In this article, we’ll look at the best skills to include when you’re job-hunting, and how to add skills to your profile.
Why It’s Important To List Skills on Your LinkedIn Profile
It’s fairly easy to add skills to your your LinkedIn profile and it’s worth the effort. 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 hireability and expertise available to employers via Google search.
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.”
Best Skills To Include in Your LinkedIn Profile
These are among the top skills that employers across industries are looking for.
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 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:
AdministrativeBusiness analysisBusiness developmentBusiness intelligenceBusiness managementBusiness storytellingEconomics
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:
EditingNewslettersNonverbal communicationPersuasionPresentationWritingActive listening
Technology
Many of the hard skills listed in LinkedIn’s most recent list of the skills that companies need most are related to technology. These skills are needed not only in technology companies, but also in jobs across industries. Here is a list of tech skills that are important today:
BlockchainCloud computingArtificial intelligenceUX designBusiness analysisScientific computing
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:
CoachingDelegating tasksLeadershipNegotiationProject managementRelationship managementStrategic 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 marketingChannel marketingContent marketingContent strategyDigital mediaDigital marketingMarket researchMedia planningOnline marketingPublic relationsSocial mediaSales
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:
AdaptabilityCollaborationCreativityPersuasionTime managementLeadershipInitiative taking
How to Manage the Skills on Your LinkedIn Profile
Using the LinkedIn profile editor, you can add, edit, and delete skills in your profile.
Adding Skills to LinkedIn
If you don’t have any skills listed on your profile, you’ll need to add the Skills section. You can do that by clicking on the “Me” icon at the top of your page, viewing your profile, then clicking “Add profile section.” Click “Core,” then choose “Add skills” from the dropdown menu. A window will pop up and in that you can:
Type a skill name and then choose it from the dropdown menu, or choose a skill from “Selected based on your profile.” Once you choose it, will show up in your skills list. Select checkboxes that explain where you used this skill.
Then click “Save.” Repeat the above steps to add more skills to your profile.
Reordering Your Skills List
Once you create a list of skills for your LinkedIn profile, you can change the order that the skills appear in. Again, click on the “Me” icon and then click “View Profile.” Scroll down to the Skills section, then click on the pencil icon in order to edit the section. Click the three dots at the top of the section, then from the drop-down menu, choose “Reorder.” You can reorder your skills by clicking and dragging the horizontal line icons on the right-hand side of the screen.
Deleting Skills
You can also delete skills. Once you’ve clicked the pencil icon to edit a skill, select “Delete skill” at the bottom of the edit window. 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.
