Top 5 LinkedIn Headline Questions, Answered

Your LinkedIn headline is one of the most important components of your LinkedIn profile. It’s what people see when they search for you (even on Google), it’s a way to quickly brand yourself, and it’s a key tool for getting your profile to show up in search results. As more and more entertainment professionals flock to LinkedIn, we've been getting more questions about how to effectively market yourself on the platform. Before we go further, keep in mind the #1 rule of crafting a compelling professional narrative (a familiar rule for us all in our jobs): know your audience. When you consider who you want to read your profile and what they want to see, you'll have an easier time writing for them.

Here are our answers to five burning questions about LinkedIn profile headlines.

Should I use my current title in my LinkedIn headline?
It can make sense to use your current title if it's straightforward, at a well-known company, and you're using LinkedIn to cultivate connections for your current role (or need to hide a job search from your jealous/paranoid/vindictive boss). For example, VP, Current Series, Disney+ is very clear branding and can suit your purposes if you want to leverage your title and company in your networking. However, if your role is a non-standard title or you work at a company not everyone is familiar with, you may want to focus your headline on your brand/expertise: think Creative Producer & Marketing Strategist or Independent Filmmaker. Additionally, simply listing your title does not invite others to engage with you and can sometimes indicate that you're not so interested in using LinkedIn to connect -- if that's true, leave it be, but if it's not, consider adding keywords or more context about your professional interests. This can help establish you as a thought leader or reach more people in the industry. It can also help if you're job searching. Try something like Current Series Exec @ Disney+ | Passionate about Kids & Family Content | Live Action & Animation Expertise. 

What should I use if I can't use a job title?
This question applies to many situations. I'm unemployed and don't have a job title to use. I'm a freelancer, and I don't consistently have the same title. I have dual career paths, and I don't know what title to use. I'm an intern, and my title is short-term. I hate my job and don't want to associate myself with it. I'm afraid if I list my title recruiters won't think I'm looking, but I don't want to lose clients at my current job or tip off my employer. Whatever your reason, take a deep breath. As we mentioned above, stating your professional brand is a really good strategy. The thing to remember is that the keywords you put in your headline will inform how your profile shows up in search results, and you want to make sure the right audience finds you. When you come up with your brand, be intentional with your word choices. You can start with your occupation (creative executive, production manager, film director, film student) or with your expertise (expert project manager, post-production expert, digital content strategy specialist). If you have multiple paths, include them all (this is what we do -- Cindy's headline is fluid enough to encompass her various professional, freelance, and volunteer roles, and Angela's headline highlights her specialties for her two companies). You don’t want your headline to be long, unfocused, and confusing, but you do have space to elaborate on your key areas of expertise.

I see a lot of people put their old company names in their headline, like ex-Disney, ex-Amazon, ex-Google. Is this a good strategy?
Let's start with the background of this trend. It comes from the world of tech (and yes, LinkedIn, no matter how much it expands beyond the tech industry, is by its nature as a social media platform, highly embedded in big tech culture). A lot of start-up founders will use this "ex-BIG COMPANY" to give themselves credibility, secure funding, and show that they are taking the things they learned from their time in big tech to their new ventures. As a platform, LinkedIn also favors content from people who their algorithm perceives as "experts" and "industry leaders," which they've defined as people who have worked at big companies. The more you showcase your POV as someone from these big companies, it stands to reason that your content will become more visible. People outside of big tech latched onto this trend, and it can be helpful if you want to game the algorithm, and especially if you're using LinkedIn primarily for thought leadership. But even as tech titans take over Hollywood, there's still a different culture here, and it's not really one where saying you're ex-CAA is always resonant. If you're currently employed somewhere that isn't big, and your headline includes ex-company, that's going to undermine your current experience and make people wonder if the production company you work at now that isn't well-known is legitimate. If you were laid off from one of the big companies and haven't landed somewhere yet, it could help you show up more in search results, which could in turn lead to more connections/recruiter visibility, but it may also read as a little strange or desperate. We prefer the entertainment parlance of "former" -- like Producer Specializing in Nonfiction | Former NatGeo Creative Exec or Former Paramount Marketing Executive Seeking Transition to Immersive Media. If you want to transition to big tech, by all means copy their style. Again, it all depends on your target audience. What will make the most sense to them?

I’m trying to make a major career transition, but my previous roles don’t align with what I’m going for. How can I address this in my headline?
It’s totally fair to call out your intention to make a career move in your headline! You can say “seeking transition to ____ industry.” By calling attention to your desire for a career transition you are also inviting people in that new field to engage with you, and maybe they will offer help as you browse various LinkedIn profiles. However, you need to brand yourself in a way that suggests you have transferable skills. Sometimes this means positioning yourself more broadly – i.e. an entertainment professional may call themselves a communications professional, or a producer might call themselves a project management expert. It can help to include your key transferable skills or your reason for wanting to make this big jump in your headline. This might make it a little wordy but will help train your algorithm and put your profile in more search results. For example, if you're a TV producer seeking a transition to nonprofit communications and your dream job is with an organization fighting climate change, you might try: Storyteller | Passionate Climate Activist | Expert at Producing High-Value Multiplatform Content. 

Should I try to be funny in my LinkedIn headline?
If a sense of humor is a core part of your professional persona (as in, if you are a comedian), then maybe. But not at the expense of more relevant keywords. People who try to get really creative in their headlines often choose uncommon keywords that aren’t going to help them show up in search results and also leave any viewer with ambiguity. For example, no recruiter is searching for a ninja. And if your headline is something like “making cool stuff,” how is a person who is looking for a creative producing partner to know that yours is the right profile to click on?

Ultimately, it all comes back to presenting yourself so the people who can help you achieve your goals can find you. And your goals may change over time, so your headline should change too. Feel free to experiment, as you might notice you get a lot more views with one headline over another.