{"title":"The About Section","description":null,"content":"The About section is where you explain your background in your own words. It gives you a little more room than a resume summary, so you can add context without sounding formal or forced.\n\nMany people leave this section blank. Others paste in a resume summary full of stiff phrases. Both approaches waste useful space. A good About section helps a recruiter understand what you do, what you have worked on, and what kind of role you are likely to fit next.\n\n---\n\n# Writing for Two Readers\n\nTwo readers matter here.\n\nThe first reader is LinkedIn's search system. It uses the words on your profile to understand which searches your profile may match. The second reader is a recruiter or hiring manager. They are trying to decide whether your background is relevant enough to contact you.\n\nThat means your About section needs to do both jobs. It should include the language used in your target roles, but it should still sound like a person wrote it.\n\nThe diagram below shows the two readers your About section serves at once.\n\n\n```mermaid\nflowchart TD\n A[About section]:::about --> B[LinkedIn search
reads keywords]:::system\n A --> C[Recruiter
reads for fit]:::human\n B --> D[Profile matches
more searches]:::result\n C --> E[Recruiter decides
to reach out]:::result\n\n classDef about fill:#00ceff,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef system fill:#ffd43b,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef human fill:#ffa94d,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef result fill:#69db7c,stroke:#000,color:#000\n```\n\n\nThe same text has to satisfy both paths. Keywords help LinkedIn place you in the right searches, and clear writing helps the recruiter decide you are worth a message. Write only for one reader and you weaken the other.\n\nThis is one of the few places on LinkedIn where your voice matters. The rest of the profile is mostly structured information: job titles, dates, skills, schools, and companies. In the About section, first person usually works best. \"I build...\" or \"I work on...\" sounds more natural than third-person resume language.\n\nKeep it short and structured. For most people, three short paragraphs are enough:\n\n1. Who you are.\n2. What you have done, with a few specific examples.\n3. What you are looking for next.\n\nThe keywords should fit naturally inside those paragraphs because they describe real work. Avoid adding a pasted list of tools at the bottom just to add more search terms. It looks careless and usually reads poorly.\n\n---\n\n# Building the Three Paragraphs\n\n### Find your keywords first\n\nLook at five to ten roles you would actually apply for. Note the terms that keep showing up: job titles, tools, frameworks, domains, responsibilities, and seniority words.\n\nThose are the words to work into your About section, if they honestly match your background. Do not add skills you cannot discuss in an interview.\n\n### Open with who you are, in a sentence or two\n\nStart with your role, focus area, and experience level if you have one.\n\n\n```javascript\nI'm a backend engineer with five years of experience building payment and\nbilling systems.\n```\n\n\nThat gives the reader a clear starting point. If you are a student or career switcher, say where you are now and where you are heading.\n\n\n```javascript\nI'm a computer science student focused on backend development, with projects\nin Java, Spring Boot, and PostgreSQL.\n```\n\n\n### Support the middle with evidence\n\nThe middle paragraph should give evidence. Do not repeat every resume bullet. Choose two or three examples that show the kind of work you have done, the tools you used, and the result where you can name one.\n\nNumbers help when they are real and relevant. If you do not have numbers, use concrete examples instead: systems built, features shipped, customers supported, incidents reduced, workflows improved, or teams helped.\n\n### Close with what you want\n\nSay what kind of role, team, or problem you are interested in next. This helps a recruiter decide whether to reach out.\n\n\n```javascript\nI'm interested in senior backend roles on teams building developer tools,\npayments infrastructure, or reliability-focused platforms.\n```\n\n\nThat is more useful than:\n\n\n```javascript\nOpen to new opportunities.\n```\n\n\n### Write in first person, keep it human\n\nUse \"I\" and normal sentences. Contractions are fine if they sound natural to you. Read the section aloud. If it sounds stiff, generic, or overloaded with buzzwords, simplify it.\n\nYou are aiming for professional and direct. You do not need to sound dramatic, inspirational, or overly polished.\n\n### Front-load the first two lines\n\nLinkedIn often shows only a short preview before someone has to click \"see more.\" Your opening lines should stand on their own. Put your clearest identity statement there instead of starting with a broad statement about passion, teamwork, or career philosophy.\n\n### Stay in the limit, and make it easy to reach you\n\nThe About section gives you more space than you need. Three short paragraphs are usually enough. If you are comfortable being contacted outside LinkedIn, add an email address or portfolio link at the end. If you prefer to keep messages inside LinkedIn, that is fine too.\n\nHere is a simple three-part structure.\n\n\n```mermaid\nflowchart TB\n A[Para 1: Who you are
role, focus, level]:::intro --> B[Para 2: Proof
work, tools, results]:::proof\n B --> C[Para 3: What you
want next]:::goal\n C --> D[Optional: contact
email or link]:::contact\n\n classDef intro fill:#00ceff,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef proof fill:#69db7c,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef goal fill:#ffa94d,stroke:#000,color:#000\n classDef contact fill:#38d9a9,stroke:#000,color:#000\n```\n\n\nThe proof paragraph usually carries most of the keywords because that is where you describe real work: tools, systems, domains, and outcomes. When the terms are tied to real examples, they read naturally.\n\n---\n\n# About Sections Before and After\n\nA copied resume summary usually sounds generic. Here is a weak version, followed by a stronger rewrite.\n\n**Bad:**\n\n\n```javascript\nExperienced software engineer with a proven track record of delivering\nhigh-quality solutions. Skilled in multiple programming languages and\nframeworks. A team player passionate about technology and committed to\nexcellence.\n```\n\n\n**Better:**\n\n\n```javascript\nI'm a backend engineer with 5 years of experience building payment and\nbilling systems.\n\nMost recently at FintechCo, I helped move a nightly settlement process to\nan event-driven pipeline using Kafka, Go, PostgreSQL, and AWS. The work\nreduced settlement delays and made failed payments easier to retry safely.\nI also worked on idempotency, internal tooling, and production support for\npayment services.\n\nI'm interested in senior backend roles at companies working on fintech or\ndeveloper infrastructure, especially teams focused on reliable systems.\n\nReach me at marcus.rivera@email.com.\n```\n\n\n**Why the better version works:** The first version could describe almost anyone. The rewrite uses first person, gives specific examples, names relevant technologies, explains what Marcus wants next, and includes a clear way to reach him.\n\nNow look at the opening preview, since that is what people see before clicking \"see more.\"\n\n**Bad opening:**\n\n\n```javascript\nThroughout my career, I have always believed that great software is built\nby great teams, and I have been fortunate to work with...\n```\n\n\n**Better opening:**\n\n\n```javascript\nI'm a backend engineer with 5 years of experience building payment and\nbilling systems, mostly in Go, Kafka, PostgreSQL, and AWS.\n```\n\n\n**Why the better version works:** The first opening uses the preview space without saying what the person does. The rewrite gives the reader the role, specialty, experience level, and stack right away.\n\n---\n\n# What Weakens an About Section\n\nThe most common one is leaving the section blank, which costs you both context and a place to put relevant keywords.\n\n- **Leaving it blank.** An empty About section gives recruiters less context and removes a useful place for relevant keywords.\n- **Pasting the resume summary.** Third-person resume language often sounds stiff on LinkedIn. Rewrite it in first person with specific examples.\n- **Filling it with adjectives.** \"Passionate,\" \"proven track record,\" and \"committed to excellence\" are too generic to help. Replace them with skills, tools, domains, and examples.\n- **Starting too slowly.** A broad opening can hide the most useful information behind \"see more.\" Start with your role and focus.\n- **Dumping keywords at the end.** A pasted list of skills feels unnatural and can make the profile look careless. Work the terms into sentences that describe real work.\n- **Being vague about what you want.** \"Open to opportunities\" is too broad. Name the role, team, domain, or type of problem you are looking for.","pageType":"job-search"}

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