The Best Skills to Add to Your LinkedIn Profile for Recruiter Searches

How to Choose the Right Skills to Add to Your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just a digital CV – it’s one of the first places recruiters and hiring managers look when assessing your professional credibility.

One section that often gets overlooked, but can make a major difference, is Skills and Endorsements.

Why does it matter? Because:

• LinkedIn requires this section to reach All-Star status, which makes your profile up to 27 times more likely to be found by recruiters.

• The right skills improve your chances of appearing in recruiter searches.

• They can directly influence how you rank when applying through LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature.

You can add up to 50 skills, but this doesn’t mean you should treat it like a catch-all list. Instead, you’ll want to be strategic, ensuring every skill you include strengthens your profile. Done well, your skills section should:

• Help your network and visitors instantly understand your key expertise.

• Align with the roles you’re targeting in the future.

• Increase your visibility in recruiter searches.

So, how do you decide which skills to include?

1) Look both backwards and forwards

Your profile should reflect where you’ve been and where you’re going.

That means showcasing the skills that highlight your career history while also incorporating those that align with your next step.

For example, if you’ve built your career in marketing but are now pursuing an MBA and aiming for a pivot into real estate, your profile should show both worlds. Include core marketing skills that reflect your past impact and real estate-specific skills that signal where you’re headed.

2) Analyse job descriptions for your target roles

One of the most reliable ways to identify skills is by studying job descriptions.

• Collect three to five postings for roles you’d genuinely like to pursue.

• Highlight the keywords and recurring skills that appear across them.

• Add these directly to your LinkedIn profile – recruiters will often filter for these exact terms when searching for candidates.

This ensures your skills section is not only accurate but also aligned with what employers are actively seeking.

3) Use LinkedIn’s “How You Match” tool

If you apply for a role directly through LinkedIn, you’ll sometimes see a feature called “How You Match.” This shows how your listed skills compare to those of other applicants and highlights the specific skills recruiters are weighting most heavily.

By paying attention to this feature, you’ll know exactly which skills are missing from your profile – and you can add them to boost your ranking in future applications.

When available, you'll see your applicant rank and the skills used to determine it to the right of the job posting underneath the "How you match" heading, as shown below.

Fine-Tuning Your Skills Section

There’s no guaranteed formula for how every recruiter reviews LinkedIn profiles – some will prioritise work history, others may focus on education or endorsements. But one thing is certain: strengthening your Skills section can only improve your chances of standing out.

If you notice LinkedIn flags missing skills in the “How You Match” feature, add them before submitting your application. This quick update can boost your applicant rank and make your profile more competitive.

On a CV, we often advise against listing soft skills such as leadership, organisation, or analytical skills in isolation – they risk sounding like generic buzzwords unless backed up with concrete examples. However, LinkedIn’s algorithm works differently. Here, including those terms directly in your Skills section helps you appear in searches and strengthens your profile ranking.

In Summary

Between uploading a polished headshot, crafting a compelling summary, and managing your privacy settings, it’s easy to overlook LinkedIn’s Skills and Endorsements section. But doing so could cost you visibility.

While the section alone won’t prove your abilities, it signals credibility to recruiters and to LinkedIn’s own algorithm. In fact, it’s one of the elements that contributes to achieving All-Star profile status, which increases the chances of your profile being discovered.

The good news? It’s a quick win. Once you’ve added relevant skills and optimised for your target roles, take things a step further by requesting endorsements or recommendations from trusted colleagues and supervisors. These extra touches provide social proof that reinforces your credibility and gives recruiters even more reason to reach out.

To find out more, visit our website www.cvpilots.co.uk If you have any further questions, you can either book a consultation call with one of our team, or get in touch via email on team@cvpilots.co.uk