Recruiters check LinkedIn before they call back
What to put in the headline, About section, experience and skills. What to delete. Sector-calibrated for investment banking, consulting, law and Big 4. Built around how graduate recruiters actually read profiles.
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Worked example
The headline is the single line a recruiter sees in search, in messages, and in connection-request previews. Treat it like the most important line on your profile.
Weak headline
“Student at London School of Economics”
Why it fails
Strong headline
“Aspiring Investment Banking Analyst | LSE Investment Society President | Researching TMT and Healthcare M&A”
Why it scores
The six sections
A graduate LinkedIn has six sections that recruiters actually read. Each plays a different role and scores against different criteria.
The single most important line. It appears in search, message previews and connection-request notifications. Should signal target sector, credibility marker and area of interest in under 220 characters.
Example: "Aspiring Investment Banking Analyst | LSE Investment Society President | TMT and Healthcare M&A"
Professional headshot. Plain or blurred background, business smart attire, looking at camera. No group photos cropped, no holiday photos, no graduation pictures.
Example: Same image you would put on a corporate ID badge.
120-200 words. Three short paragraphs: who you are and the sector you target, one quantified achievement, what you are looking for and how to contact you.
Example: "Final-year Economics student at LSE targeting summer analyst roles in M&A at bulge-bracket investment banks..."
Most recent and most relevant first. Include the degree, university, predicted or achieved grade if 2:1+ (UK) or 3.5+ (US), and notable academic prizes or societies.
Example: BSc Economics, London School of Economics, Predicted First. Academic prize for Highest Mark in Corporate Finance.
CV-style bullets with quantified outcomes. Lead with finance / consulting / law-relevant roles. Drop high school content past your first year of university.
Example: "Spring Week, Goldman Sachs - shadowed M&A coverage of the Synopsys-Ansys transaction; produced a 4-page competitor analysis used in team prep."
Specific tools and competencies, not generic "Teamwork" / "Communication". Banking: financial modelling, valuation, Bloomberg, Capital IQ. Consulting: structured problem-solving, market sizing. Law: legal research, drafting, due diligence.
Example: Financial Modelling, Valuation, Bloomberg Terminal, M&A Analysis, Excel, PowerPoint.
The rubric
Five criteria, applied when a recruiter clicks through from a referral, a CV mention or a connection request. Knowing the rubric is the difference between profile that adds credibility and one that subtracts it.
Predicted grade, academic prizes, society leadership, internship pedigree, named achievements. The metrics that prove you can do the work without you having to say so.
Vocabulary, named experiences and content engagement all signal the sector you target. Banking-targeted profiles read differently from consulting-targeted profiles.
'M&A and Leveraged Finance' beats 'finance'. 'Built a 3-statement model for a £450M consumer acquisition' beats 'gained financial modelling experience'.
Every claim on LinkedIn must match your CV exactly. Different job titles, dates or descriptions trigger compliance flags at offer stage.
Quality over quantity. 200 well-targeted connections (alumni, recruiters, current professionals at your target firms) beat 3,000 random ones.
Why profiles fail
A bad LinkedIn is worse than no LinkedIn. These are the documented patterns that hurt rather than help graduate applications.
Generic headline ('Student at X')
Wastes the most valuable real estate on the profile. Signals no sector target, no credibility marker, no interest area. Indistinguishable from every other student.
Profile picture that is not a professional headshot
Group photos cropped, holiday photos, graduation gowns or pictures from school formal occasions all read as immature. Same standard as a corporate ID badge.
Empty About section
A blank About section signals abandoned profile. Even 80 words clearly written outscores 0 words. Three short paragraphs is the standard.
CV claims that do not match LinkedIn
Different job titles, different date ranges, exaggerated descriptions. Triggers compliance flags at the background-check stage. Match every line exactly.
Listing skills you have never used
Endorsing yourself for "Python", "Bloomberg" or "M&A" without project evidence reads as inflated. Stick to skills you can defend in conversation.
Politically contentious posts or shared content
Recruiters check your activity feed during compliance reviews. Strong opinions on contested topics are recorded and remembered.
Third-person About section
"Jamie is a driven economics student..." reads as third-person bio written by a parent. First-person, conversational, structured.
High school content past first year of university
GCSE / SAT achievements, school sports captaincy, secondary-school societies. Belong on a first-year profile at most. Replace with current achievements.
What works
Sector-targeted headline with credibility marker
Sector ambition + a real credibility signal (society role, internship pedigree, academic prize) + an interest area. Three components in one line.
Three-paragraph About section
Who you are and where you target. One quantified achievement that proves you can do the work. What you are looking for next and how to contact you.
Quantified experience bullets
Match the CV format: action verb, context, quantified outcome. LinkedIn experience entries are short bullets, not long paragraphs.
Activity feed that signals seriousness
Engagement with sector-relevant content (FT articles, deal news, firm thought leadership). Curated activity outscores high-volume posting.
Network composition over volume
A targeted network of alumni, recruiters and current professionals at your target firms is worth more than 3,000 random connections.
Personalised connection requests
1-2 sentence personalised note referencing something specific. Acceptance rate jumps from ~5% to ~25%+ once notes are personalised.
By sector
The structure is universal. Vocabulary, tone and the credibility signals you lead with change sector to sector.
Banking-targeted profiles signal modelling, valuation and deal exposure. Headlines reference specific groups (M&A, Leveraged Finance, ECM) and named investment societies. About section leads with quantified financial work.
Consulting profiles emphasise structured problem-solving, case competition results, and breadth (multiple industries, leadership roles). Strong consulting LinkedIn About sections frame achievements with crisp impact statements.
Law profiles signal academic rigour (degree class, prizes), mooting and debating, vacation scheme experience, and commercial-awareness content engagement. Photo and tone lean formal.
Big 4 profiles emphasise breadth (across audit, consulting, deals, tax), professional qualification progress (ACA, ICAEW), and demonstrated leadership in society or volunteer work.
Compare your options
The honest comparison. Intervyo is calibrated against the graduate recruiter rubric, not generic SEO templates.
| Feature | Intervyo | LinkedIn Premium | University careers | Generic profile tool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sector-calibrated for graduate finance | partial | |||
| Headline scoring rubric | partial | |||
| About-section structure analysis | partial | partial | ||
| CV consistency check | ||||
| Network composition scoring | partial | |||
| Sector vocabulary calibration | ||||
| Worked weak vs strong examples | partial | partial | ||
| Updated each cycle |
How it works
Each Pack includes the LinkedIn analyser with sector-calibrated scoring for the firm you target.
The analyser pulls your headline, About section, experience and skills, and scores them on the five-criteria rubric.
Specific suggestions per section, with model examples. Iterate until the profile hits the rubric on every dimension.
Keep going
FAQ
Yes, but selectively. The biggest checks happen at two points: when a referral comes in from an alumnus or networker (recruiters cross-check the LinkedIn profile against the CV), and during the final-offer compliance background check. In between, recruiters use LinkedIn mainly to verify claims on your CV and to look at your network for mutual connections.
The headline. It is the only line a recruiter sees in search results and in their direct-message inbox. Generic headlines ("Economics student at University of X") fail. Strong headlines combine the target sector + the university or society + a credible interest area: "Aspiring Investment Banking Analyst | LSE Investment Society President | Interested in TMT and Healthcare M&A".
Yes if you are on track for a First or 2:1 (UK) or a 3.7+ GPA (US). Putting "Predicted First Class Honours" under your degree adds a credibility signal. Below those thresholds, omit the grade and lead with academic achievements (prizes, scholarships, ranked competition results) instead.
120-200 words. Three short paragraphs: (1) who you are and the sector you target, (2) one quantified achievement that proves you can do the work, (3) what you are looking for next and how to contact you. Walls of text get skimmed past; one-liner About sections look unfinished.
Yes, with a personalised connection note. Generic 'Hi, I would like to add you to my network' requests are mass-deleted by senior bankers. Strong notes are 1-2 sentences referencing something specific: an article they wrote, a deal they advised on, a comment they made at an event you attended. Even then, expect a 10-30% acceptance rate.
Anything that contradicts your CV (different job titles, different date ranges, exaggerated experience). High school content past first year of university. Endorsements for skills you have never used. Politically contentious posts or shared content. Profile pictures that are not professional headshots. Anything written in third person ("Jamie is a driven economics student...").
Yes. Intervyo Pack includes the in-app LinkedIn analyser: paste your profile URL and get scored feedback on headline, About section, experience entries, skills, and overall recruiter-view shape. Sector-calibrated for graduate finance, so the rubric matches what banking, consulting, law and Big 4 recruiters actually score.
LinkedIn Premium gives you "Resume Builder" templates and InMail credits. Generic tools score for SEO and keyword density. Intervyo scores against the rubric graduate recruiters at Goldman, McKinsey, Magic Circle and Big 4 actually use: credibility signals, sector vocabulary, specificity, structure. Built for the audience that matters.
Headline, About, experience, skills, network. Scored against the graduate recruiter rubric, with line-by-line rewrites for the sections that drag your profile down.
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