How to Write a LinkedIn Summary

The LinkedIn summary and the About section are the same thing. LinkedIn rebranded the field years ago, but many people still search for "LinkedIn summary" when they mean the block of text that sits just below your name and headline on your profile. This guide covers what that section is for, what the character limits actually mean in practice, and what separates a strong one from one that gets skipped.

What the LinkedIn Summary Is Actually For

Your About section is not the place to repeat your CV. A recruiter who lands on your profile has usually already seen your job titles and employers from a search result, so the About section is where you give them the context behind the career: what drives you, what you are particularly good at, and what you are looking for next. It is the difference between a list of facts and a reason to reach out.

More practically, it is one of the few places on LinkedIn where you can write in full sentences and tell a story. Your headline is 220 characters, and your experience entries are structured and scannable. The About section is where you get to actually communicate as a person, so using it to paste in a formal third-person biography wastes the opportunity.

The Character Limit and Why the First Lines Matter Most

LinkedIn allows up to 2,600 characters in the About section, which is roughly 400-450 words, but only the first 220-300 characters are visible before the reader has to click "see more." On mobile, it is even less. This means your opening line is doing a disproportionate amount of work. If it does not give someone a reason to expand the section, everything below it goes unread.

The first two or three lines should not begin with "I am a passionate" or "Results-driven professional with over X years." Those openers are so common they have become invisible. Start with something specific: a problem you solve, a type of work you do unusually well, a career transition that is worth explaining, or simply what you bring in plain language. Recruiters scroll fast, and an opening that sounds like every other profile gets scrolled past.

First Person vs Third Person

Write in first person. Third person on LinkedIn reads as either outdated or overly formal, and it creates a strange distance in what is supposed to be a professional social space. "Sophie is a marketing director who..." sounds like a press release. "I lead marketing teams through..." is direct and natural. The only exception is if your industry has a specific convention for third-person professional bios (certain academic or legal fields), but even then, LinkedIn is informal enough that first person usually fits better.

What to Include and What to Leave Out

A good About section covers three things: what you do and what you are good at, a brief sense of how you got here or what shaped your approach, and what you are looking for or open to. It does not need to include every job you have ever had, a list of your values, motivational statements, or a long paragraph of keywords stuffed in for SEO. LinkedIn's search algorithm does read your About section, but stuffing it with keywords at the expense of readability reduces its value as a human communication tool.

Keep it to three to five paragraphs or the equivalent in length. If your About section requires the reader to click "see more" and then scroll for thirty seconds to get to the end, it is too long.

How to End It

End with something actionable. If you are actively looking for work, say so and specify what you are looking for. If you are open to conversations, say that. If you want people to connect or message you, give them a prompt. A section that ends with your last achievement and then stops leaves the reader with no clear next step. LinkedIn is a networking tool: the best About sections close with an invitation, however brief.

What a Weak Summary Looks Like vs a Strong One

A weak summary opens with a generic descriptor, repeats the job titles already visible in the experience section, uses phrases like "passionate about delivering results" or "team player with excellent communication skills," and has no clear direction or personality. A strong one opens with something specific, says something about the person behind the career, and ends with a clear signal of what comes next. Length has almost nothing to do with it; what matters is whether it gives the reader a reason to remember you.