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LinkedIn profile, step by step

For students and engineers with 0 to 3 years of experience. Block one 3-hour sitting and work top to bottom. You finish with a profile that shows up in recruiter search.

I applied to over 700 roles and got 3 interviews before I figured out how LinkedIn works. After I fixed my profile, recruiters started finding me (The LinkedIn Profile Playbook). The steps below follow that playbook, checked against LinkedIn Help as of October 2026.

What a recruiter sees, top to bottom

Order What they see Where it comes from Fixed in
1 Photo, name, headline Search result card Step 1, Step 3
2 Location, current company or school Intro section Step 4
3 "Open to work" label (recruiters only) Open to Work settings Step 15
4 First 300 or so characters of About About Step 5
5 Featured items Featured Step 9
6 Titles, dates, bullets Experience Step 6
7 Skills, education, certifications Lower sections Step 8, Step 10, Step 11

Limits to know before you write

Field Limit Source
Headline 220 characters (about 60 to 70 show in search results) Third-party: AuthoredUp limits table. LinkedIn Help does not publish it.
About 2,600 characters (about 300 show before "see more") LinkedIn Talent Blog; the 300 is third-party (AuthoredUp)
Top skills in About 5 LinkedIn Talent Blog: skills
Experience description 2,000 characters per role Third-party: AuthoredUp
Skills 100 LinkedIn Help: add and remove skills
Skills tagged per project 5 LinkedIn Talent Blog: skills
Custom URL 3 to 100 characters, no spaces or symbols, no word "LinkedIn", 5 changes per 6 months LinkedIn Help: public profile URL
Profile photo 400x400 to 7680x4320 px, max 8MB, PNG or JPG, no GIF LinkedIn Help: photo specs
Banner (background photo) 1584x396 px recommended, max 8MB LinkedIn Help: photo specs
Personalized connection notes (free account) 3 per month, 200 characters each LinkedIn Help: personalize invitations
Personalized connection notes (Premium) Unlimited (300 characters, third-party) LinkedIn Help, howmanywords.app
Weekly invitations Not published. Third parties report about 100 per week since 2021. Hitting it "typically lasts one week". LinkedIn Help: invitation limit, Into the Minds
First-degree connections 30,000 (followers unlimited) LinkedIn Help: network size
Job alerts 20 at once LinkedIn Help: job alerts
"I'm interested" signals 50 companies, each expires after 1 year LinkedIn Help: signal interest
Saved resumes 4 most recent, PDF or Word, under 2MB recommended LinkedIn Help: upload resume
Post 3,000 characters, about 210 show before "see more" on desktop Third-party: AuthoredUp
Profile saved as PDF 200 downloads per month LinkedIn Help: save profile as PDF

Before you start (10 minutes)

  1. Turn off profile-update sharing. Go to Me > Settings & Privacy > Visibility > Share profile updates and switch it off (LinkedIn Help). Job changes, education changes, work anniversaries, and promotions are the edits that notify your network. Intro edits never do (edit intro).
  2. Open your current resume. LinkedIn and resume must match on titles, companies, dates, and degree. Resume not ready? Do Resume rules first.
  3. Save 5 job descriptions for the role you want, for example "Software Engineer, New Grad" or "SDE Intern, Summer 2027". You mine them for keywords in Step 3 (method: Tailoring).
  4. Optional backup: Me > View profile > More (or Resources) > Save to PDF. Profile and language setting must be English (LinkedIn Help).

Step 1: Photo

LinkedIn Help says members with a photo get up to 2X more profile views (Create a good LinkedIn profile).

  1. Take the photo. Face a window, phone at eye level, plain wall behind you, head and shoulders in frame, collared shirt or plain top.
  2. Optional: clean it up with Google's Nano Banana image model in the Gemini app or Google AI Studio. Follow Create Professional LinkedIn Photo in Seconds: upload your photo, paste the prompt below, generate 3 variations.
  3. Check likeness. Your photo "must reflect your likeness" (Profile photo guidelines). If a friend would not recognize you on a video call, regenerate.
  4. Test 2 to 3 options on Photofeeler (free with vote credits): strangers rate your photo. How to use it: upload under the Business category, vote on others to earn credits, keep the top scorer.
  5. Upload at 400x400 px or larger, PNG or JPG, under 8MB (specs).

Headshot prompt. Line 1 is added; the rest are lines from Jugal's full prompt in the post above. His line about a "slightly slimmer appearance" is removed so the photo stays true to you.

Turn this photo into a professional LinkedIn headshot.
- Facial Expression: Natural, confident smile with teeth closed and lips gently closed
- Pose: Front-facing, direct eye contact with camera
- Authenticity: Maintain all original facial features and natural characteristics without artificial enhancement
- Keep natural skin texture, including minor imperfections, freckles, or character marks
- Maintain original hair color, texture, and natural growth patterns
- Business casual: well-fitted blazer or sport coat, crisp button-down shirt or blouse, in navy, charcoal, white, or light blue
- Professional studio lighting with soft, even illumination
- Clean, neutral background (soft gray, white, or subtle gradient)
- Standard LinkedIn crop: head and shoulders visible
- Ensure the final image looks like a professional photograph, not an obviously generated image
- The goal is the enhancement of natural qualities, not transformation
- Maintain consistency with how the person actually appears in real life

Tip: Students get a free year of a Google AI plan if they redeem by Dec 31, 2026 (as of Oct 2026): Google AI Pro for US college students (Google blog, Aug 2026), Google AI Plus in over 140 other markets, excluding Canada, Hong Kong, and a few others (Google India blog). Both need a payment method and auto-renew. Set a cancel reminder the day you sign up.

Step 2: Banner

The banner is 1584x396 px (specs). Your photo covers its lower-left corner, so keep text in the center and right.

  1. Create a 1584x396 canvas in any editor. Google Slides works: File > Page setup > Custom, set 1584 x 396 pixels, then download as PNG.
  2. Use a plain dark or light background. No stock photos of laptops or city skylines.
  3. Add three lines, max: your target role, 3 to 5 core skills, and one link (GitHub or portfolio).
  4. Export PNG, upload, and check it on your phone. Mobile crops the edges.
[Target role, e.g. Software Engineer, New Grad 2027]
[Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]
github.com/[username]

Step 3: Headline

Recruiters see your headline in every search result, comment, and invitation. It can differ from your job title (LinkedIn Help), and LinkedIn's skill matching reads it (Recruiter skills help). Write it as a keyword field, not a job title.

  1. From your 5 saved job descriptions, write down the exact role title they use and the 5 skills that appear most.
  2. Fill the formula below. Put the role word in the first 60 characters. Search results show only about 60 to 70.
  3. Stay under 220 characters. Separate parts with " | ".
  4. Delete "aspiring", "passionate", "enthusiast", and "looking for opportunities". Recruiters do not type those words.
  5. Leave visa status out of the headline. If it helps, put one plain line in About (see International students).
Formula: [Target role + term] | [School + grad date, or current company] | [3 to 4 core skills] | [One proof: company, metric, award, or project]
Version Headline
Weak Computer Science Student at XYZ University
Strong (Jugal's example, year updated) CS Student | Python & React Developer | Building AI Solutions | Seeking SWE Internships 2027

Source: How I got 47 recruiter messages within a month.

Eight examples by stage (all under 220 characters, counted; brackets are fill-ins):

1. Intern seeker:      Software Engineering Intern, Summer 2027 | CS @ Purdue (May 2028) | Java, Python, AWS | Ex-SWE Intern at a fintech startup
2. India, intern:      SDE Intern, Summer 2027 | B.Tech CSE @ IIT Delhi (2028) | C++, Go, Distributed Systems | ICPC Regionalist
3. First-year:         SWE Intern, Summer 2027 (first-year) | CS @ Georgia Tech | Python, React, SQL | Built a course planner used by 2,000 students
4. MS, new grad:       Software Engineer, New Grad (Dec 2026) | MS CS @ UIUC | Python, Go, Kubernetes | Ex-Backend Intern at [Company], cut p99 latency 38%
5. Full-stack grad:    New Grad Software Engineer | Full-Stack: TypeScript, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL | 3 shipped apps, 10k+ users | Available June 2027
6. ML new grad:        Machine Learning Engineer, New Grad 2027 | PyTorch, LLM fine-tuning, RAG | Research Intern at [Lab] | NeurIPS workshop paper
7. 1 to 3 years:       Software Engineer at [Company] | Backend, Payments | Java, Spring, Kafka, AWS | 2 yrs building services at 5k TPS
8. SDE I:              SDE I at [Company] | Data Infrastructure | Python, Spark, Airflow, Snowflake | Moved 40 pipelines from batch to streaming

Let an LLM draft options, then pick and edit one. Prompt adapted from The LinkedIn Profile Playbook:

Here is my current LinkedIn headline:
[PASTE YOUR CURRENT HEADLINE]
My current role or school and graduation date:
[e.g. MS CS at UIUC, graduating Dec 2026]
My strongest technical skills (list 5 to 8):
[e.g. Python, Go, Kubernetes, AWS, Distributed Systems]
The roles I want to be found for:
[e.g. Software Engineer New Grad, Backend Engineer, SDE I]
My strongest proof point:
[e.g. Backend intern at X, cut p99 latency 38%]

Write me 3 LinkedIn headline options. Each must be under 220 characters, put the target role in the first 60 characters, include multiple searchable keywords a recruiter would type, and sound like a real person wrote it. After the 3 options, explain which keywords each one targets and recommend one.

Step 4: Intro fields (location, industry, contact)

Click the pencil on your top card. These edits do not notify your network (LinkedIn Help).

Field Set it to Why
Location The city or metro where you want to work (on F-1 in the US: your US city) Recruiter's Location filter matches it (filters). Applicant Skills Match needs you and the job in the same country, except the EEA (skills help).
Industry Software Development (or Technology, Information and Internet) Industry is self-selected and drives the Recruiter Industries filter (definitions). Not "Higher Education".
Current position / education shown Your most relevant one It is the second line a recruiter reads.
Contact info Email you check daily, GitHub, portfolio A recruiter who finds you should not need InMail to reach you.

Step 5: About

LinkedIn Help: About should "express your mission, motivation, and skills" (LinkedIn Help). The limit is 2,600 characters; aim for 1,000 to 1,600, or under 300 words. Only about the first 300 characters show before "see more" (AuthoredUp), so the hook goes there.

  1. Write the opening line: what you build and for whom, with one number. Not your job title.
  2. Fill the template below: one short paragraph per line, with white space between.
  3. Repeat your target role words and top skills once each in plain sentences. LinkedIn reads About for skills (Recruiter skills help).
  4. End with what you are seeking and how to reach you.
  5. Add Top skills at the bottom of About: pick the 5 that match your target job descriptions (Talent Blog).
  6. Cut buzzwords: "results-oriented", "self-starter", "team player", "passionate engineer seeking new opportunities".

Template (structure from Jugal's 47 recruiter messages post, emojis removed):

[One-line hook: what you build and for whom, with one number.]

Current focus: [major or role] focused on [area, e.g. backend systems and LLM apps].

What I'm building: [project 1: what it does, stack, one result]. [project 2: what it does, stack, one result].

Recent wins: [internship result with a metric]. [hackathon or award]. [certification].

Seeking: [Summer 2027 SWE internships / new grad SWE roles from June 2027] in [cities] or remote.

Work authorization (optional): [one plain line, only if it helps you].

Let's connect: [email] | GitHub: [url] | Portfolio: [url]

Example (fictional student, for shape only):

I build backend services that stay fast under load. Last summer my caching change cut checkout API latency by 31% for 2M monthly users.

Current focus: CS senior at [School], focused on distributed systems and LLM tooling.

What I'm building: a Go rate limiter with Redis that handles 20k requests per second in load tests; a RAG study assistant for my department's course notes, used by 140 students.

Recent wins: SWE intern at [Company] (Python, AWS Lambda, DynamoDB). 2nd place at [Hackathon]. AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

Seeking: new grad Software Engineer roles from June 2027, Seattle, Bay Area, New York, or remote.

Let's connect: name@email.com | github.com/[user]

Prompt to draft yours (adapted from The LinkedIn Profile Playbook):

Help me write a LinkedIn About section. Ask me questions one at a time until you have everything you need. Context to start:
Current role or school: [e.g. CS senior at X, graduating May 2027]
Experience: [e.g. 2 internships, 1 TA role]
The 2 or 3 most impressive things I have built or shipped: [with numbers]
Something non-obvious about my path: [e.g. switched from mechanical engineering]
What I want people to do after reading: [e.g. message me about new grad backend roles]

Then write my About section. Under 300 words. First person. Open with something human, not my job title. Short paragraphs with white space. At least one real metric. End with one clear call to action. No buzzwords, no em dashes, no corporate language. Do not invent any fact or number I did not give you.

Step 6: Experience

Recruiter search reads your Experience titles, dates, and text. Two filters work directly off this section:

  • Years of experience is "derived from the start date of the earliest position" in Experience (Recruiter filter definitions). A 2019 retail job there makes a 2027 new grad look like 8 years of experience and can drop you out of entry-level searches. Remove unrelated early jobs from Experience. If one matters to your story, mention it in one line of About.

  • Job titles match the titles you enter. Use the standard form of your real title: "Software Engineer Intern", not "SWE Ninja". If your official title is unusual (for example "Member of Technical Staff"), keep it and put the standard term in the role's first line and your headline.

  • Add every relevant role: internships, co-ops, TA and research assistant roles, part-time tech jobs, freelance work, open-source maintainer roles.

  • Copy title, company, and dates exactly from your resume. Pick the company from the dropdown so the role links to its LinkedIn page (the Companies filter matches it).
  • Set Employment type to Internship, Part-time, or Full-time. Recruiter's Employment type filter includes internships (definitions).
  • Write one context line (team, product, users, scale), then 3 to 5 bullets in the XYZ shape from Writing bullets. You have 2,000 characters per role, more room than your resume.
  • Name every technology you used in the bullets. Recruiters search Java, Python, AWS, and Kubernetes separately.
  • Tag 3 to 5 skills on each role.
  • Add media where you can: a demo video, a public design doc, a launch post.
[Title], [Company], [Month Year] to [Month Year], [City or Remote]
[One line of context: team, product, users, scale.]
- [Action verb] [what you built] using [tools], [result with a number].
- [Action verb] [what you improved] by [method], cutting/raising [metric] by [X%].
- [Action verb] [what you shipped or owned], used by [N users or teams].
Skills: [skill], [skill], [skill]
Version Bullet
Weak Worked on backend APIs for the payments team.
Strong Built 4 Go endpoints for refund processing on AWS Lambda, handling 30k requests a day and cutting manual refund tickets by 60%.

Prompt to rewrite one role's bullets (adapted from The LinkedIn Profile Playbook; "Sales Navigator" changed to recruiter search):

I need help rewriting my LinkedIn experience bullets to be more impactful and keyword-rich for recruiter searches.
Role I want to improve: [e.g. Software Engineer Intern at X, May 2026 to Aug 2026]
My current bullets for that role: [PASTE YOUR CURRENT BULLETS]
Technologies and tools I used in this role: [e.g. Java, Spring Boot, AWS Lambda, PostgreSQL]
Metrics or results I can explain in an interview: [e.g. team of 4, 30k requests a day, refund tickets down 60%]
Roles I am targeting with this profile: [e.g. Software Engineer New Grad, Backend Engineer, SDE I]

Rewrite my bullets. Each one: action verb, what I built or fixed, technology used, measurable result. Make every bullet keyword-rich for LinkedIn Recruiter searches. Give me 4 to 6 rewritten bullets. After each one, note which search keywords it targets. Do not invent any fact or number I did not give you.

Use only numbers you can explain in an interview. To keep resume and profile in sync, run Jugal's reverse flow: copy your finished profile into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini with his prompt, and paste the LaTeX output into Overleaf (From LinkedIn to ATS Resume in 1 minute).

Step 7: Projects

Projects matter most when you have little work experience. LinkedIn lets you tag up to 5 skills per project, and recruiters see projects tagged with a skill (Talent Blog, Social Media Today, Aug 2023).

  1. Click Add profile section > Recommended > Add projects (section list).
  2. Add 2 to 4 projects. Pick the ones closest to your target role, not the oldest.
  3. For each: name, dates, "Associated with" (your school or a role), 3-line description, link, media, up to 5 skills.
  4. Link a GitHub repo with a real README. Jugal's packaging list for every project: clear README, demo video, screenshots, architecture diagram, deployment link, the problem it solves, how it works, what you would improve next (How to become an AI engineer in 2026).
[Project name] | [Month Year]
Problem: [who had what problem].
Built: [what it does] with [stack]. Hardest part: [one technical challenge and how you solved it].
Result: [users, latency, accuracy, stars, or "deployed at URL"].
Link: [GitHub or live URL]

Step 8: Skills

LinkedIn allows up to 100 skills (LinkedIn Help). After 3, LinkedIn groups them into Industry Knowledge, Tools & Technologies, and Interpersonal Skills, and you can drag skills to reorder them (display order). LinkedIn says members with at least one skill get up to 2x more profile views (Talent Blog).

  1. Add 20 to 50 skills you could answer an interview question about (Jugal's playbook sets 20 as the minimum). Do not pad to 100 with things you touched once.
  2. Cover four groups: languages (Python, Java, C++, Go, TypeScript), frameworks (React, Spring, FastAPI, PyTorch), infrastructure (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, Kafka), and concepts (Data Structures, Algorithms, Distributed Systems, System Design, REST APIs).
  3. Use the exact spelling from job descriptions: "Amazon Web Services (AWS)", "Kubernetes", "Machine Learning".
  4. Reorder so the skills from your 5 job descriptions sit on top.
  5. Ask 3 to 5 classmates or teammates to endorse your top 3 skills, and endorse theirs (The LinkedIn Profile Playbook).

Prompt to find your skill gaps (adapted from The LinkedIn Profile Playbook):

I need a complete LinkedIn skills list that matches what recruiters search for my target roles.
My background: [e.g. CS senior, 2 internships in backend Java and AWS]
Technologies and tools I have used in jobs or projects: [e.g. Java, Python, AWS Lambda, Docker, PostgreSQL, Kafka, REST APIs, Git]
Technologies I am learning or have used minimally: [e.g. Go, Terraform, Redis]
Roles I want to be found for: [e.g. Software Engineer New Grad, Backend Engineer, SDE I]

Give me a recommended LinkedIn skills list of up to 50 skills, using only skills I have used, not the ones I am learning. Organize them into categories: Core Technical Skills, Frameworks and Libraries, Cloud and Infrastructure, Data and Databases, Practices and Methodologies, and Soft Skills. Then, in a separate list, mark with an asterisk any skill that appears frequently in job postings for my target roles but that I have not mentioned. Those are my highest-priority gaps.

Add skills from the main list only. The asterisk list is what to learn next, not what to add.

Recruiter skill search pulls from four places: your Skills section, skill keywords anywhere on your profile, your shared resume, and inferred skills (Recruiter skills help). Put each target skill in at least two of: headline, About, Experience text, Skills.

Watch out: LinkedIn Skill Assessments are retired: "Linkedin Skill Assessments are no longer available" (LinkedIn Help). Ignore guides that tell you to take them.

Featured sits right under your About. On a free account you can feature your own posts, articles, external links (GitHub, portfolio, blog), and uploaded media such as images, PDFs, and videos (LinkedIn Help). Featuring Experience or Projects items themselves is Premium-only (LinkedIn Help).

  1. Click Add profile section > Recommended > Add featured.
  2. Pin 1 to 3 items: your best project (GitHub or demo), your best post, your portfolio.
  3. Optional resume pin (Jugal's playbook): Add featured > Add media, upload your resume PDF, title it "Download My Resume", drag it to the top.
  4. Before you pin a resume, delete your phone number and home address from that copy. LinkedIn says a resume on your profile "will be visible to anyone viewing your profile or that post and may be visible off LinkedIn" (LinkedIn Help).

Step 10: Education

Recruiter has filters for Year of graduation (from the end date of each school you list), Degrees, Fields of study, and Schools (Recruiter filter definitions). Empty fields mean you drop out of those searches.

  1. Add degree type (Bachelor of Technology, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science) and field of study (Computer Science) as separate fields.
  2. Enter start date and expected end date. Recruiters hiring the class of 2027 filter on that end date.
  3. List 4 to 6 relevant courses (Data Structures, Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, Machine Learning).
  4. Add GPA only if it is 3.5 or higher, Jugal's threshold in his LinkedIn Step By Step guide.
  5. Add activities: ACM chapter, hackathons, TA role, research lab.

Watch out: LinkedIn has paused new school verifications (LinkedIn Help). Verify with your ID instead (Step 14).

Step 11: Licenses and certifications

Jugal's rule: "Certificates Get the Interview and Projects Get the Offer" (Top 30 AI Certifications). Each certification is also a keyword a recruiter can search.

  1. Click Add profile section > Recommended > Add licenses & certifications.
  2. Add only certifications that match your target role (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, NVIDIA, Databricks). Skip generic course badges unless you have nothing else.
  3. Fill issuing organization, issue date, credential ID, and credential URL so a recruiter can verify it in one click.
  4. Pair each certification with a project that uses it. The post lists one build per certificate.
  5. Add the other sections that apply to you, from Add profile section (section list):
Section Add it if Why
Languages You speak more than one language Recruiter has a Spoken languages filter (definitions). Set proficiency honestly
Honors & awards Hackathon wins, scholarships, ICPC, Dean's list Each one is searchable text
Volunteer experience Unpaid club roles, mentoring, teaching, nonprofit tech work Shows leadership. Hiring agents read it. Never relabel a paid job as volunteer
Courses You did not list coursework under Education Course names are keywords
Publications Papers, workshop papers, technical blog posts Hiring agents read publications (AI agents)
Test scores Only if strong and relevant (for example GRE for MS applicants) Optional

Step 12: Recommendations

Your public profile shows your recommendation count and at most two recommendations. Signed-in 1st to 3rd-degree connections see the full text (LinkedIn Help). Two specific ones beat ten vague ones.

  1. Pick 2 people who saw your work: an internship manager, a professor, your TA supervisor, a hackathon teammate. They must be 1st-degree connections.
  2. Go to Me > View profile > Recommendations > + > Ask for recommendation, pick the person, set relationship and your position at the time (LinkedIn Help).
  3. Replace the default message with the template below. Offer a draft.
  4. Write one for them first, or the same week.
Hi [Name], I'm updating my LinkedIn for [Summer 2027 internships / new grad roles]. Would you be open to writing a short recommendation about my work on [project] during [term]? If it helps, the 3 things I'd love it to mention: [1. specific contribution with result], [2. skill], [3. how I worked with the team]. Happy to send a draft you can edit. Thank you either way.

Step 13: Custom URL

  1. Go to Me > View profile > Edit (next to Public profile & URL) > Edit your custom URL (LinkedIn Help).
  2. Type firstname-lastname. If taken, add a middle initial or your field: firstname-m-lastname, firstname-lastname-swe.
  3. Save, then paste the new URL into your resume header, GitHub profile, and email signature.
  4. Do not change it again. You get 5 changes per 6 months, and an old URL stays linked to you for only 6 months.

Step 14: Verification

Verification is free (LinkedIn Help). LinkedIn says verified members see about 60% more profile views on average (LinkedIn for students), and Recruiter has a "Verifications" spotlight (Spotlights).

Method Who can use it What you need
CLEAR US, Canada, Mexico Valid government ID plus a personal phone number
Persona Many countries NFC-enabled passport
DigiLocker India DigiLocker credentials
Work email Employees of a limited set of companies Your company email
  1. Open Profile verifications while signed in and follow its verify link, or click the verification prompt on your own profile.
  2. Pick the identity method for your country. International students in the US without a US phone number: use Persona with your passport.
  3. Interns: if your company supports work email verification, add it before your internship ends.

Step 15: Open to Work (recruiters only)

LinkedIn says sharing that you're Open to Work, publicly or with recruiters only, can double your chance of a recruiter message (LinkedIn Job Search Guide). Jugal's rule is "Never turn Open to Work on for everyone" (The LinkedIn Profile Playbook). Recruiters only gets you the signal without the green photo frame.

Visibility option Who sees it Photo frame
All LinkedIn Members Everyone, including recruiters and people at your current company Yes (#OpenToWork)
Recruiters only People using LinkedIn Recruiter No
Visible only to you Nobody; only tunes your job recommendations No

Source: Let recruiters know you're Open to Work.

  1. Go to Me > View profile > Open to > Finding a new job.
  2. Fill every field. Recruiters hover over the label to read them (what recruiters see), and the Workplace types filter returns only Open to Work members (definitions).
  3. Set visibility to Recruiters only. Save.
  4. Answer recruiter InMails, even with "not now". If you stop responding, LinkedIn emails you to confirm and can remove the setting until you turn it back on.
Job titles:        Software Engineer Intern; Software Engineer; Software Development Engineer; Backend Engineer; Machine Learning Engineer
Location types:    On-site; Hybrid; Remote
Locations:         [City 1]; [City 2]; [City 3]; [Country] (Remote)
Start date:        [Starting in Month Year / Flexible]
Employment types:  [Internship] [Full-time]
Visibility:        Recruiters only
(India only: fill notice period and expected annual salary.)

Watch out: If you are employed, LinkedIn tries to hide recruiters-only Open to Work from Recruiter users at your company and related companies, but says it "can't guarantee complete privacy" (privacy of career interests).

Step 16: Job-seeking signals

Each of these puts you in a recruiter's filter or spotlight. All are free.

  1. Share your resume data. Go to Jobs > Preferences > Resumes and application data. Upload 1 to 2 PDF resumes (under 2MB) and turn on Share resume data with recruiters. Recruiter searches then match skills and experience from resumes you saved in the past 2 years; recruiters get the full file only if you apply or send it (LinkedIn Help).
  2. Click "I'm interested" on the About or Life tab of 20 to 50 target companies (max 50, each lasts 1 year). Build the list from Companies. That company's recruiters see you in the "Interested in your company" spotlight, which Recruiter Lite also has (LinkedIn Help).
  3. Check the button exists. It appears only for companies with an active Career Page (Recruiter side). No button: follow the page and comment on its posts instead.
  4. Follow every target company page. Recruiter has a Company followers filter. LinkedIn tells recruiters that followers are twice as likely to respond to InMail (definitions).
  5. Create job alerts (max 20), daily, for your title, level, and city (LinkedIn Help). LinkedIn started retiring classic job search for AI-powered search in September 2026 (LinkedIn Help). Write alerts in plain language: "software engineer internships in Seattle or remote posted in the past week".
  6. Pair alerts with lists outside LinkedIn. Use Where to find jobs. Interns: Finding and applying shows when each company opens.

Step 17: Settings and privacy

Open Me > Settings & Privacy and set these.

Setting Path Set to Why
Share profile updates Visibility > Share profile updates Off while editing; your choice after Adding jobs and schools will not notify your network (LinkedIn Help)
Profile viewing options Visibility > Visibility when viewing other profiles Your name and headline People you view see you and may view back. Private mode on a free account hides who viewed you (LinkedIn Help)
Public profile Me > View profile > Public profile & URL Visible to everyone, all sections on Google and logged-out recruiters can see it (LinkedIn Help)
Profile discovery by email Visibility Allow People who have your email (recruiters from a career fair) can find you. Jugal's guide sets this on
Data for Generative AI Improvement Data privacy Your call Controls whether your profile and posts train LinkedIn's AI models; applies to all members (LinkedIn Help)
Job seeking preferences Jobs > Preferences Resume sharing on, Open to Work set See Steps 15 and 16

Creator Mode no longer exists. In early 2024 LinkedIn removed the toggle, gave every member its tools, and let you choose Follow or Connect as your main profile button (Lindsey Gamble). Pick Connect, since you want a network more than followers. Skip the "turn on Creator Mode" step in older guides, including Jugal's 2025 one.

Step 18: Decide on Premium

You do not need Premium to be found. Every signal on this page is free. Premium Career is US$39.99 a month or US$239.88 a year in the US (as of Oct 2026; varies by region) (Premium Career).

Premium adds Worth it for a student?
5 InMail credits a month, refunded if answered within 90 days (InMail credits) Only during an active outreach month
Unlimited personalized connection notes (LinkedIn Help) Useful if you send many cold connection requests
Top choice on Easy Apply; LinkedIn says top choice applicants are 43% more likely to get a recruiter message (Get hired faster) Use it on your best-fit roles only
365 days of profile viewers (Free vs Premium); AI writing help for a select group of subscribers (LinkedIn Help) Nice to have
  1. Check for the free one-month trial first (Free vs Premium). Start it in your heaviest outreach month.
  2. If you pay, buy one month on the web and cancel before renewal. A charged month may be refundable within 7 days if you have not used Premium. iOS purchases refund only through Apple (refund policy).
  3. Read Jugal's How I Got LinkedIn Premium for Free for the other routes. Its Option A (Microsoft's 12 months of Premium Career for students) has ended as of Oct 2026. The trial route still works.
  4. Never buy a "discount code" that does not redeem on linkedin.com or microsoft.com, and never give anyone your password.

Step 19: Test the profile

  1. Run your profile through Resume Worded LinkedIn Review (freemium): it scores headline, About, and experience. How to use it: run once before edits and once after, fix every red item that is true for you.
  2. Run Jobscan LinkedIn Optimization (freemium): it compares your profile to at least 3 job descriptions. How to use it: paste your 3 best target job descriptions and add only the missing keywords you have used.
  3. Search yourself the way a recruiter would. Type ("software engineer intern" OR "SDE intern") AND Python AND "2027" in the main search bar and filter to People (Boolean search help). Note whose profiles rank above yours and copy their keyword placement, not their claims.
  4. Get a second opinion from an AI audit. Save your profile as PDF and run the LinkedIn Deep Audit module of Jugal's free Job Search Coach skill for Claude (I talked to 7 FAANG recruiters). Fix the "biggest thing holding you back" first.
  5. After 7 days, open Me > View profile, scroll to Analytics, click Search appearances, and read "Job titles you were found for" (LinkedIn Help). If your target title is missing, rewrite the headline.
  6. Turn Share profile updates back on if you want, then post one update about what you are looking for. Templates are in Posting for inbound.

Deeper explanation of filters and spotlights: How recruiters search.

Profile checklist

  • Profile-update sharing turned off before editing
  • Photo: recent, looks like you, head and shoulders, 400x400 px or larger
  • Banner: 1584x396 px with target role, 3 to 5 skills, one link
  • Headline: role word in first 60 characters, 3 to 4 skills, one proof, under 220 characters
  • No "aspiring" or "passionate" in the headline
  • Location set to the city where you want to work
  • Industry set to Software Development (or similar)
  • Contact info: email, GitHub, portfolio
  • About: hook with a number in line 1, under 300 words, ends with what you seek and how to reach you
  • Top skills (5) added to About
  • Experience titles, companies, dates match the resume exactly
  • No unrelated old job inflating your years of experience
  • Employment type set on every role (Internship, Full-time)
  • Every company and school picked from the dropdown, not typed as free text
  • Every role has a context line, 3 to 5 bullets with numbers, 3 to 5 tagged skills
  • 2 to 4 projects with GitHub link, media, and up to 5 skills each
  • 20 to 50 real skills, target-role skills reordered to the top
  • Endorsements requested from 3 to 5 people
  • Featured: 1 to 3 items pinned; resume copy has no phone or home address
  • Education: degree, field of study, start and expected end date, coursework
  • GPA listed only if 3.5 or higher
  • Relevant certifications with credential ID and URL
  • Languages, honors, volunteer work, and publications added where true
  • 2 recommendations requested with a draft
  • Custom URL set to firstname-lastname and added to resume and GitHub
  • Identity verified (Persona, CLEAR, or DigiLocker)
  • Open to Work on, Recruiters only, every field filled
  • Resume data sharing with recruiters on
  • "I'm interested" clicked on 20 to 50 target companies
  • Following every target company page
  • Job alerts set (up to 20), daily
  • Profile viewing mode: name and headline
  • Public profile visible to everyone
  • Profile scored before and after in Resume Worded or Jobscan
  • Mirror search run in the LinkedIn search bar
  • Search appearances checked after 7 days

Myths and mistakes

Myth or mistake What is true
"Photos get 21x more views" That figure is from a 2016 blog page that no longer exists. LinkedIn Help today says up to 2X (LinkedIn Help)
"Turn on Creator Mode" Removed in early 2024
"Take Skill Assessments" Retired (LinkedIn Help)
"Open to Work always hurts" LinkedIn reports 2X recruiter messages for both options. The only study found showed a negative effect for senior IT candidates, not juniors (ISPA dissertation, 2022). Recruiters only avoids the debate
"Add all 100 skills" Irrelevant skills dilute your top list. Add the ones you can defend
"You need Premium to get recruiter messages" Inbound comes from keywords, signals, and network. All free
AI headshot that looks like someone else Breaks LinkedIn's likeness rule and makes the first video call awkward
LinkedIn dates differ from resume dates Recruiters cross-check. Make them identical
Location left as home country while applying in the US Location filters and applicant Skills Match use your profile location

Jugal's posts for this section

Official and free resources

  • Create a good LinkedIn profile: LinkedIn Help's own profile checklist. How to use it: skim after Step 19 to catch anything you skipped.
  • LinkedIn for students: LinkedIn's official student career guide. How to use it: use its networking and job-alert sections after this page.
  • LinkedIn Job Search Guide: LinkedIn's official job-search steps. How to use it: compare its Open to Work and verification steps with Steps 14 and 15.
  • Rock Your LinkedIn Profile: a 72-minute LinkedIn Learning course. LinkedIn's Dec 2025 announcement says it is free to watch through 2026; open it from that post if the course page shows a trial offer. How to use it: watch at 1.5x with your profile open in another tab.
  • Profile summaries we love: LinkedIn Talent Blog's About-section tips. How to use it: check your About draft against its tips.
  • Search for jobs confidently and safely: LinkedIn's job-scam guide. How to use it: read before you share documents with any recruiter.

Every post is mapped by topic in Substack index. Interviewing at LinkedIn the company? See the LinkedIn interview guide.

Next: How recruiters search