I get that it’s hard to write a good LinkedIn Summary, but I also know what a difference it makes when someone has a good one. It’s easy to understand where they’re coming from, and the direction they believe their career to be headed. It’s nice to see what someone is about, what they want from connecting with others in business and what drives their ambition as a professional.
I combed my contacts for a few more good examples to share, since this post of other good LinkedIn summaries has gotten so much attention. I like the diversity among the candidates I’ve chosen below, representing engineering, software development, publishing and science-based business.
Brian Geiger uses a short and simple solution to the summary:
Project manager, systems designer, and developer on a variety of technical and creative projects and fields including video games, newspapers, and robotics. Interested primarily in making people the best at what they can be, from art and programming to learning to cook. Always looking for interesting problems to solve.
     Specialties
Finding clever solutions to complex problems in a variety of different realms. Using automation to reduce drudgery in employees work and enable them to do the things they do best. Completing projects.
Michael Prichard takes the third-person approach to the LinkedIn Summary, one which allows for cross-posting on several platforms:
Michael founded WillowTree Apps, Inc., a boutique apps and mobile web development company, in June 2007. WillowTree Apps is based in Charlottesville, VA and currently has an in-house team of 28+ including designers and developers. They have released over 100 apps and currently work with a wide variety of companies including Game Show Network, Johnson & Johnson, and the University of Virginia. WillowTree works with Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile 7 as well as Mobile Web technologies.
Prior to WillowTree Apps, Michael founded, grew and sold an email archiving software business and worked as a development consultant for many large companies including IBM, State Street, and Adobe. He has the unique ability to understand business needs, communicate effectively with executive management and then guide a group of technical staff to deliver an enterprise solution.
Jennifer Bryerton takes the first-person approach, and summarizes her career and aspirations:
For more than 10 years, I have been a publishing partner in Ivy Publications, best known for our Charlottesville Family Living magazine and website (formerly Albemarle Family). As a small start-up company, everything from editorial to putting magazines out on stands could be part of my day. Now, with a fabulously talented team of employees, my partner Robin Bethke and I are able to specialize more. As art director, Robin keeps our award-winning design strong while I supervise content including the work of our editorial team as well as advertising sales. I am a firm believer, especially with a strong niche like ours, that ads are content and we work for the best fit for readers and businesses alike. The quarterly Charlottesville Welcome Book has led us further into the tourism market with another hot and targeted niche magazine. Locally Charlottesville, a series of directories for Family, Home and Women, focuses on promoting the local businesses that make our area so unique. And our newest publication, the Charlottesville Welcome Book Wedding Directory, is a multi-media planning tool for destination weddings in Charlottesville. My background in education administration, as a teacher and as the owner of a consulting business, helps to give us an edge when we launch new projects, driving the company forward with research and enthusiasm. Robin and I are famous for having new ideas percolating and we look forward to implementing new design, editorial and even new publications and events in the years to come.
Crystal Icenhour takes an approach that blends the purpose of her company and statements about her professional goals:
Phthisis Diagnostics recently launched a novel nucleic acid extraction kit that is fast, easy, and simple. The E-Sphere Simple NA Kit takes the complexity out of extractions. http://phthisisdiagnostics.com
My professional goal is to develop business and scientific skills, bridging the translational gap between these two worlds. In Phthisis Diagnostics, my goal is to make modern, easy, and cost-effective diagnostic tests for a variety of infectious diseases. Long-term, these diagnostic tests will be modified for use in developing countries, resulting in a profound impact on global health.
Each of these provides a good example for you to follow when crafting your own LinkedIn professional summary.
What you do with your LinkedIn profile says a lot about you as a professional. Other business people will go to LinkedIn to connect with you after meeting. Before that, though, some will Google you. What do people find when they search your name in Google? For me, an admitted high-producing publisher of online content AND the only Marijean Jaggers in existence, it’s surprising, even to me that the third result in a Google search of my name is my LinkedIn profile. It’s important because LinkedIn profiles show up for anyone who has one, in the Google search of their name. If it’s a clearly neglected profile, a nearly blank profile, or otherwise suffering (you have 14 connections? Really?) then THAT leaves a distinct impression on the person searching for you. If you can’t be found online, THAT leaves yet another impression.
As a LinkedIn user, you may have noticed that you’re suddenly racking up endorsements as fast as an Olympic athlete. Since you can’t seem to recall your medal-winning athleticism, you may be wondering, what the heck is going on here?