How to Write a LinkedIn About Section (With a Simple Template)

Your LinkedIn About section is one of the most valuable and most wasted parts of your profile. Most senior professionals either leave it blank, paste in their resume summary, or fill it with buzzwords. Done right, it is a short, confident narrative that tells a recruiter or hiring manager exactly who you are and why you matter. Here is how to write one.

What the About section is for

It is not a duplicate of your experience section. It is your story in your own voice: what you do, what you are great at, and where you are headed. It is also one of the few places on LinkedIn where you control the narrative completely, so use it to frame how you want to be understood.

A simple structure

A strong About section usually has four short parts:

• The hook (1 to 2 lines). Who you are and what you do, stated clearly. This is the only part that shows before the "see more" cutoff, so make it count.

• The substance (2 to 3 lines). Your areas of strength and a couple of concrete proof points or results.

• The direction (1 to 2 lines). What you are focused on now or what kind of work you are looking for.

• A close (optional). A light human touch or a simple line on how to reach you.

A template you can adapt

"I am a [role] who [what you do and for whom]. Over the past [X] years I have [your strongest, most relevant accomplishment, with a number]. I am at my best when [the kind of problem or environment where you shine]. Right now I am focused on [your current focus or what you are looking for]. [Optional personal line or contact note]."

Filled in, it might read: "I am an operations leader who builds the systems and teams that let companies scale without breaking. Over the past twelve years I have led operations through 3x growth at a consumer company and run complex, cross-functional programs at two larger organizations. I am at my best turning messy, fast-growing operations into something repeatable. Right now I am focused on VP of Operations roles at growth-stage companies. Always happy to connect."

What to avoid

• Buzzword soup. "Results-driven visionary leveraging synergies" says nothing. Be concrete.

• Writing in the third person. First person reads warmer and more human.

• A wall of text. Short paragraphs and line breaks. Make it skimmable.

• Just restating your title. The About section should add story and context your headline and experience cannot.

A note on keywords

Like your headline, the About section is searchable, so naturally include the terms a recruiter would use to find someone like you, where they are true. You are writing for a human first, but a little keyword awareness helps you get found.

Your About section is one piece of a profile that should work as a whole, headline, About, experience, and keywords all telling one consistent story. Rebuilding that whole profile to get found and read like a leader is one of the things we help senior professionals with. But the template above will take a blank or generic About section and turn it into one that actually works.