As a student or recent graduate, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools you have in your job search. A strong, optimised profile will make it easier for recruiters using the platform to find you, potentially opening doors to networking opportunities and relevant graduate roles. This guide will show you practical ways to optimise your LinkedIn profile so that it reflects your skills, ambitions and achievements, to help you to stand out in the job market!
Profile photo
Having a professional profile photo is a great first step to optimising your LinkedIn, as profiles with photos receive 21 more views and 9 times the amount of connection requests as ones without.
The ideal profile photo should be a professional looking headshot against a neutral background – avoid casual or group shot photos.
Headline and summary
Your LinkedIn headline, which appears under your name, is a key part of your profile that can be optimised. Instead of using the default ‘Student at University of….’, make it rich in keywords and related to your career aspirations. For example:
‘Aspiring Data Analyst | Skilled in Tableau, Power BI and Data Visualisation’
Your summary (or ‘About’ section) is where you can really tell recruiters your story – think of it as your elevator pitch. Cover what you have studied, what you are interested in, and your career aspirations. Include any notable achievements from your academic work, extracurricular activities or relevant roles.
Keep it concise and authentic and try to use keywords that recruiters in your field might search for throughout. To help with this it is a good idea to look at live job descriptions to see popular skills and attributes employers are looking for.
Showcase education and certifications
Your education section should be more than just the title of your degree. To help you demonstrate your expertise to employers, include information about relevant modules and projects, and details of technical or specific skills you have gained throughout your studies. If appropriate, you could also add links to work such as posters or presentations, and list any academic awards you may have received.
If you can, there is also an option to add a ‘certifications’ section to your profile. Here you can provide information about additional qualifications you may have completed, such as online programmes, industry specific certificates or other short courses. This is a great way to showcase initiative and continuous learning.
Highlight skills and recommendations
The skills section on your LinkedIn profile is how recruiters find you quickly and easily. There is a database of hundreds of skills you can add – try to add at least 5-10 skills that are relevant to your chosen industry and match your career goals. Aim for a good mix of technical and soft skills so that you can show employers the range of your abilities.
A recommendation from a colleague or lecturer to add to your LinkedIn is also a great way to optimise your profile. If you think someone you know, professionally or academically, who would be happy to write a short paragraph about you and your key skills and strengths to add to your profile, get in touch and ask them politely, and perhaps offer to write one for them in return.
Add experience and achievements
You should also add details of any work experience that you have to your LinkedIn profile. This could include any internships, placements, part time work, volunteering or extracurricular activities that you have undertaken. Even if some of your experience is not specifically related to your chosen industry, it’s still a good idea to include details as you can still demonstrate evidence of valuable transferable skills to employers – such as communication, teamwork and problem solving.
To optimise your profile, use action words when describing your role and the responsibilities you had. Action words are verbs, such as ‘collaborated’, ‘implemented’ and ‘analysed’, that help you to convey your experience and skills in a dynamic and engaging way. For example, instead of:
‘I talked to customers’, try:
‘I communicated with customers in a polite and friendly manner and resolved their issues effectively.’
Turn on ‘Open to Work’
LinkedIn’s ‘Open to Work’ feature signals to recruiters that you are ready and available for work, and makes you much easier for them to find you on the platform. Don’t worry – you can choose if this setting is visible to all LinkedIn users or just recruiters. To turn this feature on, click the ‘Open to’ button that appears under your photo when you are in ‘edit’ mode to enable this feature and fill out the requested information, and the green ‘Open to Work’ banner will appear on your profile photo.
Engaging with the platform
One of the most important ways to make your LinkedIn profile more visible to recruiters is to keep active on the platform. Follow organisations you are interested in, join groups that are related to your field, and engage with content by liking, commenting and sharing posts. Create your own posts to provide information about your recent achievements, milestones and projects, or to share your thoughts about a topic relevant to your preferred industry.
Staying as active as you can on LinkedIn during your job search will make your profile stand out to employers, and also helps you to build connections.
Keeping it fresh
Once you’ve optimised your LinkedIn profile, it’s important to keep it updated – it should evolve with you as you progress through your job search and career. Try to review it every few months, and update key sections such as your headline and summary as your goals change. Remove outdated information and be sure to keep adding new achievements and skills that you have gained!
Conclusion
Taking some time to work on and optimise your LinkedIn profile will go a long way to helping you stand out to recruiters and industry professionals, and could be the key to securing your dream graduate role. Keep it updated, stay active, and let your profile reflect the best of what you have to offer.
Check out our article on how to use LinkedIn effectively or search our current vacancies.
Written by Amy Evan-Cook.
Last updated on 23 January 2026
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