I review LinkedIn profiles every week as part of what I do, and I see the same mistakes over and over. The kind that quietly cost people interviews they should have gotten. Here are six of the most common ones, and more importantly, how to fix them.
1. Your headline is just your job title
"Marketing Manager at ABC Company." That is not a headline. That is a name badge.
Your headline is the first thing a recruiter sees when your name shows up in search results. It needs to say what you do, who you serve and what makes you worth clicking.
Instead, try this: "Marketing Manager | B2B SaaS | Demand Gen + Content Strategy | Helping Companies Scale Pipeline"
That second version tells a story. The first one blends in with everyone else. Your headline has 220 characters. Use them.
2. No banner image
That gray default banner is doing nothing for you. Your banner is the first visual a recruiter sees when they click your profile, and a blank background says you haven't thought about your brand.
You don't need a designer. Free templates in Canva take about 10 minutes. Use your name, your title, a tagline and your email or website, in clean colors. It signals professionalism before anyone reads a word.
3. A blank or generic About section
"Results-driven professional with over 10 years of experience." Almost everyone on LinkedIn has written this sentence.
Your About section is your pitch. It should sound like you and tell the reader what you do, who you do it for and what impact you create. Write in first person, lead with something specific, share what drives you, and end with a call to action: what you're looking for and how to connect.
4. You're not using your Featured section
Most people leave it blank, and that's a missed opportunity every single day. The Featured section sits right below your About section and is one of the most visible parts of your profile.
Add a resume PDF, a portfolio link, a testimonial, a project you're proud of, a media mention or a post that did well. Recruiters are looking for evidence that you can do what you say you can do. This is where you show it. If yours is empty, fill it this week.
5. Vague experience descriptions with no results
"Responsible for managing social media accounts and coordinating with cross-functional teams" tells a recruiter almost nothing. Strong entries answer two questions: what did you do, and what happened because you did it?
Managed email marketing campaigns.
Managed monthly email campaigns to a list of 12,000 subscribers, achieving an average open rate of 34% and driving 18% of quarterly revenue.
Every bullet should show impact. If you don't have an exact number, use a range or a relative improvement. And make sure keywords from the jobs you're targeting appear naturally throughout. That's how you get found.
6. You're not posting or engaging
A static profile is a quiet profile. When you post, comment or engage, more people see your profile. When you're silent, your visibility drops, and recruiters may assume you're not actively looking.
You don't need to post every day. Two or three times a week is enough. Share a lesson from your work, comment thoughtfully on someone else's post, or reshare an article with your own take. Consistency builds visibility, and visibility builds opportunities.
Ready to take action?
If you read this list and thought "I need to fix my profile," you're not alone. Most job seekers have two or three of these working against them right now. The good news is that none of them take months to fix.