LinkedIn is the most popular platform for professional networking with over 1 billion users across countries and continents. Whether you are seeking a new job or looking to hire, LinkedIn helps you build a professional network by connecting you with recruiters, employers or even leads.
Now, we know how having an optimised LinkedIn profile is essential to build a strong network on the platform. In fact, LinkedIn’s built-in functionality determines your profile’s visibility based on keywords.
This is where integrating your skill sets into your LinkedIn becomes all the more important. When you strategically include your skills throughout your LinkedIn profile, you increase your chances of getting noticed by recruiters or leads.
We have curated this complete guide to help you with how to add skills on LinkedIn and what skills you should add to your profile. Let’s get into it:
How do you add skills on LinkedIn
Let’s start with the most important question - how to list skills on LinkedIn.
Adding skills to your LinkedIn profile is fairly simple. With just a few simple steps, you will be able to add all the relevant skills to your profile to attract valuable professionals to notice your profile.
Your LinkedIn skills section is a reflection of your professional strengths. They could be your soft skills, technical skills or even your industry knowledge. All in all, a well-curated LinkedIn skills section opens a lot of doors to new and relevant opportunities for networking.
In this blog, we will now learn how to add skills on your desktop and on mobile.
Add Linkedin Skills on PC
You can either list skills on LinkedIn from your desktop or your mobile application. The steps for both are fairly similar and simple. With a just a few click, you can create a keyword-optimized LinkedIn profile. Here are a few simple steps:
- Go to your preferred browser: Type https://www.linkedin.com/home
- Sign in: Enter your credentials and sign into your account.
- Go to your profile: Once you are in, navigate to your profile page from the left corner of your feed.
- Visit your profile section: Click on the “Add profile section” which is just below your connections number list.
- Adding your skills: A pop-up appears. Click on “Add skill.”
- List your skills: Now start adding the skills you would like to add.
- Skills recommendations: If the skill appears in the dropdown, click on that skill. If it doesn’t, hit “Enter” after you’ve finished typing.
- Save: Click on “Save” to confirm changes.
These added skills will appear towards the end of your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn also suggests skills based on your profile. If you find them relevant to your experience, add them.
Easy, right?
Add Linkedin Skills on Mobile
The steps to adding your skills to your LinkedIn profile from your mobile are mostly similar. If you do not want to use the mobile application, you can simply go to LinkedIn.com from a browser on your phone and follow the same steps listed above and voila you are done!
But if you are using the LinkedIn mobile app which is a great, seamless experience, here’s what you would need to do:
- Open the LinkedIn app on your mobile.
- Sign into your account if you aren’t signed in already.
- Once you are in, your feed appears. Click on your profile picture on the top left bar.
- A sidebar opens. Click to navigate to your profile page.
- Click on the “Add section” option. A pop-up appears.
- Go all the way down and you will see the “Add skills” option.
- This will open the section where you now start all your relevant skill sets.
- As we already talked about, LinkedIn suggests some skills based on your profile. You can select a skill if it’s relevant to you.
- Hit Save and you are done!
How to add multiple skills in LinkedIn
While adding skills to your profile is a great way of boosting visibility, you can add multiple skills - as many as you want to showcase your expertise. It strengthens your profile and improves your chances of being endorsed by other people for those specific skills.
Now, how do you add how to update multiple skills on LinkedIn? Follow a few simple steps -
- Sign in to LinkedIn: Login through a web browser or mobile app and sign in to your account.
- Navigate to your profile: Click on the left sidebar and navigate to your profile page.
- Visit your profile section: Click on the “Add profile section” which is just below your connections number list.
- Adding your skills: A pop-up appears. Click on “Add skill.”
- List your skills: Now start adding the skills you would like to add.
When you start adding your skills, you can add more than just one. Keep adding skills one after the other and once you are done, hit save to confirm.
How to Edit Your Skills on LinkedIn
Upskilling is crucial in today’s job landscape to open doors to new opportunities and build your professional portfolio.
Imagine you have gained a few skills and want to showcase them on your LinkedIn. What you need to do is simply add them along with your existing skills. You may also want to delete a few skills if they aren’t relevant to your professional goals. LinkedIn allows users to constantly edit skills on the platform.
The steps are pretty straightforward. Whether you are using a web browser or a mobile app, here are the steps to editing and refining your skills section on LinkedIn -
- Go to LinkedIn: Access your LinkedIn app or go to LinkedIn.com from your browser.
- Sign in and go to your profile: Login to your account using your credentials and go to your profile page.
- Find the skills section: Click on the “Add section” option and navigate to the skills section.
- Edit skills: Tap on the ‘+’ icon on the right side of the screen to edit, add a new skill, or choose one from the suggested option.
- Save changes: Click on Save to finish.
Reorder Your Skills Based on Priority
You identify your skills and want to add them to the skills list on LinkedIn but don’t know what the order should they be in. Don’t worry, we got you covered! In this section, we will learn how you should reorder your skills - changing the order in which they appear on your profile.
First, you need to again access your profile and navigate to the “Me” icon. Click on the “View Profile” option and you will be taken to a pop-up. Scroll down to the “Skills” section. You will find a pencil icon that will help you edit and reorder your skills.
Now, all you have to do is click the three dots that appear on the section and then from the drop-down menu, select “Reorder”. Click and drag each skill according to how you want to arrange them in your preferred order. Once, you are satisfied with the order, select “Save” to confirm the changes you made.
How to add a skill badge in LinkedIn
Adding a skill badge to your profile will attract recruiters and industry peers to your profile. You have the opportunity to earn a skill badge once you complete and pass a LinkedIn Skill Assessment. Here is how to add one:
- Access Skill Assessments: Go down your LinkedIn profile to the “Skills” section. Click “Take skill quiz” or find the “Skill Assessment” option to see available assessments.
- Select a Skill Assessment: There are numerous LinkedIn assessment options on software tools, programming languages, business skills, and much more. Go ahead and click to select an assessment of a skill that you could highlight and one that aligns with your previously listed skills on your profile.
- Complete the Skill Assessment: All skills assessments include multiple-choice questions to challenge your skills. Make sure you score in the top 30% for the badge.
- Acquire and Pin the Badge: After you pass, LinkedIn will automatically allow you to see a badge next to the skill in your profile. That way, your verified skills will display your skills have been verified through LinkedIn’s assessment process.
- Review and Save: After adding the skill badge, you may reorganize your skills in such a way that the verified skills are up top. Save the changes.
How to endorse skills on LinkedIn
Receiving endorsements on your skills is a great yet simple way of ranking yourself better on LinkedIn’s search algorithm.
Consider connections with those individuals who know your work well and can endorse your skills confidently. Here are ideal contacts for skill endorsements:
- Classmates who know your abilities through academic projects.
- Current or Former Managers who can vouch for your professional skills.
- Colleagues you’ve collaborated with in the past or present.
- Mentors or Mentees who understand your strengths and growth.
- Professional Group Members familiar with your industry expertise.
But how do they endorse your skills?
To endorse a connection’s skill from their profile:
- Go to the profile of the 1st-degree connection.
- Scroll down to the Skills & endorsements section and find the name of the skill you’d like to endorse.
- If the connection has more than three skills listed, click the Show More button at the bottom of that section to view their full list of skills.
- Click the Add icon to the left of the skill.
How to Prove the Credibility of Your LinkedIn Skills
Well now that you have added your skills, rearranged them and formed an optimized profile, proving the credibility of your LinkedIn skills is the next step. Why is it important to establish credibility? To prove trust with recruiters and connections.
Let’s learn some effective ways to enhance the authenticity of your skills on LinkedIn:
- Accumulate Skill Badges: By passing an assessment for LinkedIn, you earn badges, which essentially are reflective of verified knowledge and expertise.
- Get Endorsements: Reach out to people who can genuinely attest to your skills, like coworkers, mentors, or managers, and ask for endorsements. The more endorsements you get, the more authentic your skills will sound.
- Relevant projects and experiences: For each of the skills you are stating, connect with precise projects or roles where you applied those abilities. This is to contextualize your skills and enhance your experience in any given area.
- Request Recommendations: Request your managers, clients, or colleagues who have good testimony relating toyour performance capabilities to provide recommendations to add relevance to your profile with concrete examples of how you applied those skills in the real world.
By combining all these methods, you will have a diverse and effective LinkedIn profile to attract recruiters and industry peers.
Top Skills on LinkedIn to Add to Your LinkedIn Profile
Below is the list of 40 valuable keywords, which will allow you to enrich your profile on LinkedIn. If you work within a niche or a speciality area, then consider researching more of the keywords matching the specific skills and expertise that those target companies look for.
For instance, if you’re a data scientist, “machine learning” may be a keyword of utmost importance. However, if a company wants specialized input in a new area like “deep learning,” using that keyword shows how in tune you are with developments in the industry. Another beneficial feature of LinkedIn Premium is job insights. This will show you how well your skills fit posted jobs’ needs and how you compare to other applicants. Here are the lists of highly valued skills.
- Flexibility
- Agile Methodology
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Blockchain
- Business Analyst
- Change Management
- Client Relations
- Cloud Computing
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creativity
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- Customer Service
- Customer Success
- Data Analysis
- Data Analytics
- Data Science
- Digital Marketing
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
- Emotional Intelligence
- Human Resources
- Leadership
- Machine Learning
- Management
- Marketing Strategy
- Operations Management
- Persuasion
- Product Development
- Product Management
- Project Management
- Relationship Building
- Sales
- Software Development Lifecycles (SDLC)
- Software Engineering
- Stakeholder Management
- Strategic Planning
- Team Building
- Team Management
- UX Design
- Video Production
This set of skills will increase the reach of your profile. You may attract more recruiters and hiring managers if you tailor specific keywords based on the types of roles you want to pursue.
Tips to Make Your Skills Stand Out on LinkedIn
Here are a few quick tips to make your profile look increasingly attractive:
Maximize Skills on Your Profile: LinkedIn allows users to add up to 50 skills to their profile. This increases your chances of appearing in search results and the number of times your profiles may be viewed. So, all things considered, this will eventually lead you better opportunities.
Drive Endorsements to Your Skills: Your LinkedIn skill must have an endorsement to appear in LinkedIn’s search algorithm. The more endorsements your skills have, the higher your chance of appearing in search results.
Update Your Skills Regularly: You’ll likely develop new hard and soft skills as your career progresses. Your LinkedIn profile must reflect your latest, and most recent skills to help you discover new job opportunities. It’s always best to update your skills section every six to twelve months.
How Many Skills to List on LinkedIn
As we already know by now, LinkedIn allows you to add up to 50 skills to your profile. Using all of these 50 skills is important to increase your chances of grabbing the eyeballs of your preferred audience.
Although, adding random skills won’t take you too far. You will have to be careful in what you add to your skills list as LinkedIn might end up suggesting skills that may not be relevant to your current goals.
The best way to go about it is to analyze specific job postings of companies and what they are looking for. With a LinkedIn Premium membership, you’ll be able to see how your profile matches the employer’s needs and tailor your skill sets accordingly.
How to Delete Skills from LinkedIn
Delete Skills from LinkedIn on PC
To delete a skill from your LinkedIn profile using your computer:
- Click on the ‘Me’ icon, then click ‘View My Profile.’
- Scroll down to ‘Skills and Endorsements’ and click on the ‘Pencil’ icon.
- Find the skill you’d like to remove, tap the ‘Trash Can’ icon, and save.
Delete Skills from LinkedIn on Android or iPhone
- Tap on your profile picture to open it, and tap on ‘View My Profile.’
- Scroll down to ‘Skills and Endorsements’ and click the ‘Edit’ icon.
- Tap on the skill you would like to delete from the list, then hit the ‘Trash Can’ icon and save.
And with this, we have come to the end of an end-to-end guide on how to add skills on LinkedIn. Adding skills to your profile is important to get the right attention from recruiters and hiring managers.
