Who are you? Creating your profile summary - LinkedIn Tutorial

- It's that scene everyone always talks about, except it's happening to you right now. You just got off an elevator ride where the CEO of your company happened to be taking the same elevator as you. You had a total of about 30 seconds to make an impression with your CEO in a rare opportunity that you'll never get again. What will you say? So how does this scenario relate to your LinkedIn summary? You can think of your profile summary as your elevator pitch. It should be a true introduction to you that's concise, speaks to your mission, motivation, key skills and your experience. It should also feature any words that are relevant to your industry or the work you do. And lastly, this is your time to shine so make sure you showcase your career accomplishments and aspirations. Believe me, I know writing a summary of yourself can be intimidating so let's give you a format to help you get started. Think of your profile summary as an introduction to who you are, what you do, why what you do matters, and the contribution you want to make or impact you want to have. Let's break each of these down further and give you some examples to bring these concepts to life. Who are you? Since your summary is an introduction to you, kick it off by telling others who you are. Here's some examples. You're an inspiring leader who evens the playing field for underserved communities. You're a teacher whose goal is to get more women into STEM by leading a robotics camp for girls. You're a graphic designer who connects people to images in order to communicate a message or tell a story. Whatever it is, give your audience an idea of who you are in a compelling way. What do you do? Tell people a little bit about what you do. Do you lead a team of engineers responsible for keeping your company's site up and running? Or perhaps you run your own barbershop where you turn an everyday haircut into a personal experience where your customer leaves feeling like family. Providing a quick introduction to what you do will help others connect to your professional story. Why does your work matter? What gap are you filling with the work you do? Maybe you work in a nonprofit organization where you train women to become economically self-sufficient. Why does that work matter? Maybe it matters because through education programs, you're teaching women to become entrepreneurs and live a life of economic freedom. Or perhaps you're a general contractor who has your own small business as a project manager and you oversee and manage construction for people's homes. That work might matter because it helps people build the home of their dreams. You're filling the gap of saving people money, time and the hassle of finding subcontractors to paint walls, install appliances and so on. And last but not least, what's the contribution you want to make or the impact you want to have? Maybe you're working toward creating economic opportunity for everyone in the world. Perhaps you're about educating people on why diversity, inclusion and belonging matters. Or maybe you're focused on impacting the youth of tomorrow by teaching them how to read. Everyone's got a story to tell. However you choose to tell yours, make sure you bring you front and center in your summary by highlighting your contribution, impact, work and accomplishments.