Put a Human Voice in Your LinkedIn Headline

When I coach people on creating a LinkedIn profile, the first hurdle we have to surmount is the Industry hurdle. "Geez," they say, "Right off the bat, I have to pick an industry?" I sympathize with them. We are well into the post-industrial age, such that lots of people (including me) don't have an identifiable industry anymore. "Just pick any industry," I tell them. "Pick metallurgy." If I worked at LinkedIn and had control over the Industry listing, I'd add a bunch of items like Witchcraft and Pantomime just to keep people guessing. When I first realized that LinkedIn's industry listing didn't include one that suited me, I picked Energy (I'm in the energy business, as a coach and advisor - get it?) but sadly, that choice is no longer available - it's Oil and Gas now.

Once folks get past the daunting 'pick an industry' step, their next hurdle comes in the construction of their LinkedIn headline. That's a tough assignment. We've been merrily clicking here and there, the way we do for hours a day in our jobs, working away at building our LinkedIn profile, and all of a sudden we stand in front of a precipice. Brand myself, right here in this headline? How, exactly? All of a sudden, writing a simple headline feels like a monumental self-discovery and marketing task.

Here are some ideas to get you going with a LinkedIn Headline that will make you sound like you, and not like a robotic zombie battle drone. We're not going to list tasks and duties in your headline, or run down a litany of the industries you've worked in. (Who cares?) We're going to use a human voice in your LinkedIn headline, instead.

The first thing to get about your LinkedIn headline is that it doesn't have to be the same as your current job title. It can be -- mine is - but only because my job title wraps up the various things I do in a way that invites people to click through to my profile and see the whole thing, or scurry away and live happy lives without doing that. I don't, in other words, try to pour 25 years of experience and umpteen different 'skills' into one 120-character field (that's 120 characters including spaces!). You can use your current job title as your LinkedIn headline, or you can use anything you like.

A young woman came into one of our workshops, looking for help seeking an Office Manager job. "There are literally millions of Office Managers looking for work," she said. "I see their profiles on LinkedIn." "That is great!" we told her. "What an opportunity to differentiate yourself!"

We asked her what kind of Office Manager she is. After all, Office Managers come in a wide range of flavors, just as software engineers, CFOs, and every other sort of professional does.

"I'm the kind of Office Manager who loves to be in the middle of a beehive of activity, keeping things moving and keeping the CEO focused on his or her day," she said.

Perfection! We rewrote her LinkedIn headline to say "Office Manager/Business air-traffic controller looking for overstressed CEO to make sane." That headline just barely fit in the 120-character limit. The young woman was on the job hunt for two weeks after her new headline appeared, and then quickly whisked away to a new job. The corporate HR person who hired her told her "As soon as I saw that headline, I knew we had to meet you, because that is exactly the kind of role we've got available."

Your LinkedIn headline is a branding tool, not a place to list everything you've ever done in your life. Lists of tasks (Writer, editor, proofreader) are boring and don't convey your power. Lists of certifications and degrees scream "Look at my trophies!" when want we really want to convey is "Look at me!" You are not everyone's cup of tea, and neither am I, and neither is anyone. Our goal in writing a LinkedIn headline is not to appeal to every Tom, Dick and Harriett. We want to use our LinkedIn headline as a branding tool, and like every brand, yours will pull in the right people and push away the ones you have no time for.