Showcase your expertise with skills and endorsements - LinkedIn Tutorial

- Who's your favorite superhero? Maybe it's Wonder Woman, Batman, or Black Panther. They've got superpowers, the special abilities that make them stand out and save the day. Well, guess what? You have superpowers too, and they're called skills. So why should you add your skills to your LinkedIn profile? Your skills, highlight your strengths, set you apart, and build credibility with your colleagues, recruiters, and everyone in your network. Why? Because when others validate your skills, it builds trust, strengthens your reputation, and shows the world that your experience isn't just talk, it's proven. And adding key skills makes you discoverable by others across LinkedIn. In fact, did you know that members with five or more skills listed are up to 2.9 times more likely to receive profile views and 4.7 times more likely to receive messages? Now, let's talk endorsements. When you add a skill to your profile, your network can endorse you, adding credibility and validation to your expertise. So why do endorsements matter? When a connection endorses your skills, it boosts your profile, making you more visible for opportunities that match your expertise. Pretty powerful, right? Quick pro tip: only your first-degree connections can endorse your skills, so make sure you're connecting with the right people. Let's jump into James's profile and see skills in action. First, we'll scroll down to the skills section of his profile. As you can see, he has two skills listed, graphic design and Photoshop. James can click show all 11 skills to pull up the fullest of skills he's added to his profile. LinkedIn categorizes skills by areas of expertise, so that's what you see at the top. James's skills have been categorized into Industry Knowledge, Tools & Technology, and Interpersonal Skills. He can select each one to see the skills associated with that category. Now, James wants to add a new skill to round out his technical skillset. He just learned how to use Figma, a cloud-based design tool. So to add this to his profile, he'll click the plus on the top right and start typing in Figma. Figma software will pop up and he'll select that. Next, he can select the check boxes to show where he's put this skill to use. In James's case, he will check Red30 design and his freelance work. For now, he'll leave the rest blank since he's only focusing on his work experience. This box, by default, is checked for him. James can uncheck it at any time. For now, he'll keep it checked to keep up with relevant content across LinkedIn related to his Figma skills. Then, he'll click save and ta-da! This new skill has been added to his profile under Tools & Technologies. Keep in mind that James can change the order of his skills at any time by clicking on the three dots in the top right, selecting Reorder, and clicking the horizontal lines to drag and drop in the order he prefers. In this case, he wants Figma to appear, then graphic design. So he'll drag and drop in that order. Then he'll click the X in the top right. He can click the arrow on the top left to go back to his profile. Your LinkedIn profile will always show the top two skills from your skills section along with their endorsements and the roles where the skills were applied. So that's what you're seeing here. Great job, James. Finally, James can adjust his endorsement settings to ensure they're set to his liking. To do this, he'll click on the pencil to edit his skills. Then, he'll click on the three dots in the top right of his skill section and select endorsement settings to ensure they're set to his liking. For James, he wants to see suggestions to endorse his connections, so he'll simply flip the toggle on, then hit Save, voila! His endorsement settings are now updated. As you evolve in your career, make sure you update your top skills to reflect the new skill sets you've acquired. Also, you don't have to accept endorsements that don't support your career journey. To hide a skill endorsement, simply click into the endorsement listed underneath the skill and switch the visibility toggle off for any people who you don't want endorsing you for that skill. This will make it so that endorsement doesn't appear on your profile. Here's some final gems for you. Your skills tell the story of your expertise. So make them count. Add a mix of industry and interpersonal skills that showcase your strengths and professional brand. Are you a PowerPoint pro? Add it in. Skilled in robotics or Python? That belongs on your profile too. Are you a natural leader or coach? Highlight it. LinkedIn automatically groups your skills into key categories such as Industry Knowledge, Tools & Technologies and Interpersonal Skills, so others can instantly see what makes you stand out. You can add a maximum of a hundred skills to your profile. So use this section to paint a full picture of what you bring to the table. Start building your credibility by adding at least five skills that reflect the incredible professional you are. Your superpowers deserve to be seen. Own them and let them shine.