On social media channels such as Facebook and Instagram, you enjoy making connections with friends, family, and maybe even new friends. You are also branding yourself, though not necessarily in a professional way.

But when it comes to intentionally building your brand, LinkedIn is the place to be. With over 750 million users in 200 countries, the world’s largest professional social network can help you connect with employers, keep up with trends in your industry, and network with folks in your field.1

Top companies and recruiters also use LinkedIn when they’re looking to expand their talent pool when on LinkedIn, making the site especially useful for job seekers.

Why Is It Important to List Key Skills on Your LinkedIn Profile?

One of the most important parts of your LinkedIn profile is the Skills & Endorsements section. In that section, you can list your skills, and other LinkedIn users can endorse you for those skills.2

Why are the skills you include important?

• Your list of skills shows employers and recruiters at a glance what you are qualified to do.
• The more skills you list, the better your chances of getting contacted by hiring managers.
• LinkedIn can make your hirability and expertise available to employers via Google search.3

LinkedIn reports that “members with five or more skills listed are contacted (messaged) up to 33 [times] more by recruiters and other LinkedIn members and receive up to 17 [times] more profile views.”4

While you want to list a lot of skills, you also want to list the right skills. Take a look at profiles for similar job titles in your industry. Target skills that appear in their Skills & Endorsements sections.

Adding Skills to LinkedIn

You can add skills to your profile by clicking on your profile, then scrolling down to the “Skills & Endorsements” section. You can then click “Add a new skill” in the right-hand corner of that section.2

Another way to add skills to your profile is to click on your profile, then click on “Add Profile Section” in the top right corner of your profile. Click the “Skills” section, and then click on “Skills” to add a new skill.

Editing Your Skills List

Once you create a list of skills for your LinkedIn profile, you can edit that list. Click on your profile, scroll down to the “Skills & Endorsements” section, then click on the pencil icon located on the right-hand side in order to edit the section.

You can reorder your skills by clicking and dragging the line icons on the right-hand side of the screen. Click the pin icon to list a skill among your “Top Skills.”

Deleting Skills

You can also delete skills by clicking the trash icon on the right-hand side of the screen. You might want to do this if a LinkedIn connection endorses you for a skill that does not match your current expertise. Edit your skills regularly so that your profile stays up to date.

Top Skills to Include in Your LinkedIn Profile

Analytical

Many jobs require employees to be able to understand and interpret complex information. Analytical skills are important in industries ranging from business to data architecture to marketing to law to medicine. Skills related to analysis include:

• Analytical reasoning
• Consulting
• Critical thinking
• Data analysis
• Problem solving
• Research

Business

Anyone working in a company needs the business skills to understand his or her industry. However, business skills are particularly important for executives, managers, and administrators that help a company run smoothly. See several important skills related to business:

• Administrative
• Business analysis
• Business development
• Business intelligence
• Business management
• Business storytelling
• Economics

Communication

Communication skills are critical for almost any job. Employees need to be able to effectively share ideas with clients, colleagues, and employers. They need to be able to share these ideas in writing and speech. Employees also need to be good listeners, which is an important part of communication. Other communication skills are:

• Editing
• Newsletters
• Nonverbal communication
• Persuasion
• Presentation
• Writing
• Active listening

Management 

Anyone in a role that requires leadership of some kind needs management skills—they’re important for leaders in all industries. Employers are eager to see these management skills in job candidates:

• Coaching
• Delegating tasks
• Leadership
• Negotiation
• Project management
• Relationship management
• Strategic Planning

Marketing 

Marketing is a broad industry that includes advertising, market research, customer support, public relations, and more. Marketing involves explaining and promoting a company and its services to the public. Skills related to marketing include:

• Affiliate marketing
• Channel marketing
• Content marketing
• Content strategy
• Digital media
• Digital marketing
• Market research
• Media planning
• Online marketing
• Public relations
• Social media
• Sales

People Skills

Today’s workplace is more collaborative—and more challenging—than ever before. To attract recruiters and hiring managers, your LinkedIn profile will need to show key soft skills including:

• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Creativity
• Persuasion
• Time management
• Emotional intelligence (EQ)