How to Add Work History to LinkedIn

Signing up for a LinkedIn account allows you to create a profile with your work history. Once you have established your profile, you can add the 'Experience' section to your profile page to showcase current and past work experiences. Since this becomes public information, anyone can see where you have worked and your current role, which helps page visitors better understand your skills as a professional.

Your work history is essential to your LinkedIn profile, providing potential employers and collaborators with an overview of your experience. When outlining your work history, it’s important to add detailed information and relevant skills. Discover how to add work history to your LinkedIn profile and how to update this section when you get a new job.

Read more: How to Create a Striking LinkedIn Profile: Guide + Tips

How to add your work history to LinkedIn

To add your job, internship, and/or contract history to your LinkedIn page, add the Experience section to your profile. Once you add this section to your profile, you can add current and past work experiences. Follow these steps to get your work history on your LinkedIn profile.

1. Add the LinkedIn Experience section.

If you want to include current and past professional experiences on your LinkedIn profile, you must manually add them to the 'Experience' section. 

Take the following steps to add the Experience section to your profile:

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your homepage. This action will open a small pop-up window. In the pop-up, click on View Profile to proceed.

2. Click on the Add profile section button located in the introduction segment.

3. Access the drop-down menu of options.

4. Choose Add position within this drop-down menu under the subhead entitled Core.

5. Fill out the information in the Add experience pop-up window that appears to add a position.

6. Finally, click on Save.

Keep in mind that LinkedIn prompts you to add your current job title when you initially create your profile. Prepare to add your most recent or current job title, type of employment (full-time, part-time), and most recent company, which you can choose from a drop-down menu or type in. 

When you add these details, the information automatically populates into your profile’s headline. You can revisit the experience section anytime, to enrich it with descriptions of your job, skills, achievements, and more, including any additional work history you may have. 

2. Add your current position.

If you did not add your current position when you set up your account, you can now add it to the Experience section of your LinkedIn profile. If you did set it up, you can now add more details about your position by clicking the pencil icon next to Experience. 

You can include quite a bit of information about your current position. All fields are optional, except your job title and the company you work for. When filling in this information, your current position is listed as your headline by default unless you uncheck the box. 

Fill in the information in the following fields to add an experience: 

• Title: Input your exact job title.

• Employment type: You may use the position type from the dropdown menu. Note that the employment type may vary depending on the country you are in. For example, in the UK, you may also see a “temporary staff” employment type option. 

• Company: Select the company you work for from the drop-down menu or write it in if it does not have a LinkedIn company page. Choosing a company tags that business, and then a logo of the company appears next to this work experience. If the company isn’t on LinkedIn, no logo will be shown.

• Location: Add the city and state or country of your current employer. 

• Start date: Add the month and year you started this job. Check the box that says I am currently working in this role if you're currently working at the company. 

• Industry: Tick the Update my industry box, and choose from the drop-down menu of listed industries that best describe your current employer. 

• Description: Explain in detail your responsibilities, duties, specific achievements, and milestones. You may arrange details like skills or milestones in bullet points for easy scanning and pair the list with a brief paragraph describing the job. You can mention skills here, but remember you can add a dedicated skills section.

• Media: Add a link to a sample of your work or upload a document that showcases a project you’ve completed, an article you’ve written, or another sampling of your skills. Use this option to link to a work portfolio if you have one. 

Once you’ve completed the information, you will see an option to turn off  Share with network. By default, if you don’t slide the button to Off, LinkedIn sends a notification to your entire network of followers when you add or edit positions. Consider turning this off while you build your profile. Click Save when you finish. 

Once you save this information, LinkedIn prompts you to add teammates, managers, and direct reports. Add teammates to build your network and give recruiters or potential employers possible professional references. 

Read more: Resume Keywords: How to Find the Right Words to Beat the ATS

3. Add past positions.

Go to the Experience section of your profile. Look for your current position listed under Experience. To add past positions, click on the + icon in the top right corner of this section. A pop-up box will appear when you click the + icon. Repeat the same steps to add past positions as you did when you added your current position. Include the start date of employment and the end date when entering past positions. Ensure the box that says I am currently employed in this role is not checked.

Should I put my entire work history on LinkedIn?

Instead of listing your entire work history in your LinkedIn Experience section, consider listing all relevant work experiences dating back about 10 to 15 years. Previous work experiences provide insight into your career journey. Past experiences build the story of your career and help others better understand your professional goals. Share these experiences with anyone who views your profile by including only relevant, meaningful experiences. 

How do I update my LinkedIn after leaving my job?

It’s crucial that your LinkedIn headline, experiences, skills, contact information, and current position are accurate. Update your current position on LinkedIn after you leave your job to accurately reflect your employment status. If your current role is also your headline, update it too. Change your contact information if you use a work email address on your LinkedIn profile. Edit your Experience section to reflect the start and end dates of the job you left. Disconnect from the company page if you have any administrative privileges. 

To update your LinkedIn headline: 

1. Click on the Me icon on your LinkedIn profile page. 

2. Choose View profile. 

3. Click on the pencil icon next to your introduction section. 

4. Change your headline under the Headline section of your introduction in the pop-up window that appears.

To change your contact information on LinkedIn:

1. Click on the Me icon on your LinkedIn profile page. 

2. Choose View profile. 

3. Click on Contact info. 

4. Click the pencil icon to access the Contact info pop-up window to edit any contact information details.

5. Click Save. 

To edit, delete, or add an experience:

1. Click the Me icon via your LinkedIn profile page. 

2. Choose View profile. 

3. Scroll to the Experience section on your profile. 

4. Click Show all experiences and select the experience you’d like to change or delete.

   1. To edit an experience, click on the pencil icon next to the experience you’d like to modify employee dates and unselect this position as your current position.

   2. To delete an experience, click on the pencil icon next to the experience you want to delete and click Delete experience. 

   3. To add an experience, click on the + icon at the top of your experience section and enter the details of your new experience.

5. Click Save to save all changes before exiting the browser. 

To disconnect from a company page: 

1. Go to the admin view from your company’s service page. 

2. Scroll to the Affiliated company section. 

3. Click the three horizontal dots icon located on the top right and select Unlink. 

LinkedIn profile tips

Maximize the impact and reach of your LinkedIn profile by optimizing your content, taking advantage of all of LinkedIn's profile-building tools, and ensuring your profile is well-formatted and error-free. 

Think of your LinkedIn profile as your resume, and treat it as a virtual first impression when job hunting and making connections. Craft your profile’s work history so it’s easy to scan. The clarity of your writing and organized content within your profile help viewers get a clear and concise picture of who you are. Below are a few more LinkedIn profile-building tips that might help. 

Connect skills to experiences. 

You can create an entire Skills section that links to your listed work history. Take advantage of this LinkedIn feature and add a separate Skills section to your profile page. Add this section just as you would add the Experience section. When you fill out the Skills section, you can link certain skills to already listed experiences. Connecting skills to experiences enhances your visibility when someone searches for certain skills using LinkedIn search.

Quantify your experiences. 

Try to quantify your professional experiences as much as possible with tangible evidence of sought-after skills in your industry. Use statistics, real examples of the impact you made in this role, and other specific examples. For example, a simple addition of how many people you onboarded as a recruiter illustrates your performance in the role. 

Use keywords throughout.

Research important keywords based on your goals for using LinkedIn. Focus on industry-specific keywords throughout your profile. Consider what a potential employer or recruiter may type into the LinkedIn search bar if you want your profile to appear in the search results. Use LinkedIn keywords in job titles and skills since many recruiters search by these criteria. Include two to three keywords per section, and also remember to use long-tail keywords. 

Link to company pages.

When you create an experience, link that position to the company for which you worked. A company logo appears next to each experience once you successfully link to its page. One benefit to linking work experiences to a company’s LinkedIn page is improved rankings. 

Next steps

Take advantage of your LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills, experiences, and knowledge as a working professional. LinkedIn can be helpful for networking and increases your chances of getting a job offer. A complete and accurate work history tells the story of your career journey thus far. Experiences give potential employers a glimpse into your professional life, so it’s worthwhile to include your work history in your LinkedIn profile. Find out more ways to use LinkedIn by enrolling in the Guided Project Create a Profile and Network on LinkedIn on Coursera. Get started today. 

Read more: How to Create a Striking LinkedIn Profile: Guide + Tips