LinkedIn Question
What Not To Put In Your LinkedIn Summary?
Do not turn your LinkedIn summary into a resume paste, a buzzword pile, a third-person corporate bio, or a wall of text that never tells people what you actually do.
Short answer
Do not fill your LinkedIn summary with generic buzzwords, copied resume bullets, third-person corporate language, unsupported claims, or long unbroken paragraphs that say very little. LinkedIn says the About section is where you express your mission, motivation, and skills, and its own profile guidance treats it more like an elevator pitch than a resume paste. The safest things to leave out are anything generic, bloated, copied, or impossible to believe.
Do not paste your resume into the About section
Your summary is not supposed to read like a raw job-history dump. LinkedIn's own profile guidance treats the About section as the place to explain who you are, what you do, and what people can expect from you, not as a duplicate of every bullet from your resume.
That is why the best summaries usually interpret your experience instead of listing it again. They connect the dots, highlight your strengths, and tell people why your work matters.
Avoid buzzwords, third person, and empty corporate language
If the summary sounds like it could belong to anyone, it is probably too generic. LinkedIn's own summary-writing guidance explicitly calls out jargon and recommends writing how you speak, which usually means first person, specific examples, and a more human voice.
The phrase test works well here. If the line is full of words like strategic, results-oriented, visionary, dynamic, or passionate but still leaves the reader unsure what you actually do, that line should probably go.
Do not make it hard to read or hard to trust
A summary can be technically accurate and still lose the reader. Long text blocks, no spacing, too many symbols, or exaggerated claims all create friction. LinkedIn's own profile resources repeatedly push toward clarity, impact, and readability instead.
The stronger move is to keep the summary skimmable, show proof where you can, and end with a clear sense of what kind of work you do and what kind of connection or opportunity makes sense.
Next step
Tighten the profile story before you rewrite the summary
Use a clearer headline and profile angle so the About section has a stronger foundation to build on.
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