The LinkedIn profile a hiring manager actually reads
Headline, proof, and the one section most teens skip entirely.
Hiring managers look at LinkedIn for about twelve seconds before deciding to keep reading. Most student profiles lose them by second three.
The headline
'Aspiring software engineer' is not a headline. 'Building a scheduling tool for high school theater departments' is a headline. One tells the reader you want a job. The other tells them what you do.
Rule of thumb: if the headline could belong to any student in the country, rewrite it.
The About section
Three short paragraphs. First: what you actually do, in plain English. Second: one specific project, with a link. Third: what you're looking for next.
Skip the personal essay. Nobody in the industry reads the personal essay.
Featured section
This is the section most students skip. It's the one hiring managers scroll to first. Pin the case study. Pin the demo video. Pin the one thing you'd want a stranger to click.
Experience
For each entry, one line describing what you did, one line describing what changed because you did it. If nothing changed, question whether the entry belongs.
Photo
Neutral background, face visible, not the prom photo. This is not the place to express yourself. It's the place to be recognizable.