LinkedIn Basics
Bénédicte Rivory
Last updated: 17 Oct 2025
Your LinkedIn Skills section is a shortcut to making your profile shine. With 50 slots, the real question is: how many skills will truly set you apart on your Linkedin profile?
Let’s look at how many skills you should add and how to pick the ones that help you stand out.
Why Your LinkedIn Skills Matter
A recruiter’s job includes reviewing a candidate’s experience, education, interviewing them, and talking to references. However, hirers on LinkedIn today explicitly use skills data automation to filter applications and fill roles.
By listing your skills and ranking them thoughtfully, you make a recruiter’s job easier, but most importantly, you increase your chances of being noticed.
LinkedIn reads your skills to understand your expertise and connect you with the right opportunities. This helps you climb higher in search results which will eventually help you:
Show your credibility: Endorsed skills signal to others that you are trusted and proven in your field.
Spotlight your strengths: Skills let you showcase your top talents and keep you ahead of the competition.
In short, your skills act as SEO keywords for your LinkedIn profile.
The Ideal Number of Skills on LinkedIn
LinkedIn allows up to 50 skills, but you don’t need to use all of them.
The ideal number to add is between 20 and 30 selected skills that you have mastered.
Your LinkedIn Skills section is more than a checklist; it’s a shortcut to what you can actually do. It helps recruiters and collaborators quickly see your strengths and match you with the right opportunities.
Fewer than 10. Your profile may seem incomplete or unserious.
Around 20 to 30. Balanced, focused, and relevant. This is the ideal range for most professionals.
More than 40. Can make your profile look scattered and unfocused.
Remember, most recruiters value clarity and straightforward profiles. So, a smaller list of precise skills beats a long, random one every time.
How to Choose the Right Skills for Your LinkedIn Profile
When choosing which skills to add, be strategic. Go straight to the point and focus on the skills that truly show what you do best:
→ Start with your core expertise. Add the top 5–10 hard skills which are your strengths.
→ Include supporting skills. Add related abilities that complement your strengths.
→ Use industry keywords. Think about what recruiters or clients type when searching for professionals like you.
→ Highlight your top three. Pin your strongest, most relevant skills at the top of your profile.
→ Update regularly. Remove outdated or irrelevant skills as your career changes.
1. List the hard skills that define you
Hard skills are the technical skills you develop through education and experience.
They are usually top of mind when discussing your strengths or when in a skills-based hiring. They often involve using a machine, software, or tool ranging from:
Technical skills : Microsoft; Adobe Suites; data analysis; SQL and digital marketing
Educational skills : Screenwriting; film editing; sales;
When filling your skills section, start with the hard skills that your ideal target role requires.
Also, increase your credibility by highlighting relevant trainings, education, and certifications that support your claims.
2. Include your soft skills too
“Hard skills get you the interview but soft skills get you the job.”
Soft skills are the abilities that shape your personality and how you work, interact, and communicate with coworkers and teammates. They include talents like communication, collaboration, leadership, listening, and problem-solving, etc.
However, most workers struggle to identify their own soft skills because they are more difficult to measure than hard skills.
How to do it?
Take a personality test
Comb through your previous work reviews.
Ask your family and friends about your best traits
What does your senior coworker compliment you on?
What have your teammates usually said about you?
You can also take an assessment
For example, platforms like Cappfinity and Harver offer gamified behavioral assessments to evaluate soft skills, social, and emotional characteristics.
If that isn’t possible, you could also try an online self-assessment like the Skills Health Check offered by the National Careers Service in the U.K.
Conclusion
Your Skills section is more than decoration—which is how LinkedIn understands your expertise and routes opportunities to you. Keep it tight and relevant: target 20–30 skills, blend hard and soft, and pin the three that best match your next role.
Do a quick audit today: remove fillers, add role-specific keywords, and ask peers to endorse your top skills. Revisit monthly. Small updates compound into visibility, credibility, and better inbound opportunities.
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