Having an optimized LinkedIn profile is crucial for anyone looking to advance their career or find new job opportunities. One of the most important elements of an effective LinkedIn profile are the bullet points listed under each work experience entry. Crafting bullet points that convey your skills, accomplishments, and value you brought to your roles can make a big difference in how recruiters and hiring managers perceive you as a candidate.
Why are LinkedIn bullet points important?
LinkedIn bullet points serve several key purposes:
- They highlight your most relevant skills, achievements, and qualifications
- They show hiring managers the value you delivered in each position
- They demonstrate progression and growth throughout your career
- They optimize your profile for recruiters searching keywords
- They provide concise, easy-to-skim information about your experience
In a job search, you often have just seconds to make an impression on recruiters glancing through your profile. Strong bullet points grab their attention and help you stand out from other applicants.
How to write impressive LinkedIn bullet points
Follow these tips to craft bullet points that portray you as a top candidate:
Focus on accomplishments, not just responsibilities
Anyone can list out routine duties for a job. Recruiters want to see measurable achievements that demonstrate your capabilities. Bullet points should highlight successes like:
- Quantifiable results – “Increased sales by 30% over 2 years”
- Awards/recognition – “Earned “Employee of the Year” award for highest customer satisfaction ratings”
- Major projects delivered – “Led development of new CRM platform that reduced reporting time by 50%”
Tailor to the target role
Only highlight accomplishments that align with the types of positions you want to be hired for. If applying for a marketing job, focus on achievements related to campaigns, social media, SEO/SEM, etc.
Emphasize transferable skills
Soft skills like communication, time management, problem-solving and other universal workplace abilities are valued by employers in any field. Use bullet points to demonstrate these skills.
Quantify and qualify achievements
Include metrics, percentages or actual numbers to quantify results whenever possible. This gives tangible evidence of the value you provide. Also describe the scope and impact of accomplishments.
Optimize with keywords
Incorporate language from target job descriptions into bullet points. This helps your profile appear in recruiter searches for those relevant terms.
Focus on the most recent 5-7 years
Listing accomplishments from decades ago isn’t necessary. Spotlight achievements from more current roles to show your up-to-date capabilities.
Write concisely
Each bullet point should communicate an achievement in just 1-2 sentences. Get right to the point – long blocks of text get overlooked.
Active voice over passive
Active voice emphasizes you as the doer of action. “Closed 20 new client accounts” is stronger than “20 new client accounts were closed.”
Vary bullet styles
Mix up sentence structures so points don’t become repetitive. Both “Increased revenue by 30% in 2 years” and “Grew revenue by 30% over a 2 year period” work.
Examples of strong LinkedIn bullet points
Here are examples of results-focused bullet points for different industries:
Marketing
- Created and executed email marketing campaigns that generated a 25% increase in click-through rate
- Oversaw strategy that boosted social media engagement by 45% year-over-year
- Secured partnerships with 5 influencers to expand brand awareness and reach new demographics
Sales
- Exceeded annual sales quota by 30% through prospecting efforts in new territories
- Increased customer renewal rate from 70% to 90% by building strong relationships
- Developed new demo strategy that helped convert 40% more trial users to paid accounts
Engineering
- Optimized manufacturing processes to reduce defect rate by 15% annually
- Designed robotics system that improved automated production line efficiency by 8%
- Identified root causes behind downtime issues and recommended solutions to reduce downtime events by 35%
Finance
- Forecasted expenses and recommended budget changes that reduced spending by 20% annually
- Built financial models and business cases that helped justify $10M investment in new product line
- Mentored 3 interns and helped them develop financial analysis skills that led to full-time job offers
Things to avoid in LinkedIn bullet points
Some common mistakes to steer clear of in your profile’s bullet points include:
- Listing job responsibilities instead of accomplishments
- Using vague, inflated language without supporting data
- Listing skills without demonstrating them through actual achievements
- Including outdated information from more than 7-10 years ago
- Writing overly long, dense bullet points
- Using passive voice and focusing on team or company instead of your contributions
How to get ideas for strong bullet points
If you’re struggling to think of impactful accomplishments to highlight, here are some strategies to jog your memory:
- Look back at past performance reviews for reminders of your biggest achievements
- Check workplace emails, presentations or documents you created for examples of projects delivered
- Ask former managers or coworkers what they felt were your most notable contributions
- Think through challenges you helped solve or processes you helped improve
- Consider awards, recognition or formal feedback you received
- Reflect on ways you expanded your skills, experience and knowledge in each role
Brainstorming concrete examples of your work’s impact can uncover great bullet point material you may have forgotten.
Conclusion
Strong LinkedIn bullet points require thoughtful crafting, but are incredibly worthwhile for making the right impression. By showcasing your in-demand skills and quantifiable achievements aligned to target roles, you can powerfully demonstrate the value you offer employers.
Keep bullet points concise, recent and focused on accomplishments over duties. Highlight transferable abilities, quantify when possible and optimize with relevant keywords. Following these best practices will ensure your profile stands out.
With compelling bullet points developed from actual career achievements and contributions, you present a resume-style snapshot that hiring managers cannot ignore.