UK LinkedIn Profile Guide 2026: Headline, About, Skills and Open to Work
How to set up a LinkedIn profile for a UK job search in 2026 - headline, About section, skills, recommendations, activity and the Open to Work privacy options.
A practical checklist for getting a LinkedIn profile ready for a UK job search. It is advice, not a set of platform rules: LinkedIn does not publish how its search ranks profiles, and nothing here promises a number of recruiter messages.
The headline
Your headline follows your name almost everywhere on LinkedIn: search results, comments, messages. By default it is your current job title, which says little. A pattern that works for many people:
[Role] | [Specialism or sector] | [A concrete result or focus] | [Location]
| Default headline | More specific headline (illustrative) |
|---|---|
| Senior Software Engineer | Senior Software Engineer | Payments and distributed systems | London |
| Marketing Manager | Marketing Manager | B2B SaaS growth and lifecycle | Remote, UK |
| Accountant | ACA Chartered Accountant | Audit and transaction services, tech sector | London |
| Project Manager | Senior Project Manager | PRINCE2 | Digital transformation in financial services | Manchester |
Only claim qualifications and results you can evidence: recruiters and employers check.
The About section
Opening lines
LinkedIn shows only the start of the About section before "see more", so lead with the essentials:
- What you do professionally
- Your specialism or sector
- The kind of result you deliver
Middle: a few specific achievements
Three to five achievements in the same style as a good CV: what you did, the result, and a number where you can share it. Illustrative examples:
- "Led the migration of our customer login system to a managed identity service, cutting running costs and improving uptime."
- "Built and managed a UK growth marketing team covering content, lifecycle and paid acquisition."
- "Advised founder-led businesses on remuneration and extraction planning."
Do not publish figures your employer or clients would treat as confidential.
Close
- What you are looking for next (sector, role, stage)
- How to reach you
Skills
- List skills that are true and relevant to the roles you want, most important first.
- Mirror the language of target adverts. If a tool or method appears in most adverts for your target role and you use it, name it.
- Ask for endorsements selectively from people who have seen you use those skills.
Featured section
Use it for two or three pieces of evidence that support the role you want:
- An article or blog post you have written
- A talk, webinar or podcast appearance
- A project case study you are allowed to share
- An award or professional recognition
- Press coverage of your work
- A portfolio or code repository
Recommendations
A small number of specific recommendations is more useful than many generic ones. Aim for:
- One from a recent line manager
- One from a client, if your role is client-facing
- One from a senior colleague or cross-functional partner
A request that makes it easy: "I'm updating my LinkedIn profile. Could you write a few sentences about our work on [project], particularly [the outcome]?"
Photo and background image
- A recent, clear head-and-shoulders photo with a plain background
- Dress as you would for the kind of role you want
- A background image that says something about your sector or location, or a neutral one; use company branding only while you work there and if your employer allows it
Activity
- Occasional posts on your field are enough; daily posting is not necessary unless content is your job
- Thoughtful comments on other people's posts keep your profile visible without needing original content
- Avoid anything you would not want a future employer to read
"Open to Work": the two settings
- Recruiters only: limited to people using LinkedIn Recruiter. LinkedIn says it takes steps to prevent Recruiter users at your own company seeing it, "but we can't guarantee complete privacy" (LinkedIn Help).
- All LinkedIn Members: visible to everyone, including colleagues and your employer, and adds an #OpenToWork frame to your photo.
If your search is confidential, the recruiters-only setting is the safer of the two, but it is not a guarantee.
A quick refresh
- Rewrite the headline using the pattern above
- Rewrite the first lines of the About section
- Add missing skills and put the most relevant first
- Update the photo if it is out of date
- Ask one or two people for specific recommendations
- Decide whether to switch on Open to Work, and with which setting
Related pages
- UK CV Tips for Higher Pay - CV companion
- UK Job Search Sites Guide
- UK Salary Negotiation Guide
- UK Interview Preparation Guide
- UK Highest-Paying Industries
- UK Salary Calculator - take-home on any offer
Frequently asked questions
What is the most useful single change to a LinkedIn profile?
Usually the headline. It appears in search results, comments and message previews, and by default it is just your job title. A headline that adds your specialism, a concrete result and your location or sector - for example "Senior Software Engineer | Payments platforms | London" - tells a recruiter scanning results what you do before they open the profile. Use the words a recruiter would search for in your field.
Can my current employer see that I am open to work?
LinkedIn offers two settings. "All LinkedIn Members" is visible to everyone, including people at your company, and adds an #OpenToWork frame to your photo. "Recruiters only" limits it to people using LinkedIn Recruiter. LinkedIn says it takes steps to stop Recruiter users at your own company seeing it, "but we can't guarantee complete privacy". If confidentiality matters, assume it could be seen.
How do recruiters find profiles on LinkedIn?
Most search by keyword: job titles, skills, qualifications and location. A profile that uses the same words as the job adverts you are targeting - in the headline, the About section, the job descriptions and the Skills section - is easier to find than one written in internal jargon. Read five or six adverts for the role you want and make sure the recurring terms appear in your profile where they are true.
What should go in the LinkedIn About section?
A short professional summary in your own voice: what you do and for whom, a few specific achievements with numbers where you can share them, and what you are looking for next with how to contact you. LinkedIn shows only the opening lines before "see more", so put the most important sentence first.
Do skills and endorsements matter?
The Skills section is one of the places keyword searches look, so list the skills that genuinely describe your work and match your target roles, with the most relevant first. Endorsements and skill-linked recommendations from people who have worked with you add some evidence for a human reader. Do not list skills you could not discuss in an interview.
Should I post content on LinkedIn?
It is optional. Occasional posts or thoughtful comments about your field - a lesson from a project, a view on a development in your industry - keep your profile active and show how you think. Consistency matters more than volume, and it is better to post nothing than to post things you would not want a future employer to read.
How should I use the Featured section?
Use it for evidence: an article or talk, a project write-up, a portfolio or code repository, an award or press coverage. Pick two or three items that support the role you want rather than everything you have done, and check anything you link to is public and not confidential to a current or past employer.
How do I ask for a useful LinkedIn recommendation?
Ask people who saw your work directly - a manager, a client, a senior colleague - and ask for something specific: "Could you write a few sentences about the work we did on [project], particularly [the result]?" Specific recommendations that describe what you did and what changed are more persuasive than general praise.
Should I put my salary on LinkedIn?
There is no need to. Salary expectations are usually discussed at the screening stage, and a figure on a public profile can anchor an offer lower than you might otherwise get. Our salary negotiation guide covers how to handle the question when it comes.