Recruiters find people on LinkedIn by typing a job title, a skill or two and a location. Your headline is one of the first places those words need to appear. A clever slogan may read well, but it will not match what a recruiter types.

How recruiters actually look

When a recruiter is filling a role, they type the title they are hiring for, add a skill or a sector, and filter by location. The list of results shows your photo, your name, your headline and where you are based. From that alone, they decide whether to open your profile.

Your headline can be up to 220 characters, but only the first few words show in a list of results, especially on a phone. Those first words do most of the work.

Lead with the title they will type

Start with the job title a recruiter would use for the role you want, written the way the market writes it. Internal titles such as "Head of Commercial Excellence" or "Associate Partner" mean little outside your company. If your title is unusual, add the common one: "Commercial Excellence Lead | Sales Operations Manager".

If you are aiming one level up, it is fine to lead with your current title and show the direction in the skills that follow. Do not claim a title you have not held.

Recruiters do not type "results-driven leader". They type "procurement manager Riyadh".

Add the skills and sector that set you apart

After the title, add two or three specialisms that a recruiter might filter for, and your sector if it matters in your field. For example:

• Finance Manager | FP&A, IFRS reporting | FMCG
• HSE Manager | ISO 45001 | Oil and gas, construction
• Talent Acquisition Lead | Executive hiring | GCC

Use the exact terms that appear in job posts for your target roles, including abbreviations recruiters use.

Say where you want to work

Recruiters filter by location, and that filter reads your profile location, not your headline. If you live where you want to work, make sure your location is set correctly. If you are planning a move, a short note such as "Relocating to Riyadh" at the end of your headline tells a recruiter you are a realistic candidate.

If you would rather your current employer did not notice, LinkedIn's Open to Work setting has a "Recruiters only" option that does not add the green frame to your photo. LinkedIn says it takes steps to hide this from recruiters at your own company, but it cannot be sure they will never see it.

What to leave out

Leave out phrases a recruiter will never type: "passionate", "results-driven", "seeking new opportunities", "open to work" in the headline itself, and long strings of emojis. They take up the words that show first and add nothing.