Rewrite your LinkedIn bio in 10 minutes
A 4-line template recruiters can scan in 5 seconds — and that actually reflects the senior version of you. Plus headline, photo, and custom URL.
Your LinkedIn About section isn't your CV in prose. It's a hook. Done right, it takes 10 minutes to rewrite, gets read in under 30 seconds, and pulls 3× more recruiter messages. Done wrong, it's invisible at best and actively repelling at worst.
Most senior professionals' About sections read like a weak annual performance review. Long paragraphs, "passionate about" clichés, and a kitchen-sink list of skills. We'll fix all of that here.
What the About section is actually for
Recruiters don't read LinkedIn the way you read a book. They scan. A recruiter pulling up your profile for the first time spends about 8–12 seconds on the top third — headline, photo, headline, About first 2 lines — before deciding whether to scroll.
The About section's job is simple: convince that recruiter that scrolling is worth it.
The 4-line template
Structure
Line 1: What you do, at what caliber. Line 2: The proof. Line 3: What you believe or care about. Line 4: How to reach you.
Four lines. Each one stands alone. Whitespace between them. This layout is deliberately easy to scan on mobile.
Line 1 — What you do, at what caliber
State your job in plain English. Not your title — your job.
Examples
I help early-stage SaaS teams ship product faster. / I design financial systems that banks actually want to use. / I build ML infrastructure for companies scaling past their first 10M requests/day.
Line 2 — The proof
One sentence that makes your caliber concrete. Scale, scope, results.
Examples
Led product at 2 Series A → C companies, shipped to 6M users. / 12 years across fintech and healthtech; most recently head of design at [Company]. / Previously built search infra at [Company A]; now open to new challenges.
Line 3 — What you believe
One short belief that reflects how you work. Not a manifesto. One sentence.
Examples
I believe great product comes from clear decisions, not more meetings. / My favorite interfaces are the ones users don't notice. / I care about teams where engineers and designers make calls together.
Line 4 — How to reach you
Remove the friction. Tell people what you want and how to reach you.
Examples
DM open for advisory work, or roles in consumer / climate. / Open to senior engineering roles, remote-first, US or EU timezones. hello@... / Not currently looking but happy to chat about ML systems design.
A full example
I help early-stage B2B SaaS teams ship product their users actually want. Led product at two Series A → C companies; shipped to 400k+ monthly active users across both. I believe great product comes from clear bets and fast feedback, not longer roadmaps. DM open for advisory work or PM roles at mission-driven startups. anna@example.com
Headline — the most valuable 220 characters
Your headline is the line under your name. It follows you across every comment, connection request, and search result. Recruiter search weights this line heavily — "Senior Product Manager" is worth more than "Passionate about building things".
Weak
Passionate leader | Building amazing experiences | Dog dad
Strong
Senior Product Manager @ [Company] · B2B SaaS · Growth & experimentation · ex-[PrevCo]
Photo, banner, custom URL
- Photo: shoulders-up, good lighting, soft smile, one colored background. Not a group photo, not a wedding photo, not a selfie.
- Banner: your company's brand banner if you're at one people would recognize, or a subtle abstract gradient. Don't leave the default blue.
- Custom URL: linkedin.com/in/firstnamelastname. Never /in/firstnamelastname-4a8b2f9c. Edit from your Contact Info settings.
The 5 things to remove today
- Any sentence starting with "Passionate about…"
- Skill lists in paragraph form ("my skills include…")
- Third-person bios ("Anna is a…") unless you're actually a public figure
- Endorsements you don't want — prune them from your Skills section
- Every job older than 10 years with more than 2 bullets (compress them)
Update cadence
Revisit your About every 6 months. Update line 2 (the proof) as your most recent scope changes. Update line 4 (what you're open to) every time your context shifts. That's it. LinkedIn rewards freshness, and you'll show up in more recruiter searches every time you edit the top third.
Ready to put this into practice?
Score your CV →