To write a LinkedIn About section, open with one line on what you do and who you do it for, add a few sentences on how you got there, back it up with two or three results, name the skills people search for and finish with one clear next step. Write it in the first person, in short paragraphs.
Advice like that is easy to agree with and hard to apply. So instead of explaining each rule in the abstract, this page takes weak drafts and rewrites them, one part at a time, and says why each change works. All the people and companies below are made up for the examples.
The five parts, in one line each
Keep these in mind as you read the rewrites:
- Opening: what you do and for whom, in the lines people see before “see more.”
- Story: the thread that explains why you do this work.
- Proof: two or three results someone could check.
- Skills: the five to eight terms your audience searches for.
- Next step: one thing you want the reader to do.
Rewrite 1: the opening line
Before:
Welcome to my profile! I am a passionate, results-driven customer success professional with over 10 years of experience.
After:
I help B2B software teams keep the customers they worked hard to win.
What changed. The first version spends its most valuable space on things the reader already knows (they’re on your profile) or can’t check (“passionate,” “results-driven”). Only the first few lines show before LinkedIn cuts the section off, and for most visitors that’s all they read. The second version says what Dana does and for whom in under fifteen words. A software founder reading it knows straight away whether to keep going.
Two other openings that work, if “what I do” feels flat for your field:
- A belief: “Most onboarding fails in the first week, not the first month.”
- A moment: “The first support ticket I ever answered was from my own mother.”
Either one earns the click on “see more,” as long as the next line connects it to your work.
Rewrite 2: the story
Before:
I started my career at Northwind in 2014 as a support associate. In 2016 I was promoted to senior support associate. In 2018 I moved to Contoso as a customer success manager, and in 2021 I became team lead.
After:
I started in support at Northwind, answering tickets about a product that confused almost everyone. Fixing those confusions one by one taught me that most churn starts with a bad first month.
What changed. The first version is a resume in sentence form, and your experience section already does that job better. The second picks one thread (confusion leads to churn) and shows where it came from. Readers remember a reason. They forget a list of years.
If you’re stuck, ask yourself what problem kept pulling you back, or what you learned early that you still use every week. Your answer is usually the story.
Rewrite 3: the proof
Before:
I am a proven leader who consistently exceeds expectations and drives customer satisfaction.
After:
Since then I have led customer success teams at two software companies. Highlights:
- Rebuilt onboarding so new accounts reached their first report in days, not weeks
- Grew a team from 3 to 11 people
- Ran the renewal process for our largest accounts
What changed. “Proven” and “exceeds expectations” are claims with nothing behind them. The rewrite gives a scope (two companies), a number (3 to 11), and an outcome (days, not weeks). Each one could be confirmed by looking at Dana’s experience section, and that’s the standard to aim for.
No numbers? Describe the outcome plainly. “Rebuilt the intake process so new patients book in one call” is proof, even without a percentage.
Rewrite 4: the skills line
Before:
Skills: Customer Success, Customer Experience, Client Relations, Account Management, Relationship Building, Teamwork, Leadership, Communication, Problem Solving, Microsoft Office, Strategic Thinking, Detail Oriented
After:
Skills: onboarding, renewal strategy, Gainsight, Salesforce, team leadership
What changed. The first list repeats itself (four ways of saying “customers”), pads with soft skills nobody can judge from a list, and pushes the next step out of view. The second keeps the five terms a hiring manager for this role would actually search. Pull your own terms from job posts or client briefs in your field, not from internal team jargon. If you want help choosing them, How to Add Skills on LinkedIn has a ten-minute method.
Rewrite 5: the ending
Before:
Feel free to connect, follow, message me, check out my website or download my portfolio!
After:
If your team is losing customers in the first 90 days, message me. I am always happy to compare notes.
What changed. Five options means the reader picks none. The rewrite gives one action and a reason to take it. Other endings that do the same job:
- “I’m open to product design roles in healthcare. Send me a note.”
- “My newsletter on CRM migrations is pinned in Featured below.”
If you mention email, write the address so it can be copied. If you want messages, say what they should be about.
The finished section
Here are all five “after” pieces put together:
I help B2B software teams keep the customers they worked hard to win.
I started in support at Northwind, answering tickets about a product that confused almost everyone. Fixing those confusions one by one taught me that most churn starts with a bad first month.
Since then I have led customer success teams at two software companies. Highlights:
- Rebuilt onboarding so new accounts reached their first report in days, not weeks
- Grew a team from 3 to 11 people
- Ran the renewal process for our largest accounts
Skills: onboarding, renewal strategy, Gainsight, Salesforce, team leadership
If your team is losing customers in the first 90 days, message me. I am always happy to compare notes.
We ran this text through the same character counting our Character Counter uses: it comes to 697 characters, counting the line breaks and the hyphens at the start of the bullets. LinkedIn allows 2,600 for the About section (see our LinkedIn limits page), so this uses about a quarter of the space and still covers every part. You don’t have to fill the box. If a paragraph wouldn’t change what a reader thinks of you or what they do next, cut it.
First person, and a voice that fits your field
Write “I,” not your own name. “Dana helps clinics fill their schedules” sounds like a press release; “I help clinics fill their schedules” sounds like a person you could message. The About section is often the last thing someone reads before they reach out, so it should sound like you talking.
Tone depends on who reads it. Legal, finance and healthcare readers tend to expect a calm, plain voice. Founders and creative roles can be looser and more personal. A good check for either: read it aloud as if to one person across a table. Anything you wouldn’t say out loud, rewrite.
A last pass before you save
- Does the first line say what you do and for whom?
- Is there one thread in the story, not a list of dates?
- Could a stranger verify each result from your experience section?
- Are there five to eight skills, all ones your audience searches?
- Is there exactly one next step?
- Does it read well on a phone, with short paragraphs and blank lines between them?
- Does it match your headline and the jobs listed below it?
Start from your own facts
Gather your role, your audience, two or three results and the action you want, then let the free LinkedIn About Generator turn them into a first-person draft in this structure. Edit it until it sounds like you. Then match your headline with How to Write a LinkedIn Headline. Changing fields? LinkedIn Summary for Career Changers covers that angle. And for finished sections across different roles, browse the LinkedIn About section examples.