How to optimize your LinkedIn profile so recruiters find you.
LinkedIn's search works the same way Google's does. A recruiter types a job title or a skill into the search bar, and the results only include profiles that contain those words. If your profile doesn't use the words a recruiter is searching for, it doesn't come up, no matter how qualified you are for the role.
Recruiters at Integrated Staffing, Accountant Staffing, and Administrative Staffing search LinkedIn daily to fill roles across Atlantic Canada, and they aren't the only ones. LinkedIn topped every other channel in a September 2024 survey of more than 1,200 talent acquisition professionals across North America, with 71% naming it their top recruiting channel, ahead of Facebook and Instagram. A recruiter who never finds your profile in that search can't call you about the role.
Filling out every section of a LinkedIn profile can feel like busywork when all you want is your resume in front of someone. It also decides whether a recruiter's search turns you up at all, before a human ever reads a word of it.
Headline
Your headline is the field LinkedIn weighs heaviest in a keyword search, and it's also the line that shows up next to your name in every comment, like, and connection request. By default, LinkedIn fills it with your current job title and employer. A recruiter searching for "Accounts Payable" or "Payroll Coordinator" will miss a headline that only reads "Bookkeeper at [Previous Employer]." Rewrite it with the specific titles and skills you want to be found for, three or four of them, separated by a comma or a vertical bar.
This feels unnatural if you were taught to keep your headline simple. It works because LinkedIn's search engine reads text, not intent, and a plain job title tells the algorithm less than a list of the roles and skills a recruiter is typing into the search bar.
Profile photo
LinkedIn counts a photo as one of the fields in its profile-completeness score, and profiles with one get 21 times more views than profiles without, according to LinkedIn's own published data. A recruiter also registers your photo before reading a single line of your headline or experience.
Use a photo taken within the last year or two, front-facing, with a plain or softly blurred background. Dress for the field you're aiming for: business casual works for administrative and accounting roles, and a clean work shirt or collared top works fine for industrial and trades roles. Skip the group photo crop, the low-resolution phone screenshot, and the photo from an event five years ago.
About section
LinkedIn's search engine weighs the About section less heavily than the headline and skills fields, but a recruiter who finds you through search still reads it. Write it in first person. State what you do, one specific result with a number attached, and the role you want next. Skip the third person and skip "results-driven team player," since neither tells a recruiter anything a resume doesn't already say better.
Experience
Recruiters skim the experience section for outcomes, not duties. "Processed invoices" describes a task, and most candidates applying for the same role wrote something close to it. "Processed 200+ invoices a week with a 99% accuracy rate" describes what you did, and a recruiter is more likely to remember it after scrolling through the fifteenth profile of the day. Go back through your last two roles and turn the top two or three bullets under each one into a result with a number attached.
Skills
The skills section works as its own search filter. Recruiters using LinkedIn Recruiter can filter directly by skill, separate from any keyword typed into the general search bar, and LinkedIn's own data shows candidates who list five or more skills get contacted up to 33 times more often than candidates who list fewer. List the skills tied to the job titles you want, not every software program you've ever touched, and pin the three most relevant to the top, since those are typically the only three a recruiter sees before choosing to expand the list.
Visibility settings
LinkedIn's "Open to Work" setting has two modes. The recruiters-only option signals your availability to people using LinkedIn Recruiter, and LinkedIn makes a reasonable effort to keep that signal away from recruiters at your current employer, though it isn't guaranteed. The public option adds the green banner to your profile photo, visible to everyone, including anyone at your current job who happens to look. If you're employed and don't want your job search visible at work, the recruiters-only setting is the safer choice. If you're between roles, the public banner is worth the added visibility.
A profile with recent activity, such as a comment, a post, or an update to any section, ranks higher in a recruiter's search than a profile that's gone untouched for months. You don't need to post every week. Commenting on a former colleague's update or reacting to a post in your field keeps a profile active enough to matter.
By field
The specific words change by field. Integrated Staffing places candidates across construction, logistics, production, and skilled trades. Accountant Staffing places bookkeepers, payroll, and accounting roles. Administrative Staffing places office coordinators, receptionists, and administrative support. A recruiter searching for each one types different words into the same search bar.
Beyond LinkedIn
Employers check more than LinkedIn. Seven in ten of them research candidates on social media before hiring, and 66% run a plain Google search on a candidate's name, according to a 2018 Harris Poll survey of more than 1,000 U.S. hiring and HR managers conducted for CareerBuilder. Facebook, Instagram, and whatever turns up on the first page of Google factor into that research too.
Locking every account to private feels like the safest move, but the same survey found 47% of employers are less likely to call in a candidate they can't find online at all. An invisible candidate reads as suspicious to a hiring manager, the same way an incomplete LinkedIn profile does. The goal is to control what's visible, not to erase it.
| Platform | What a recruiter typically checks | Before you apply |
|---|---|---|
| Google search | Whatever comes up on the first page for your name, including old accounts and news mentions | Search your own name, including the images tab |
| Public posts, comments, and tagged photos if your profile isn't set to private | Set your profile to friends-only and review old tags | |
| Public posts and your bio, if the account isn't private | Switch to a private account or clean up the public grid | |
| X and TikTok | Public posts, replies, and comments, which stay visible even on otherwise quiet accounts | Assume anything public could come up in an interview and edit accordingly |
What gets noticed
The same survey asked employers what got a candidate rejected after a social media check. Inappropriate photos or content topped the list at 40%, followed by posts about drinking or drug use at 36%, discriminatory comments at 31%, and posts that badmouthed a previous employer at 25%.
The same research also asked what moved a candidate toward a hire. A professional-looking profile, a wide range of interests, and evidence of good communication skills all showed up as reasons employers extended an offer. It takes the same instinct you'd already use walking into an interview: dress the part, watch what you say, and don't let old posts do the talking for you. None of it requires a personal brand or a content calendar.
Quick cleanup
Start by searching your own name the way a stranger would, in an incognito or private browser window so results aren't skewed by your own search history. Check the images tab too, since photos surface separately from text results.
On Facebook, set your profile to friends-only and spend ten minutes scrolling back through old tagged photos, since tags from other people's accounts can stay visible even when your own settings are locked down. On Instagram and X, assume anything posted on a public account could come up, and treat old posts the way you'd treat an old voicemail greeting: worth checking before you hand out the number.
A recruiter who finds a genuine, professional presence online reacts better than one who finds an account scrubbed clean of any history, or one left wide open with everything from the last decade still public. Aim for something in between: tidy, but still recognizably you.
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Integrated Staffing places candidates across Canada, in industrial, trades, accounting, and administrative roles. Send your resume and a recruiter will reach out directly, no LinkedIn search required.
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