How To Pick Skills on LinkedIn That Get…

Q: Be Like Your Skills

As we are now in the era of 'personal branding,' you have to select and list the skills that represent you as a professional.

Q: Use the 'Experience' Section to Showcase Your Skills

The 'Experience' section is among the most critical sections that catch the attention of business owners when browsing your LinkedIn profile. So, use it to talk about and explain your most essential skills and abilities and show how these skills and

It’s our tradition when we create a new account on any platform! To fill out the details quickly with no goals but to discover and engage on the platform, LinkedIn is not an exception.

Key Takeaways

Tips to List Your Skills Effectively on LinkedIn
Realize Not all Professionals’ Skills Are Equally Valued on LinkedIn
Master the Skill Ranking on Your LinkedIn Profile
Be Like Your Skills
Scan the Job Postings of the Leading Companies in Your Industry

Last Reviewed: April 2026 | Sources: DrJobPro Hiring Data Q1 2026.

Professionals’
signup and fill out their profile details, including the skills, randomly
without thinking about their “target employers,” so they find
themselves picking the first 10 skills. After some time on the platform, they
receive endorsements for not relevant skills to their target jobs, companies,
or positions. For example, you can find a highly-professional expert endorsed
for “communication skills” as the 1st skill on his profile.

Has it ever happened that an employer contacts a professional for his “communication skills” only?

You May Also Like:

The fact is
that many of these generic skills don’t get the attention of the employers or
they are highly used, so you’ll not be able to stand out among others.

So, to get
employers to contact you, you need to understand LinkedIn’s algorithms that
filter users based on “keywords” used during search and search with “skills”
is an essential feature the platform provides to all recruiters.

Here, we provide you with a very effective strategy that you can adopt when listing your skills on LinkedIn to ensure that you reach more employers and recruiters with your skills and experience.

Tips to List Your Skills Effectively on LinkedIn

Realize Not all Professionals’ Skills Are Equally Valued on LinkedIn

Be aware
that when a recruiter searches for a candidate to fill a position, they search
by keyword, say “software developer,” and then browse the accounts of
the first five professionals that appear in the search results with the most
endorsements.

So, now
head over to your LinkedIn account, search for the number one skill needed in
your field, check the first result, and see how many endorsements this person
has for their skills. You will need to prove that you have more experience than
him to secure a higher ranking in the recruiters’ search results.

And there
are plenty of ways to be more experienced than the highest-ranking person on
LinkedIn:

You can work with a more prominent
company
Or work for more than one employer at the
same time
Or specialize in various other fields
besides the main field
Or work in many countries

Do as you
see fit and put in the effort above! You won’t get a job on LinkedIn if you
don’t prioritize gaining more experience and honing the skills that matter most
to employers.

Master the Skill Ranking on Your LinkedIn Profile

Start with general skill

It is
always best to start with a generic, overarching skill that summarizes your
entire professional identity. Type the “keyword” in your field in the
skills search bar on LinkedIn, select results similar to your skills, and add
them to your profile to ensure you get more exposure to recruiters

Narrow your skill list

This
ensures that you make a small list of the essential skills in your field. You
can get this list by doing the following:

A Google search to identify the most
in-demand skills in your field by defining the keywords mentioned in the search
results.
Browse job advertisements and identify
skills that are in demand.
Talk to professionals in your target field
and see the most common skills.
Talk to a counselor or career coach to
help figure out what to focus on.

Expand your skill base

Start by
mastering a high-level skill, then add several less relevant and in-demand
skills. Visualize your skills in a hierarchy: start with one considerable skill
at the top of the pyramid, add several small and medium skills afterward, and
fill the lower level of your skill pyramid with lots of small micro-skills.

Be Like Your Skills

As we are
now in the era of “personal branding,” you have to select and list
the skills that represent you as a professional.

Remember
that your eligibility for the position will easily be discovered through the
interview with the recruiter first and the Department head or the line manager
second.

So, there’s
no need for hurting your reputation by listing random skills or higher skills
just to get noticed by recruiters and appear as a “ninja” of your
field.

Scan the Job Postings of the Leading Companies in Your Industry

If you want
to find the most valuable skills in your field, you should read job postings of
the leading companies in your area and discover how you describe these skills
using keywords.

The more
you understand the keywords recruiters use in your industry, the more effective
your resume is when applying for a new job.

Job
Postings make it easy for you to choose the perfect and most-searched-for job
title in your field as well. It also provides you with indications about the
ease or difficulty of the job, as the required skills indicate the extent of
work experience and capabilities needed to fill the position.

Where can you find job postings on LinkedIn?

Go to the
“Jobs” page to see the most popular jobs listed at the top of this
page. Write down all the keywords mentioned in the job postings relevant to
your industry, and include them on your profile to ensure that more employers
can connect with you.

Avoid Generic Skills Like Communication, Business Writing, ETC

Mentioning these
skills takes you off the race track as you are similar to many other
professionals. If it is an essential advantage when talking about customer
service jobs, having communication skills is not as important when talking
about “data entry” jobs, where the job depends on dealing with the
computer only.

So, include
skills that show employers that you are a “solution” to all their
problems. If it’s not a straightforward solution, it might provide them with
ideas to help them overcome a particular challenge, make a higher profit, or
otherwise.

In other
words: Show how to use your skills to benefit the employer in all cases and accomplish
tasks differently each time while ensuring the best results. That is what gives
a price to your skills!

Use the “Experience” Section to Showcase Your Skills

The
“Experience” section is among the most critical sections that catch
the attention of business owners when browsing your LinkedIn profile. So, use
it to talk about and explain your most essential skills and abilities and show
how these skills and experiences helped you shine in your previous job and
achieve achievement. Show your actual value by mentioning the results and
numbers.

How to Verify Your Skills on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn
offers you a feature to check your skills by conducting customized assessments
to measure your level of experience.

It always
pays to pass these tests, especially if you are looking for a career that
requires specific skills.

According
to LinkedIn research, job applicants who have passed the platform’s short tests
have an approximately 30% higher chance of being selected than those who did not
take the tests.

Follow
these steps for a skills assessment:

Scroll down to the “Skill
Endorsements” section of your profile.
Select the test area, then select the
appropriate skill assessments.
If you score at least 70%, you will get a
“Verified Skill” badge next to the skill on your profile.
If you do not want to display the skill
badge for any reason, you can change your privacy settings.

You may
need to hone your skills before taking a skill assessment. You can achieve this
by enrolling in one of the LinkedIn educational courses.

Finally,

A vibrant
and diverse professional LinkedIn profile is the way forward. Update your
skills regularly, adding new skills each time you acquire a new skill, and
write short but specific descriptions of each skill.

Make your “excellence” a goal to easily attract top employers for your skills!

Subscribe to get our latest jobs &tips!