Having a complete and optimized LinkedIn profile is crucial for any professional looking to advance their career or find a new job. One of the most important sections of your LinkedIn profile is the Skills section, which allows you to list out key skills, competencies, and areas of expertise. But is it necessary to have skills listed on your LinkedIn profile? What are the pros and cons? Here is a comprehensive look at whether or not you should have skills listed on LinkedIn.
The Pros of Listing Skills on LinkedIn
There are several compelling reasons why you should make sure to list out your key skills on your LinkedIn profile:
Increased Discoverability
Listing your skills is one of the best ways to get discovered by recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s algorithm looks at your skills when determining matches for job opportunities. Recruiters also commonly search LinkedIn profiles based on key skills needed for open positions. Having a robust and accurate Skills section will ensure your profile shows up in more LinkedIn Search results and get more exposure to potential opportunities.
Backing Up Your Experience
The Skills section provides third-party validation for the experience and expertise you outline in your Work Experience section. Recruiters want concrete evidence that you actually possess the skills needed to excel in a particular role. Seeing those skills listed out provides reassurance that your work history is accurate.
Conveying Your Key Strengths
Highlighting your skills is a way to succinctly communicate your core competencies and greatest areas of expertise. Rather than trying to cram all your top strengths into the Work Experience or Summary sections, the Skills section allows you to spell them out clearly and concisely. It’s an opportunity to showcase your competitive advantages to prospective employers.
Matches You With the Right Opportunities
A complete Skills profile enables LinkedIn’s matching algorithms to surface career opportunities aligned with your talents and capabilities. You’ll see relevant job openings pop up in your feed. Recruiters can discover you for openings that are a good match. And you’ll receive notifications when new jobs come up that fit your skills. Listing out your expertise helps direct the right opportunities your way.
Provides Keyword Density
Keyword density is important for SEO and discoverability. Listing your skills provides opportunities to incorporate key industry keywords. These keywords boost your profile’s visibility when employers search industry-specific terms or buzzwords related to top skills in your field. The Skills section allows you to organically improve keyword density.
The Cons of Listing Skills on LinkedIn
Although listing skills has many benefits, there are some potential drawbacks to consider as well:
Takes Time
Building out a robust Skills section takes effort. You’ll likely need to devote a solid block of time to sitting down and inventorying all your key skills and areas of expertise to include. It’s not a quick and easy 5 minute profile update. Doing it right will take an hour or more of thoughtful self-reflection and curation.
Hard to Keep Updated
Just like your work experience, your skills evolve over time. As you gain new competencies and strengths, your Skills section will start to become outdated. Remembering to regularly revisit this section to make additions and edits can be challenging. It takes discipline to keep the section current.
Not Endorsed by Connections
Unlike job titles and education, your connections cannot endorse specific skills on your profile. Some people may consider lack of endorsements as a sign you don’t actually have these skills. However, most hiring managers understand endorsements are not a reliable indicator of skills.
Opens You Up to Skills Tests
Some recruiters screen candidates by using online skills assessments that test proficiency in specific skill areas. Candidates who score poorly on these get screened out. If you liberally list skills all over your profile, you may get targeted for skills test requests more often, some of which may be outside your actual areas of expertise.
Hard to Verify
Whereas work experience listings can be validated by talking to past managers, it’s difficult for recruiters to definitively confirm candidate skill claims. Some people greatly exaggerate or straight up lie about their skills. Recruiters have to take your Skills section with a grain of salt since it’s hard to verify.
Best Practices for Listing Skills on LinkedIn
Follow these tips and guidelines to make sure your Skills section is optimized:
Curate a Relevant Subset
Don’t go overboard listing every single skill you can think of. Focus on showcasing the 10-30 most relevant skills for your target career goals and current professional brand. Keep it tight and targeted.
Demonstrate Range
Include a mixture of both hard and soft skills. Hard skills are concrete competencies like software, tools, and technical expertise. Soft skills are intangibles like communication, leadership, and critical thinking.
Tailor to the Job You Want
The skills you include should align with the types of roles you are applying for. Cater it specifically to your target opportunities.
Make Them Scannable
Break up your skills into tidy categories or groups so they are easy to visually scan. Use bullet points and consistent capitalization for scannability.
Keyword Optimize
Incorporate must-have industry keywords that are commonly searched by recruiters and hiring managers. But don’t just cram in random keywords.
Back it Up in Your Profile
The rest of your profile content should provide support and evidence for the top skills you list. Demonstrate you possess these skills through your work experience descriptions, accomplishments, education, publications, certifications, etc.
Get Endorsed When Possible
While endorsements should not be overvalued, getting endorsed by connections does add credibility. Proactively endorse connections for their top skills listed to spur reciprocity.
Should You Include Skills on LinkedIn? Final Verdict
Listing your skills prominently on your LinkedIn profile provides substantial visibility and personal branding value that can significantly advance your career opportunities on the platform. The pros outweigh the cons for most professionals.
Here are some final recommendations on optimizing your Skills section based on your specific situation:
If You’re Unemployed
Listing a robust set of in-demand skills is critical to getting discovered for new opportunities when you don’t have a current job title or company affiliating you. It’s your primary way to communicate your value.
If You’re Job Searching
Actively tailor your skills to match current job listings that interest you. Recruiters search skills when identifying candidate prospects.
If You’re Established in Your Career
Curate your skills to align with senior level expertise needed for leadership roles in your field.
If You’re Changing Careers
Strategically highlight transferable skills applicable to your new industry while also listing some new skills you’ve started developing as you pivot.
The Skills section is core LinkedIn real estate that deserves your attentive curation and optimization. Take the time to provide a complete and compelling skills profile.
Conclusion
Listing your skills on your LinkedIn profile has significant advantages for increased discoverability, visibility, opportunities, and conveying your greatest strengths and expertise to prospective employers. While it does require maintenance to keep your skills current and relevant, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks for most professionals’ career goals on the platform. Following best practices, like curating a tight and targeted subset of skills tailored to your target job opportunities, can help you get the most value. Make sure to devote the time needed to build out a strategic Skills section that showcases the top abilities you bring to the table.