When writing the details of your work experience, education, and other sections on your LinkedIn profile, you have a choice between formatting the information in bullet points or writing it out in paragraphs. Both formatting options have their benefits, so the ideal approach is using a mix of bullet points and paragraphs depending on the situation.
For concise items like job titles, employers, dates, locations, schools attended and degrees earned, bullet points are best. They allow you to communicate the key facts quickly and clearly. Paragraphs are preferable when you want to provide more context and tell a story, like describing your responsibilities and achievements in each role in your work experience section.
Benefits of bullet points on a LinkedIn profile
- Succinctly highlight key information
- Easy for viewers to skim and digest
- Clean, organized look
- Take up less space than paragraphs
- Allow you to fit more items on a section of your profile
The scanning nature of online reading means bullet points have an advantage when you want to communicate something briefly. Recruiters and other LinkedIn users tend to skim profiles quickly when first looking at them. Bullet points make the key details pop out.
This makes them ideal for things like:
- Job titles
- Employers
- Employment dates
- Locations
- Educational institutions attended
- Degrees earned
- Skills
- Awards and honors
- Certifications
- Volunteer work
- Board memberships
- Publications
- Patents
- Courses
- Projects
- Languages
Bullet points neatly organize these types of factual information. They give the reader a quick overview before diving into the deeper details. They also take up less space than paragraphs, so you can fit more items in each section of your profile.
Benefits of paragraphs on a LinkedIn profile
- Tell a story and provide context
- Convey details and depth
- Allow personality and voice to come through
- Better highlight accomplishments
- Paint a picture of who you are
While bullet points efficiently cover the surface facts, paragraphs allow you to go deeper. They give you the space to tell the story behind your experiences, skills, and accomplishments. Some key areas where paragraphs work well include:
- Descriptions of work responsibilities and achievements – Use paragraphs to provide an overview of your role, describe your major responsibilities, outline your accomplishments, and highlight skills gained. This brings your experience to life.
- Education descriptions – Elaborate on your academic projects, activities, honors, and what you got out of your education using paragraph summaries.
- Skills descriptions – Use paragraphs to give context around the skills you list in bullet points, like major projects where you applied them and what you accomplished.
- Summary/About section – A paragraph or two explaining who you are, what motivates you, and what skills and experience you bring allows you to make a strong impression.
Paragraphs allow your personality, voice, and unique story to come through. They also create space to provide the details and rich examples that convey your depth of experience and accomplishments. This helps you stand out while also backing up your bullet point facts.
Tips for writing LinkedIn profile paragraphs
Here are some tips to make your LinkedIn profile paragraphs impactful:
- Focus each paragraph on a specific idea or accomplishment.
- Be concise – 3-4 lines is often optimal paragraph length.
- Put key facts or numbers at the beginning to draw in the reader.
- Use active voice and vary your sentence structure.
- Include keywords relevant to your industry and target roles.
- Quantify your impact and results when possible.
Succinct, focused paragraphs are ideal for LinkedIn. Lead with your most important information to catch the reader’s attention. Active voice and quantified details make your paragraphs punchy, readable, and results-driven.
For example, a description of an accounting role could start: “Saved $50K in annual expenses by overhauling financial reporting processes and implementing automation tools.”
Tips for using bullet points on LinkedIn
To maximize the impact of your profile’s bullet points, follow these best practices:
- Start each bullet point with an action verb.
- Use parallel structure from point to point.
- Vary length to call out most relevant information.
- Include keywords relevant to your industry and target job.
- Quantify results and impact when possible.
- Only include your most relevant and important facts and accomplishments.
Starting each bullet point consistently with an action verb gives them energy and power. Parallel structure makes your bullets easy to digest at a glance. Varying length helps highlight priorities. As with paragraphs, keywords and quantified details make your bullet points more concrete.
For example, bullet points for a marketing role could include:
- Led rebranding initiative that boosted brand awareness by 25% in first year.
- Conceptualized and executed email campaigns that doubled customer click-through rates.
- Oversaw PPC ad budget of $50K/month, optimizing to reduce cost-per-click by 15% QoQ.
How to balance paragraphs and bullet points on your LinkedIn profile
The best LinkedIn profiles mix paragraphs and bullet points strategically. As a general rule of thumb:
- Use bullet points for brief factual information like names, dates, locations, institutions, and basic descriptors.
- Use paragraphs to provide context, tell a story, elaborate on bullet point facts, and convey accomplishments.
The introductory Summary and About sections are great places for paragraphs to give an overview of your background. You can follow with key skills in bullet points.
For experience, education, and other sections, open with the basic facts in bullet points. Then use paragraphs to expand on your most relevant and impressive roles and accomplishments.
Balancing paragraphs strategically between bullet point lists helps break up long sections of bullets. The combination keeps your profile detailed yet easy to digest.
When writing paragraphs, be mindful of length. 1-4 concise lines presenting a focused idea works well on LinkedIn’s compact space.
Careful use of bullet points and focused paragraphs allows you to communicate both breadth and depth strategically throughout your profile.
Customizing your use of bullet points vs. paragraphs for your goals
How you balance paragraphs and bullet points also depends on your particular goals with your LinkedIn profile.
Job hunting priorities
If your main goal is getting noticed by recruiters, lean towards more bullet points highlighting your skills, quantified achievements, and keywords relevant to the roles you want. Recruiters often skim profiles quickly at first, so bullets help key info stand out.
Still include some paragraphs on your most relevant experience and accomplishments to convey depth. But focus paragraph writing on the details that will get recruiters excited to contact you.
Showcasing thought leadership priorities
If you want to establish yourself as an industry thought leader, tilt towards more paragraph summaries. This allows you to share unique insights, perspectives, and stories that showcase your expertise.
Bullet points are still helpful to summarize key background facts. But use paragraphs to provide value by educating and informing your target audience.
Relationship building priorities
If networking and deepening relationships is your priority, strike more of a balance between paragraphs and bullet points.
Paragraphs help convey your personality, values, and what motivates you. This builds rapport and connection.
Bullet points efficiently communicate your background. The combo allows you to connect with new contacts while also establishing common ground through your credentials.
The optimal mix depends on your goals. But in general, integrate paragraphs strategically between bullet points to bring your profile to life and advance your aims.
Customizing your profile for each section
The ideal balance between paragraphs and bullet points also varies by profile section based on their purpose.
Summary
Your Summary is a great place for a paragraph or two explaining who you are, what you’re seeking, and the value you offer. Follow with key skills and areas of expertise in bullet points.
Experience
List job titles, companies, dates, and locations in bullet points. Use paragraphs to provide an overview of your responsibilities and expand on your most significant accomplishments.
Education
Bullet point your degrees, institutions, dates, majors, and course highlights. Add paragraphs to elaborate on relevant projects, activities, and academic accomplishments.
Skills and Endorsements
Skills are best presented in bullet points for quick scanning. You can add a paragraph of context about your major skill areas.
Recommendations
Recommendations and quotes from colleagues are already in paragraph format. Consider pulling out key phrases in bullet points for emphasis.
Accomplishments
Use bullet points to list accomplishments like awards, certifications, publications, and patents. Add paragraphs of context where needed to explain the significance.
Customizing your use of bullet points versus paragraphs in each section maximizes their impact and readability. Find the right balance based on the nature of the content.
Examples of effective bullet points and paragraphs on LinkedIn
Here are some examples of bullet points and paragraphs from real LinkedIn profiles demonstrating best practices in action:
Bullet Points
- Implemented new CRM system, centralizing prospect data and reducing sales paperwork by 20%.
- Identify and develop partnerships with key influencers, content creators, and brand ambassadors across multiple social media platforms.
- Secured and managed high profile client accounts with companies including Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola.
These bullet points start with strong action verbs, communicate relevant keywords, and quantify results and impact.
Paragraphs
As a senior financial analyst at Smith & Co., I spearheaded cross-functional cost-cutting initiatives that delivered over $2M in annual savings. This involved thoroughly analyzing budgets and expenses across departments to identify waste, working closely with department heads to understand their spending needs, and proposing creative solutions to drive efficiency company-wide. My proposals incorporated process automation, vendor consolidation, underutilized resource reallocation, and other optimizations to streamline operations without negatively impacting quality or service levels. I also continuously monitored our cost structure and spending levels to ensure savings were tracking to plan.
This paragraph leads with an impressive achievement to draw in the reader. It provides specific details and context around this person’s contribution using concise sentences that focus on their most relevant responsibilities and the positive impact delivered.
Conclusion
Using the right mix of bullet points and paragraphs is crucial to crafting a compelling, well-rounded LinkedIn profile. Strategically balancing these formatting options allows you to communicate both breadth and depth and maximize the impact for your target audience. Bullet points provide quick, scannable facts while paragraphs add context, personality, and impactful details. With the right blend customized to each section, you can create a cohesive profile that achieves your professional goals on LinkedIn.