March 7, 2024
8: How to Communicate Your Narrative in Your LinkedIn Headline
If you don't define your narrative, then someone else might do it for you. Why take that chance? Doug Lester shares a simple, three-part framework he picked up as an executive recruiter that you can apply to your LinkedIn headline. You'll help the people who find you on LinkedIn make sense of your experience and, more importantly, understand where you're headed.
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Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.410
Are you still using your job title and company as your LinkedIn headline?
00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.769
Do you even know what your LinkedIn headline says?
00:00:08.317 --> 00:00:14.077
For many people, and maybe you too, your LinkedIn headline, it's an afterthought.
00:00:14.407 --> 00:00:22.597
Or if you have thought about it, it describes what you currently do but doesn't give the people reading it much sense of where you're headed.
00:00:22.978 --> 00:00:25.138
Does that sound like your situation?
00:00:25.647 --> 00:00:34.048
If so, stick around and we'll make sure your LinkedIn headline points towards the future and the aspirations you have for your career.
00:00:34.271 --> 00:00:35.082
And who knows?
00:00:35.112 --> 00:00:42.911
The next person who reads your LinkedIn headline might be the executive recruiter holding the keys to your next big career move.
00:01:22.102 --> 00:01:27.022
The primary place to communicate your career narrative these days, it's on LinkedIn.
00:01:27.412 --> 00:01:35.962
It's the first place people look when they're trying to figure out your story or, in other words, figure out who you are and where you're headed.
00:01:36.503 --> 00:01:39.593
And that's where many LinkedIn profiles fall short.
00:01:40.102 --> 00:01:55.433
They're not much more than a resume that describes where you are and where you've been, but they don't give the reader, and that could be a potential employer or an executive recruiter, they don't give that reader a sense of where you're going.
00:01:56.003 --> 00:01:58.192
We'll fix that in today's episode.
00:01:58.522 --> 00:02:03.293
And the solution, or at least the first step in the solution, is pretty simple.
00:02:03.683 --> 00:02:06.623
You need to rewrite your LinkedIn headline.
00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:10.819
Your LinkedIn headline is at the top of your profile, of course.
00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:15.919
If visitors to your LinkedIn profile read anything, it's going to be that headline.
00:02:16.310 --> 00:02:27.620
And if you post or comment or you appear in search results on LinkedIn, the first several words of your headline appear right there along with your photo and your name.
00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:29.990
What could be more important than that?
00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:37.669
And yet, many people, too many people, just go with their current job title and company as their LinkedIn headline.
00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:41.539
That's actually the default if you choose not to customize it.
00:02:42.229 --> 00:02:47.539
So let's think for a moment about why someone would be reading your LinkedIn profile in the first place.
00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:49.939
It's always good to consider your reader.
00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:53.539
Here are the potential audiences that come to mind.
00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:57.080
The first is people who want to sell you things.
00:02:57.349 --> 00:03:01.490
Let's not worry about them, because, you know what, they'll find you no matter what.
00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:07.610
The second is people who want you to hire them or maybe help them get a job.
00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:11.330
Again, let's not worry too much about those folks.
00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.819
They'll also find you no matter what.
00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:17.090
So, who are we really writing this for?
00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:18.560
That's the third group.
00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:27.650
People who might consider hiring you or people in your own company who are thinking about promoting you or maybe even supporting your promotion.
00:03:28.069 --> 00:03:38.419
In this third group, you'll find potential hiring managers, executive recruiters, corporate recruiters, or an HR or talent rep in your own company.
00:03:39.075 --> 00:03:44.475
And what they all have in common is that they're probably asking themselves the same question about you.
00:03:44.806 --> 00:03:48.586
Some version of "what's your story?" And yes.
00:03:48.616 --> 00:03:52.786
If you list your job title and current company, that's a piece of your story.
00:03:53.145 --> 00:03:56.656
It's where you currently are at this particular point in time.
00:03:57.075 --> 00:04:01.515
But that leaves them on their own to figure out the rest, which is where you're headed.
00:04:01.906 --> 00:04:06.915
And that's a big risk, because they might come up with the wrong destination.
00:04:07.605 --> 00:04:18.255
If you've listened to episode one of this podcast, then you know that the question "what's your story?" is really a stand-in for three questions that define your narrative.
00:04:18.555 --> 00:04:21.586
And those questions are: What do you do?
00:04:22.096 --> 00:04:23.985
What context do you do it in?
00:04:24.346 --> 00:04:26.596
And what's the impact of your work?
00:04:27.346 --> 00:04:37.786
And if someone in that third group, someone who is considering hiring or promoting you, is asking these questions, then they're mostly thinking about where you're going.
00:04:38.175 --> 00:04:41.776
So that's the connection your LinkedIn headline needs to make for them.
00:04:42.076 --> 00:04:49.276
It needs to accurately address those three questions when considering your current job and the next one.
00:04:49.812 --> 00:04:56.802
Before we move on, I want to say a few more things about using your current title and company as your LinkedIn headline.
00:04:57.452 --> 00:05:02.822
First, job titles can be vague, ambiguous, or even inaccurate.
00:05:03.273 --> 00:05:12.242
And their meaning can vary wildly from company to company in terms of experience, seniority and what you actually do on a day-to-day basis.
00:05:12.766 --> 00:05:15.615
And company names, they're kind of variable too.
00:05:16.036 --> 00:05:21.495
Some are well-known like Apple, Google or McKinsey, and some less so.
00:05:21.766 --> 00:05:27.615
If you work for a lesser known company than it's even riskier to use your company name in your headline.
00:05:27.946 --> 00:05:32.505
It may confuse more than it helps or convey no context at all.
00:05:33.055 --> 00:05:37.136
But I'd say that even using a well known company name is wasteful.
00:05:37.526 --> 00:05:55.495
If the reader or target audience in that third group we talked about, the people who might consider hiring or promoting you, if they're reading your profile because of where you currently work, then they've already included your company name in their LinkedIn search or they already know where you work.
00:05:56.125 --> 00:05:59.696
Putting your company's name and your headline doesn't add anything.
00:06:00.115 --> 00:06:05.005
It's a waste of some of the most valuable real estate you have on your LinkedIn profile.
00:06:05.425 --> 00:06:13.196
And if you look just to the right of your headline, your company name and logo, your current one, it's probably there.
00:06:13.826 --> 00:06:17.935
So what do you put in your headline instead of your current job title and company?
00:06:18.656 --> 00:06:21.386
You put the answers to the three questions, of course.
00:06:21.716 --> 00:06:22.706
What do you do?
00:06:23.036 --> 00:06:24.925
What context do you do it in?
00:06:25.105 --> 00:06:27.235
And what's the impact of your work?
00:06:27.755 --> 00:06:43.745
That way, the person reading your headline and the rest of your LinkedIn profile, we hope, can figure out if you're the right person to help them or the people they're working for overcome whatever challenges they're currently facing or anticipate facing in the near future.
00:06:44.415 --> 00:06:46.276
So let's start with what you do.
00:06:46.755 --> 00:06:53.565
If someone asked you to describe what you do in your job from day to day and week to week, what would you say?
00:06:54.196 --> 00:06:57.016
Are you a product manager or head of product?
00:06:57.286 --> 00:07:02.865
Well, that can mean a lot of different things depending on where you work and what industry you're in.
00:07:03.346 --> 00:07:05.776
Why not be a little more descriptive?
00:07:06.206 --> 00:07:09.776
Maybe you bring advances in wearables to market.
00:07:10.196 --> 00:07:13.675
In other words, you develop and launch wearable technology.
00:07:14.065 --> 00:07:19.675
A lot of people I've coached over the years have been on teams that develop things like the Apple Watch.
00:07:20.065 --> 00:07:29.906
Putting that in your title is a lot more helpful to your readers in that third group than just including a title, like Product Manager or Head of Product.
00:07:30.536 --> 00:07:45.475
And you may have noticed that there's even some context baked into the phrase "bringing advances in wearables to market." Your reader may assume that you're talking about health tech, but just in case they don't, let's give them some help.
00:07:45.836 --> 00:07:48.305
Let's talk about impact, too.
00:07:48.966 --> 00:07:54.545
Maybe the health tech you work on drives growth for your company and helps people live healthier lives.
00:07:55.086 --> 00:08:00.096
There's impact or benefit there for an employer and a consumer.
00:08:00.576 --> 00:08:11.946
So let's put it all together and you get "introducing advances in wearables to drive growth and help people live healthier lives." It answers the three questions.
00:08:12.305 --> 00:08:20.076
You launch new products in health tech, specifically wearables, and your work adds to top-line growth, maybe some profit, too.
00:08:20.495 --> 00:08:23.406
And consumers are healthier as a result.
00:08:23.826 --> 00:08:28.865
We now know what you do, the context you do it in and the impact of your work.
00:08:29.466 --> 00:08:40.025
Assuming you still want to do that in the future, then your headline helps those readers in that third group I talked about understand where you're headed and what you'd be open to.
00:08:40.629 --> 00:08:50.529
But just in case, let's assume you don't want to be limited to wearables, but you still want to be working on cutting edge tech that helps people live healthier lives.
00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:51.490
No problem.
00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:53.409
Let's generalize a bit.
00:08:53.740 --> 00:09:09.423
You could adjust your headline to be "introducing cutting-edge advances in consumer tech that drive growth and help people live healthier lives." That wasn't too difficult, and you've increased your options a little if that makes you a little more comfortable.
00:09:10.113 --> 00:09:17.793
Both of those headline options are going to be of more value to you and your readers than just a job title and a company.
00:09:18.513 --> 00:09:27.543
Before we wrap this episode up, I'd like to address a question you may have about the keywords and phrases you often see in people's LinkedIn headlines.
00:09:28.082 --> 00:09:32.432
They often appear in groups, separated out by the pipe symbol.
00:09:32.822 --> 00:09:39.062
If you don't know what the pipe symbol is, that's the vertical line you get when you hit shift while typing a backslash.
00:09:39.643 --> 00:10:01.513
I'm a proponent of using keywords and phrases separated out by the pipe symbol for things like job titles you'd consider in your next role, let's say VP of Marketing or CMO, or words that help clarify the context or industry you want to work in, like tech or health tech or wearables.
00:10:02.092 --> 00:10:10.962
These keywords and phrases can help your reader as long as they're future focused, and they can also help you appear in search results.
00:10:11.153 --> 00:10:17.153
And that's important if you're like many of the mid-level and senior-level MBA graduates I work with.
00:10:17.722 --> 00:10:22.643
You want opportunities and the executive recruiters who have them to come your way.
00:10:23.003 --> 00:10:25.432
Why not make it easier for them to find you?
00:10:26.025 --> 00:10:31.725
So write a LinkedIn headline that addresses the three questions they're always going to have in their minds.
00:10:32.115 --> 00:10:37.485
And while you're at it, make sure your headline includes some of the keywords and phrases that they'll be searching for.
00:10:38.145 --> 00:10:42.466
So my challenge to you is to revisit your LinkedIn headline.
00:10:42.995 --> 00:10:48.735
Would a reader who might potentially be interested in hiring or promoting you understand where you're headed?
00:10:49.245 --> 00:10:57.916
Can they read your headline and determine what you actually do, the context you do it in, and the impact or benefit of your work?
00:10:58.456 --> 00:11:05.476
They'll need to know those things before they can determine if you're the right person for their client or for that promotion.
00:11:06.047 --> 00:11:09.136
If not, then consider a rewrite.
00:11:10.385 --> 00:11:19.426
And if you need a thought partner while you're doing it, consider signing up for a career strategy session with me at careernarratives.com/strategy.
00:11:19.836 --> 00:11:27.066
We'll spend a little time thinking about where you're headed and how you can communicate that most effectively in your LinkedIn headline.
00:11:27.466 --> 00:11:28.546
See you next week.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.410
Are you still using your job title and company as your LinkedIn headline?
00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.769
Do you even know what your LinkedIn headline says?
00:00:08.317 --> 00:00:14.077
For many people, and maybe you too, your LinkedIn headline, it's an afterthought.
00:00:14.407 --> 00:00:22.597
Or if you have thought about it, it describes what you currently do but doesn't give the people reading it much sense of where you're headed.
00:00:22.978 --> 00:00:25.138
Does that sound like your situation?
00:00:25.647 --> 00:00:34.048
If so, stick around and we'll make sure your LinkedIn headline points towards the future and the aspirations you have for your career.
00:00:34.271 --> 00:00:35.082
And who knows?
00:00:35.112 --> 00:00:42.911
The next person who reads your LinkedIn headline might be the executive recruiter holding the keys to your next big career move.
00:01:22.102 --> 00:01:27.022
The primary place to communicate your career narrative these days, it's on LinkedIn.
00:01:27.412 --> 00:01:35.962
It's the first place people look when they're trying to figure out your story or, in other words, figure out who you are and where you're headed.
00:01:36.503 --> 00:01:39.593
And that's where many LinkedIn profiles fall short.
00:01:40.102 --> 00:01:55.433
They're not much more than a resume that describes where you are and where you've been, but they don't give the reader, and that could be a potential employer or an executive recruiter, they don't give that reader a sense of where you're going.
00:01:56.003 --> 00:01:58.192
We'll fix that in today's episode.
00:01:58.522 --> 00:02:03.293
And the solution, or at least the first step in the solution, is pretty simple.
00:02:03.683 --> 00:02:06.623
You need to rewrite your LinkedIn headline.
00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:10.819
Your LinkedIn headline is at the top of your profile, of course.
00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:15.919
If visitors to your LinkedIn profile read anything, it's going to be that headline.
00:02:16.310 --> 00:02:27.620
And if you post or comment or you appear in search results on LinkedIn, the first several words of your headline appear right there along with your photo and your name.
00:02:28.129 --> 00:02:29.990
What could be more important than that?
00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:37.669
And yet, many people, too many people, just go with their current job title and company as their LinkedIn headline.
00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:41.539
That's actually the default if you choose not to customize it.
00:02:42.229 --> 00:02:47.539
So let's think for a moment about why someone would be reading your LinkedIn profile in the first place.
00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:49.939
It's always good to consider your reader.
00:02:50.419 --> 00:02:53.539
Here are the potential audiences that come to mind.
00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:57.080
The first is people who want to sell you things.
00:02:57.349 --> 00:03:01.490
Let's not worry about them, because, you know what, they'll find you no matter what.
00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:07.610
The second is people who want you to hire them or maybe help them get a job.
00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:11.330
Again, let's not worry too much about those folks.
00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.819
They'll also find you no matter what.
00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:17.090
So, who are we really writing this for?
00:03:17.330 --> 00:03:18.560
That's the third group.
00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:27.650
People who might consider hiring you or people in your own company who are thinking about promoting you or maybe even supporting your promotion.
00:03:28.069 --> 00:03:38.419
In this third group, you'll find potential hiring managers, executive recruiters, corporate recruiters, or an HR or talent rep in your own company.
00:03:39.075 --> 00:03:44.475
And what they all have in common is that they're probably asking themselves the same question about you.
00:03:44.806 --> 00:03:48.586
Some version of "what's your story?" And yes.
00:03:48.616 --> 00:03:52.786
If you list your job title and current company, that's a piece of your story.
00:03:53.145 --> 00:03:56.656
It's where you currently are at this particular point in time.
00:03:57.075 --> 00:04:01.515
But that leaves them on their own to figure out the rest, which is where you're headed.
00:04:01.906 --> 00:04:06.915
And that's a big risk, because they might come up with the wrong destination.
00:04:07.605 --> 00:04:18.255
If you've listened to episode one of this podcast, then you know that the question "what's your story?" is really a stand-in for three questions that define your narrative.
00:04:18.555 --> 00:04:21.586
And those questions are: What do you do?
00:04:22.096 --> 00:04:23.985
What context do you do it in?
00:04:24.346 --> 00:04:26.596
And what's the impact of your work?
00:04:27.346 --> 00:04:37.786
And if someone in that third group, someone who is considering hiring or promoting you, is asking these questions, then they're mostly thinking about where you're going.
00:04:38.175 --> 00:04:41.776
So that's the connection your LinkedIn headline needs to make for them.
00:04:42.076 --> 00:04:49.276
It needs to accurately address those three questions when considering your current job and the next one.
00:04:49.812 --> 00:04:56.802
Before we move on, I want to say a few more things about using your current title and company as your LinkedIn headline.
00:04:57.452 --> 00:05:02.822
First, job titles can be vague, ambiguous, or even inaccurate.
00:05:03.273 --> 00:05:12.242
And their meaning can vary wildly from company to company in terms of experience, seniority and what you actually do on a day-to-day basis.
00:05:12.766 --> 00:05:15.615
And company names, they're kind of variable too.
00:05:16.036 --> 00:05:21.495
Some are well-known like Apple, Google or McKinsey, and some less so.
00:05:21.766 --> 00:05:27.615
If you work for a lesser known company than it's even riskier to use your company name in your headline.
00:05:27.946 --> 00:05:32.505
It may confuse more than it helps or convey no context at all.
00:05:33.055 --> 00:05:37.136
But I'd say that even using a well known company name is wasteful.
00:05:37.526 --> 00:05:55.495
If the reader or target audience in that third group we talked about, the people who might consider hiring or promoting you, if they're reading your profile because of where you currently work, then they've already included your company name in their LinkedIn search or they already know where you work.
00:05:56.125 --> 00:05:59.696
Putting your company's name and your headline doesn't add anything.
00:06:00.115 --> 00:06:05.005
It's a waste of some of the most valuable real estate you have on your LinkedIn profile.
00:06:05.425 --> 00:06:13.196
And if you look just to the right of your headline, your company name and logo, your current one, it's probably there.
00:06:13.826 --> 00:06:17.935
So what do you put in your headline instead of your current job title and company?
00:06:18.656 --> 00:06:21.386
You put the answers to the three questions, of course.
00:06:21.716 --> 00:06:22.706
What do you do?
00:06:23.036 --> 00:06:24.925
What context do you do it in?
00:06:25.105 --> 00:06:27.235
And what's the impact of your work?
00:06:27.755 --> 00:06:43.745
That way, the person reading your headline and the rest of your LinkedIn profile, we hope, can figure out if you're the right person to help them or the people they're working for overcome whatever challenges they're currently facing or anticipate facing in the near future.
00:06:44.415 --> 00:06:46.276
So let's start with what you do.
00:06:46.755 --> 00:06:53.565
If someone asked you to describe what you do in your job from day to day and week to week, what would you say?
00:06:54.196 --> 00:06:57.016
Are you a product manager or head of product?
00:06:57.286 --> 00:07:02.865
Well, that can mean a lot of different things depending on where you work and what industry you're in.
00:07:03.346 --> 00:07:05.776
Why not be a little more descriptive?
00:07:06.206 --> 00:07:09.776
Maybe you bring advances in wearables to market.
00:07:10.196 --> 00:07:13.675
In other words, you develop and launch wearable technology.
00:07:14.065 --> 00:07:19.675
A lot of people I've coached over the years have been on teams that develop things like the Apple Watch.
00:07:20.065 --> 00:07:29.906
Putting that in your title is a lot more helpful to your readers in that third group than just including a title, like Product Manager or Head of Product.
00:07:30.536 --> 00:07:45.475
And you may have noticed that there's even some context baked into the phrase "bringing advances in wearables to market." Your reader may assume that you're talking about health tech, but just in case they don't, let's give them some help.
00:07:45.836 --> 00:07:48.305
Let's talk about impact, too.
00:07:48.966 --> 00:07:54.545
Maybe the health tech you work on drives growth for your company and helps people live healthier lives.
00:07:55.086 --> 00:08:00.096
There's impact or benefit there for an employer and a consumer.
00:08:00.576 --> 00:08:11.946
So let's put it all together and you get "introducing advances in wearables to drive growth and help people live healthier lives." It answers the three questions.
00:08:12.305 --> 00:08:20.076
You launch new products in health tech, specifically wearables, and your work adds to top-line growth, maybe some profit, too.
00:08:20.495 --> 00:08:23.406
And consumers are healthier as a result.
00:08:23.826 --> 00:08:28.865
We now know what you do, the context you do it in and the impact of your work.
00:08:29.466 --> 00:08:40.025
Assuming you still want to do that in the future, then your headline helps those readers in that third group I talked about understand where you're headed and what you'd be open to.
00:08:40.629 --> 00:08:50.529
But just in case, let's assume you don't want to be limited to wearables, but you still want to be working on cutting edge tech that helps people live healthier lives.
00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:51.490
No problem.
00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:53.409
Let's generalize a bit.
00:08:53.740 --> 00:09:09.423
You could adjust your headline to be "introducing cutting-edge advances in consumer tech that drive growth and help people live healthier lives." That wasn't too difficult, and you've increased your options a little if that makes you a little more comfortable.
00:09:10.113 --> 00:09:17.793
Both of those headline options are going to be of more value to you and your readers than just a job title and a company.
00:09:18.513 --> 00:09:27.543
Before we wrap this episode up, I'd like to address a question you may have about the keywords and phrases you often see in people's LinkedIn headlines.
00:09:28.082 --> 00:09:32.432
They often appear in groups, separated out by the pipe symbol.
00:09:32.822 --> 00:09:39.062
If you don't know what the pipe symbol is, that's the vertical line you get when you hit shift while typing a backslash.
00:09:39.643 --> 00:10:01.513
I'm a proponent of using keywords and phrases separated out by the pipe symbol for things like job titles you'd consider in your next role, let's say VP of Marketing or CMO, or words that help clarify the context or industry you want to work in, like tech or health tech or wearables.
00:10:02.092 --> 00:10:10.962
These keywords and phrases can help your reader as long as they're future focused, and they can also help you appear in search results.
00:10:11.153 --> 00:10:17.153
And that's important if you're like many of the mid-level and senior-level MBA graduates I work with.
00:10:17.722 --> 00:10:22.643
You want opportunities and the executive recruiters who have them to come your way.
00:10:23.003 --> 00:10:25.432
Why not make it easier for them to find you?
00:10:26.025 --> 00:10:31.725
So write a LinkedIn headline that addresses the three questions they're always going to have in their minds.
00:10:32.115 --> 00:10:37.485
And while you're at it, make sure your headline includes some of the keywords and phrases that they'll be searching for.
00:10:38.145 --> 00:10:42.466
So my challenge to you is to revisit your LinkedIn headline.
00:10:42.995 --> 00:10:48.735
Would a reader who might potentially be interested in hiring or promoting you understand where you're headed?
00:10:49.245 --> 00:10:57.916
Can they read your headline and determine what you actually do, the context you do it in, and the impact or benefit of your work?
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They'll need to know those things before they can determine if you're the right person for their client or for that promotion.
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If not, then consider a rewrite.
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And if you need a thought partner while you're doing it, consider signing up for a career strategy session with me at careernarratives.com/strategy.
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We'll spend a little time thinking about where you're headed and how you can communicate that most effectively in your LinkedIn headline.
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See you next week.
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