listings carefully matched to your completed courses.
- Link to any published works, examples or certificates associated with a course.
- Mention instructors, institutions or organizations only if they are recognizable in your industry.
- Consider relevant volunteer work, conferences, web seminars and other non-traditional learning.
- Leave out outdated or irrelevant courses once you have stronger recent examples.
Following these best practices helps present your academic experience in the best possible light.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Be aware of these common mistakes to avoid when adding courses on LinkedIn:
- Listing every course or training ever taken, even if irrelevant to current goals
- Including vague, boilerplate or repetitive descriptions that add little value
- Overloading the courses section when work experience makes more sense to showcase
- Forgetting to keep course listings updated as new education and certifications are completed
- Not verifying the credentials you link to, risking endorsement of fake programs
- Using courses to exaggerate or misrepresent skills and abilities
- Listing instructors or academic institutions not widely known or respected in the field
- Emphasizing courses primarily based on prestige rather than applicability
Avoiding these missteps helps ensure your course listings accurately and ethically reflect your background.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some commonly asked questions about adding courses on LinkedIn:
How many courses can you list on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn allows you to showcase up to 50 courses. You can be selective and strategic in choosing which courses to highlight based on your career goals.
Does listing a course mean I have permission to share logos or images?
No, you should only use logos or images for courses if you have verified explicit permission from the organization. Avoid copyright issues by checking with institutions if unsure.
Can I reorder courses on my profile?
Yes, you can change the sequence courses are displayed by dragging and dropping them in your desired order in the education section.
Is there a character limit for course descriptions?
LinkedIn does not enforce strict character limits, but keeping descriptions concise (2-3 lines maximum per course) is recommended. Be selective with key details.
Do courses have to be formal academic credits? What about informal classes or conferences?
You have flexibility to showcase informal learning opportunities like conferences, online classes and professional workshops as well – as long as they help demonstrate relevant skills and knowledge.
How do I delete a course listing?
You can delete any course by clicking the “pencil” edit icon and then selecting “Discard Changes”. Confirm discarding to permanently remove the course.
Conclusion
Adding courses is an impactful way to round out your LinkedIn profile and present a fuller picture of your academic and professional credentials. Carefully curate the most relevant courses to reinforce your brand, validate key skills, reconnect with classmates and take your career to the next level.