How to Rebuild Your LinkedIn Profile So It Stands Out

Reading Time: 12 minutes

Over the last couple of months my inbox has looked the same almost every morning. A new message from someone who is fed up. They have been applying for weeks, sometimes months, and the silence is starting to wear them down. These are people who have built solid careers, led teams, and delivered results. Yet on LinkedIn, they may as well be invisible.

I hear the same line again and again.
“I don’t understand it. I’m applying for roles I could do standing on my head, and I get absolutely nothing back.”

When I go onto their LinkedIn profile, the reason shows up within seconds. They have old job titles, half-written summaries, roles missing, skills that have not been touched in eight years, and a headline that says everything and nothing at the same time.

What makes it worse is how much pressure people put on themselves. They think the silence is about their experience when it’s usually about their visibility. LinkedIn plays a bigger part in job searching than most people realise. And when your profile has been left alone for years, the platform treats you like someone who has left the building.

People are doing everything right on paper, but going nowhere online. The Huntr report backed this up with more data than anyone would ever want to scroll through. The market has slowed, applications have increased, and LinkedIn has become the place where almost everything starts. Yet that is also where most people fall down.

This is why I want to talk about the power of small improvements. Because I’ve seen it first-hand. The smallest updates give the biggest lift. And when someone feels invisible, that lift means everything.

Why strong candidates still get silence on Linkedin

I speak with people every day who feel absolutely drained by the job search. Not because they lack experience or direction, but because nothing seems to move. They send off application after application, refresh their inbox far more than they want to admit, and still end up staring at an empty screen. It is a strange feeling when you have spent years building something you are proud of, only for an algorithm to decide whether anyone even looks at your profile.

It has never been more obvious than it is this year. The hiring cycle has slowed again, and the numbers in the Huntr report confirmed exactly what I have been hearing. Time to first offer has jumped, applications per week have climbed, and even the people with strong backgrounds are struggling to get any early traction. The market is not broken, but it is definitely tired.

Despite all of this, people still put most of their energy into job boards. They scroll, apply, save, and bookmark, but everything still leads back to LinkedIn. The report showed that nearly 80% of job saves happen there. That is an enormous amount of activity flowing through one platform. It means that if your profile hides your experience, nothing else you do will carry the weight it should. You can have the best CV in the world but if your LinkedIn profile has not kept up with the times, the platform pushes you into the background.

This is the part that catches most people off guard. They assume LinkedIn is just a copy of their CV. They update it once every few years and hope for the best. Yet it has become one of the main ways people validate who you are, what you have done, and whether you are active enough for them to take you seriously. The people who reached the interview stage in Huntr’s report had stronger LinkedIn presence, while those who did not move forward had far weaker profiles. It tells a very clear story.

In other words, the market is harder, applications are rising, and LinkedIn holds more influence than ever. It is not always a pleasant realisation, but it does explain a lot of the frustration I am seeing.

What the latest huntr data shows about LinkedIn visibility

When I went through the Huntr report, a few numbers stood out. The biggest one was LinkedIn’s dominance. Nearly 80% of all job saves happened there. That is an enormous share of attention sitting on one platform. Even with Google Jobs pulling in far better response rates, almost everyone still starts their search on LinkedIn. It has become the first stop for job hunters and the first place employers go to check whether someone looks like a match.

Another point the report highlighted was the gap between those who landed interviews and those who did not. The people who got interviews were far more likely to have a LinkedIn link on their CV. Nearly seven out of ten had it. Hiring managers want a quick way to confirm your story, and LinkedIn gives them that. If they cannot find you easily, they move on.

Then there was the statistic that really made me stop. Only half of all CVs had a LinkedIn link at all. In a market that leans so heavily on the platform, that number is far lower than you would expect. It paints a clear picture of why so many people feel overlooked. They are doing the right things with their CV, but their online presence has fallen behind.

All of this reinforced one thing for me. LinkedIn is not optional anymore. It is part of the first impression. When your profile has empty sections or outdated information, it pushes you further down the pile before anyone even reads your CV. The data confirmed what I see every day. The people who keep their LinkedIn profile steady and up to date give themselves a far better chance of being seen.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter

The Career Optimiser

Why so many people feel invisible on LinkedIn

When someone tells me they feel invisible on LinkedIn, I know what I am about to find. I have seen the same issues show up so many times that I can almost guess them before I open the profile.

The first thing that usually hits me is how out of sync everything looks. Job titles that have not been touched in years. Roles missing altogether. Summaries that trail off halfway through a sentence because someone planned to come back to it and never did. Skills that belong to a completely different chapter of their career. And the headline, which should be one of the most helpful parts of the profile, ends up being a vague line that does not tell anyone enough to understand direction.

It is never because people do not care. Most of the time they updated their profile once, made a few quick edits over the years, and then got on with their lives. Work got busy. Other things took priority. LinkedIn sat quietly in the background until the moment they needed it again. By then, the gap between who they are today and what their profile shows had widened far more than they realised.

I see the same look every time I point these things out. A mix of frustration and relief. Frustration because it feels like something so small should not have this much impact. Relief because it explains a lot. The silence starts to make sense when the profile hiding behind the CV is years behind the person sending the application.

Most people are far better than their LinkedIn profile suggests. They have solid experience, interesting stories, and achievements that deserve more attention. The platform just has no way of spotting any of it. When the information is incomplete or out of date, LinkedIn cannot place you properly, recruiters cannot find you, and hiring managers struggle to understand where you fit.

This is the part that catches most people off guard. They assume their CV is carrying the load, when LinkedIn is sitting in the background with missing pieces that create doubt. Once those pieces are put back in place, things start to move again. I have seen it happen so many times now that it feels predictable. The moment someone updates their profile properly, the silence begins to lift.

What a complete LinkedIn profile looks like

When I sit with someone and look through their LinkedIn profile together, there is usually a point where things start to make sense. They begin to see how each small section plays a part in how they come across. A complete profile gives people a clear line through your experience, your direction, and the work you focus on today. Once those pieces are in place, the whole profile reads with a steadiness that hiring managers can follow without hesitation.

The first place most people look is the headline, and it works together with your photo to form that split-second first impression. When someone is scrolling through search results or scanning a shortlist, these two elements decide whether they should spend their time looking at your profile. The headline might only be a short line, but it carries far more weight than people expect. It gives the reader a sense of direction, the type of work you do, and the field you sit in. When I help someone update theirs, it is usually the quickest win because it instantly changes how they show up in searches.

LinkedIn Headline Generator

Choose a headline that reflects what you do and what you want to be found for.

Then there is the summary. This is where positioning really comes through. It gives people a quick sense of the value you bring and the impact you have had in your field. A few lines about your experience, the type of work you enjoy, and the direction you are moving in helps the reader understand who you are before they look at anything else. It adds a touch of personality and gives them a reason to keep reading.

Work history is where most people lose visibility without realising it. I often see profiles where the most recent roles are nothing more than job titles, with no context, no achievements, and no sign of the progress they have made. Promotions are missing, responsibilities have grown, but the profile has stayed frozen in time, and the only sections with any real information are roles from five or ten years ago. This creates a strange imbalance. The parts of their career that matter most today are barely there, while the older roles take up all the space. It explains why some people keep getting approached for jobs that are far too junior. The profile pulls them backwards because it does not reflect who they are now. When the recent roles are updated properly, everything starts to align again, and people can finally be seen for the level they actually operate at.

Skills are another part that get ignored, even though they play a much bigger role in how often you appear in searches. When the skills match the type of roles someone is targeting, it creates a stronger connection between the profile and the jobs they want to be found for. I often see profiles with long lists of old skills that no longer reflect the work someone does. A quick tidy up here makes a noticeable difference.

One small detail people overlook is the banner. It seems minor, but it sends a strong signal about how active you are on the platform. I know recruiters who will not waste an InMail on someone without one because it gives the impression that the profile has been left alone for years. A simple banner shows that you are present, engaged, and paying attention. It is a small lift that nudges you closer to being taken seriously.

The credibility signals matter more than people think. A photo that reflects who you are today, a location that makes sense for your search, contact details that work, an industry that matches your field, and a few recommendations from people who know your work. These details seem small, but they build trust. When any of them are missing, something feels off, even if the reader cannot explain why.

A complete profile does not overwhelm. It does not try to impress. It gives the reader a steady line through your experience. When someone opens it, they should know where you are now, what you have done, and how your background connects to the type of work you are aiming for. Once these sections support each other properly, the whole profile starts working for you instead of against you.

I have seen people go months without a single message, then see movement within days of updating their profile. Nothing about their experience changed. They simply made it easier for someone to understand them. That is the power of getting these pieces in place. Small lifts that stack up and shift how visible you are

How to make your LinkedIn profile more visible

When someone comes to me after months of hearing nothing back, the first step is to rebuild their LinkedIn presence with a proper strategy behind it. Visibility on the platform does not come from surface-level edits. It comes from positioning that reflects who they are today and the direction they want to move in. When the whole profile is rebuilt with intention, the shift is noticeable.

The starting point is strategic positioning. A new headline sets the tone and places you in the right space, and the right photo strengthens that first impression. These two elements influence how people see you before they have even opened your profile. When they are aligned with your direction, you immediately become easier to interpret.

The summary carries the next part of the strategy. This is where value and impact come together. A strong summary helps people understand your experience, your approach, and the type of work you contribute to. When this section is rewritten from the ground up, it brings everything into focus and gives the profile a sense of direction.

The roles then carry the weight of the story. Most people have recent positions that barely say anything beyond a job title. Yet these are the roles hiring managers look at first. When recent roles are rebuilt with the right level of detail, achievements, and context, your profile tells a far more accurate story about the level you operate at. This is usually where people begin to see why their previous profile held them back.

Keywords play a bigger strategic role than people realise. LinkedIn’s search runs heavily on them, and the right wording helps you show up in searches for roles you are actually suited to. This part has nothing to do with stuffing in buzzwords. It is about using the terminology your field relies on today, not the language you used five or ten years ago. When the skills list, headline, summary, and role descriptions all reinforce the same direction, your visibility increases.

The final touches pull the whole strategy together. Choosing the right industry, setting the correct location, updating your banner, and making sure your contact details work all contribute to how trustworthy and active you appear. Recommendations from people who know your work add weight, and they help hiring managers build confidence in your experience.

Once the profile is rebuilt, the strategy extends beyond LinkedIn itself. Adding your LinkedIn link to your CV and job applications gives hiring managers a direct route to your updated profile. The Huntr data showed how much this matters. It removes the guesswork and strengthens the impression you make across every platform you use.

When all of these elements work together, the change is hard to miss. People who once felt hidden start appearing in more searches, receiving more profile views, and getting more movement in their job search. The shift from invisible to discoverable comes from strategy, not luck, and it is often the turning point that helps people get moving again.

How to stay visible on LinkedIn

One thing I always encourage people to do is update their profile when things are going well. That is the moment when your achievements are fresh, your promotions are recent, and the story of your work feels easy to talk about. Waiting until things become difficult always adds pressure, and it becomes harder to remember the details that show your value.

A simple reminder at the start of each quarter makes a huge difference. It gives you a moment to record the projects you have completed, the results you have delivered, and the progress you have made. It only takes a few minutes, but it keeps your profile aligned with the work you are doing today, not the work you were doing years ago.

The benefit is that when it is time to make a move, you are ready. You are not scrambling to rebuild everything at the exact moment you need it most. Even better, a well-maintained profile makes you far more visible to the people who are looking for someone with your experience. I have seen people get approached for roles they would never have found themselves, simply because they kept their profile up to date.

A well-maintained profile supports you long before you realise you need it. It keeps you visible, makes it easier for people to understand your experience, and puts you on the radar for roles that match the level you actually operate at. And when the time comes to explore new opportunities, you walk into it prepared, not panicked. That is the difference an up-to-date LinkedIn profile can make.

Let's work together and optimise your career

I’ve spent the past seven years optimising LinkedIn profiles for professionals across the UK and Europe, helping them present their experience in a way that gets noticed.

If you are interested in learning more about the LinkedIn profile optimisationa Services we provide, get in touch.

Best of luck,

Dave Crumby

Your Career Optimiser | Certified CV Writer

More insights to optimiser your career

A data-led guide to why LinkedIn visibility matters in a slower job market, with insights from the latest Huntr report...

A data-led guide to improving your CV using insights from Huntr’s Q2 2025 report. Learn the small changes that help...

Discover how much a professional CV costs in 2025 across the UK and Europe, what affects the price, and how...

Discover why career progression in Switzerland’s life science sector has slowed and how to position your contribution for the next...

Tagged cv