LinkedIn Skills: How to Choose, Add & Delete Skills On LinkedIn [+ Examples]

Skills. You know you have them, but do you know which professional skills are in-demand and how to add them to  your LinkedIn profile?

Skills are more than keyword traits to list at the bottom of your resume. Including relevant professional skills helps hiring managers discover your profile and assess if you meet baseline qualifications for the role without reading your entire profile.

There’s a lot to unpack there, so this post will define everything you need to know about adding Skills to your LinkedIn profile and resume:

• How to choose skills
• How to add skills to LinkedIn
• How to edit LinkedIn skills
• How to get (and give) LinkedIn skill endorsements

Struggling to land interviews with your current resume? Get started with Teal’s AI Resume Builder today.

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Understanding LinkedIn Skills

“What skills and experience qualify you for this position?” A classic question in the job interview process intended to help hiring managers determine if job seekers have what it takes to perform well.

During your job search, you should know which relevant skills you possess and your proficiency in each. LinkedIn also understands the importance of skills and allows you to list them on your profile.

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What is a LinkedIn Skill?

A LinkedIn Skill is a one-to-three word capability such as “leadership skills,” “problem-solving,” or “SEO.” A LinkedIn Skill section is a key area of your profile where you list your professional expertise—placing a spotlight on your core strengths. You can add up to 100 skills to your profile.

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How LinkedIn Skills enhance your job search

Adding skills to your profile can help make your job search easier. When you search for jobs on LinkedIn, the platform will show you job posts based on your profile and search history. 

In addition, when you open a specific job post you’re interested in, LinkedIn uses your skills to let you know if you’re a good fit for the job.

In the example above, LinkedIn shows the profile fits eight out of the 10 skills. LinkedIn pulls the best skills needed for the job from the job posting and matches it to the right skills listed on your profile. 

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LinkedIn Skills enhance your professional profile

When recruiters search for candidates to fill an open role, they prioritize the following factors: 

• Job title
• Location
• Key skills

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This search will pick up keywords from your profile such as your headline, About section, Experience section, and Skills section. 

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In other words, adding skills in multiple places within your LinkedIn profile can increase your chances of being found by a recruiter and passing an initial screening.

Here’s a great way to check your LinkedIn profile: Download Teal’s Free Chrome Extension which includes an automated LinkedIn Review. You’ll get a list of recommendations on how best to optimize your profile.

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How to choose LinkedIn Skills

Don’t know where to begin? When you open your skill section,  LinkedIn provides suggestions based on your profile.

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In addition, here are some expert tips to help you identify your skills to add to your LinkedIn profile.

“If it's for a technical role, I would look into previous experiences and look at more technical skills—data, analysis, key projects etc. If it's more of a leadership/managerial role, I look for communication skills, previous management experience and if there are any mentions of the team size handled.” – Catherine Quiambao, Marketing Manager, Eaton Square

“Aside from the obvious alignment to the role, I look for clarity: is there a clear ‘this is what they do’ narrative? Many of the hard skills can be taught, this is more important.” – Tiffany Lyman Otten, Director of B2B Strategy, Power Digital Marketing

“Leadership and Communications skills are always very valuable and sought after, along with Teamwork. Hard skills can be learned or trained, but soft skills? You need at least some predisposition!” – Juan Carlos Ruz Morales, Senior Talent Attraction Manager, Mytheresa 

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LinkedIn Skills examples by type

Here’s a quick overview of LinkedIn skills organized by profession and skill type. You should have a healthy mixture of each type. Remember, you can add up to 100 skills on LinkedIn. 

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LinkedIn hard skills

Hard skills are quantifiable abilities gained through training, certifications, or education.

Here are some of the most popular hard skills, according to LinkedIn:

1. Customer Service
2. Sales
3. Accounting
4. Business Development
5. Marketing
6. Digital Marketing
7. Sales Management
8. Finance
9. Social Media
10. Sales & Marketing
11. Financial Analysis
12. Engineering
13. Social Media Marketing
14. SQL

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LinkedIn soft skills

Soft skills are interpersonal, non-technical skills.

Here are some of the most popular soft skills, according to LinkedIn:

1. Leadership
2. Communication
3. Problem Solving
4. Management
5. Time Management
6. Strategy

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Transferable LinkedIn skills

These are versatile skills that can span various industries, such as communication. Transferable skills are typically soft skills.

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Examples of top LinkedIn Skills by profession

These are technical skills, specific to certain jobs such as Java, Excel, Quickbooks, etc. Industry-specific skills are typically hard skills.

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Marketing

• Digital Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Marketing Strategy
• Adobe Photoshop
• Email Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Advertising
• Google Analytics
• Corporate Communications

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Project Management

• Agile Project Management
• Agile Methodologies
• Scrum
• Microsoft Project
• Project Management Office (PMO)
• Project Planning
• Project Coordination
• Engineering
• Management
• PMO Set-up

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IT

• Network Administration
• Windows Server
• Active Directory
• Microsoft Azure
• Agile Methodologies
• Python (Programming Language)
• Technical Support
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• System Administration

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Engineering

• AutoCAD
• JavaScript
• Java
• SOLIDWORKS
• React.js
• Git
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Mechanical Engineering
• Test Automation
• C (Programming Language)

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Finance & Accounting

• Financial Accounting
• Financial Analysis
• Financial Reporting
• Accounts Payable
• Account Reconciliation
• Bank Reconciliation
• Accounts Receivable (AR)
• Financial Planning
• Journal Entries
• Tax

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Sales

• Sales Management
• Customer Service
• Business Development
• Account Management
• Direct Sales
• Sales Process
• Sales Operations
• Communication
• Problem Solving
• Customer Experience

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How to add skills to your LinkedIn Skills section

Here is a step-by-step guide on adding skills on LinkedIn.

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile.
2. Under your Introduction section, select “add profile section.”

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3. Select Add Skills.
4. Type in your skill or select one of the suggestions based on your profile. 
5. Optionally, you can attach the skill to one or more work experiences.

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6. Save.

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This skill, and more skills listed, will appear in the dedicated Skills section on your profile. 

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If you attach certain skills to past roles, they will also appear there.

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How to add skills to your LinkedIn About section

You have the option to add five top skills you feel best represent your strengths. These will appear in both your About and Skills sections.

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1. From your LinkedIn profile, go to your About section.
2. Select the pencil icon. 
3. Under Skills, choose Add skill. 
4. Type in your skill or choose from the “Suggested based on your profile” skill.
5. Repeat steps four and five until you've added all five top skills, and save.

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How to update Skills on LinkedIn

As your career progresses, you may find your skill set growing—some skills become more important for your role than others. Alternatively, you may find some skills you’ve added to your profile just aren’t very relevant or valuable anymore. Keep your Skills section updated regularly to reflect your knowledge.

For all the steps below, first head to your Skills section on your LinkedIn profile.

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How to edit skills on LinkedIn

1. Select the pencil icon next to the skill you want to edit.
2. Select where to attach the skill (Experience, Education, Licenses & certifications, etc.).
3. Select the box next to where you want to attach the skill (such as a specific role or certain certification).
4. Save.

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How to delete skills on LinkedIn

1. Select the pencil icon next to the skill you want to delete.
2. Navigate to Delete skill in the bottom left corner.
3. Hit Delete.
4. Save.

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How to reorder skills on LinkedIn

1. Select the three dots at the top right corner. 
2. Choose "Reorder" from the dropdown menu.
3. Click the four stacked lines next to the skill you want to reorder. 
4. Continue holding as you drag the skill up or down. 
5. Repeat until all skills are in your preferred order. Remember to put your most coveted skills first.

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How to endorse skills on LinkedIn

People you are connected to on LinkedIn can endorse your skills and vice versa. You may occasionally be asked to endorse someone’s skills. You can choose to switch on or off endorsements from your own profile. Your options are the following:

• “I want to be endorsed” (Turning off your endorsement setting means LinkedIn won’t suggest you or ask your connections to endorse you).
• “Include me in endorsement suggestions to my connections”
• “Show me suggestions to endorse my connections”

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To endorse a connection's skill from their profile:

1. Navigate to the profile of the connection.
2. Scroll down to the Skills & endorsements section and locate the name of the skill you'd like to endorse.
3. Endorse.

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How to import LinkedIn Skills to your resume

Just like on LinkedIn, a well-crafted resume “Skills” section tailored to the specific requirements of the job is more effective than listing all your capabilities. 

Gather all your skills. Then use Teal's free AI Resume Builder to import your LinkedIn profile using the LinkedIn to Resume feature. 

1. Log into your Teal account (or create one for free) 
2. Go to the Resume Builder
3. Import your existing resume or LinkedIn URL

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How to match Skills in a job description with Teal’s Matching Mode

Tailoring your resume to the specific role you are applying to is the key to standing out. The trick to saving time during that process is to use the Teal AI Resume Builder Matching Mode. With Teal, you can match the skills or keywords listed on the job post with the skills that have just been imported into a resume from the section above.

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Here’s how to do that:

1. If you don’t already have your resume open from the above steps, head to the "Resume Builder" in the left navigation panel. 
2. Select the resume you want to compare to a specific job description. 
3. Click the "Matching Mode" icon at the top right of your screen. 
4. In the right hand portion of your screen, select the job from the drop down list of jobs you're tracking. After that, the analysis will begin automatically.

You can also click the yellow "Switch Jobs" button to add a new job or select a different job you've already saved.

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Showcase your qualifications with LinkedIn Skills 

Skills are a key component to your LinkedIn profile, showing others your unique combination of strengths and abilities. Add up to 100 skills to your LinkedIn Skills section to aid your job search and help attract recruiters to your profile. Then use Teal's AI Resume Builder to properly add skills and write your bullet points. Sign up for Teal for free to try it.

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