Your LinkedIn Title May Be Working Against You

“You lost me there, what were you saying?” -- Austin Meyermann, Principal, Hunter Crown, LLC

We scroll through thousands of LinkedIn profiles weekly as part of our job. Oftentimes, we’ll see someone’s title and become confused. Wait, why is this person’s title so long? What exactly are they trying to say? We realize individuals may wear many hats, but truly, how many hats can you wear competently?

Most folks are hired to do one thing really well.

“We want the best person we can find that does X,” says the hiring manager. 

That’s not to say our clients don’t approach us requesting talent that can do more than one thing really well, I would just say this is more rare. After all, folks in leadership positions have to do more than one thing to succeed. They have to hire, develop, sell, decide, and help grow a company. 

When people describe others they’ll usually talk about that person in the context of doing a singular thing very well. “He or she is really good at BLANK.” “Oh that person is amazing at THIS.”

This isn’t a bad thing. This is an asset, an advertising beacon!

And consider seeing your LinkedIn title as your billboard!

If people viewing your profile don’t understand what they are looking at, they’ll likely move on without much effort.

How many people see a billboard they don’t understand and then turn around to try and figure out the punch line? Not many. Don’t let that be you. Be the person who is just specific enough to be discovered.

Am I wrong here? We’d love to get your thoughts.

Are the headline titles on LinkedIn the way to go? Are they enticing enough to bring people in? When you’re on LinkedIn, you’re shopping for something. You have a need and you want to fulfill that need. Is ambiguity helpful when the clock is ticking?

Let us know, we’d love to hear from you!


Written by: Rob Scherer, Vice President at Hunter Crown, LLC


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