LinkedIn’s looking to help job seekers better highlight their professional skills, by incorporating more ways to highlight skills and competencies into various elements of the app.

First off, LinkedIn’s added a new element to the “About” section on member profiles which will now enable you to tag up to five of your top skills.

As you can see in this example, now, at the footer of your About section, you can highlight your top skills to make it easier for visitors to get a quick idea of your competencies.

That could be a good way to answer questions about your suitability for a role, with members also able to update their skills in line with any job/s they’ve applied for.

LinkedIn’s also added the capacity to include media-rich content in the “Projects” section, while you can also now tag projects with skills, providing another way to showcase your experience.

As per LinkedIn:

“For example, if you’re a photographer, you might link out to a website featuring your online portfolio and tag hard skills such as Adobe Photoshop and soft skills like Communication or Collaboration.”

This, again, will enable you to better pinpoint your specific skills and knowledge, which could help to boost your appeal with prospective employers.

LinkedIn’s also updating its “Credentials” element, by enabling members to tag a skill against a particular credential, while it’s also updating its skills display within its Recruiter platform to highlight projects that people have worked on that use specific skills.

“For example, when you tag skills on content you feature in the Projects section, recruiters will be able to see those projects as they view your skills.”  

The updates could help job seekers better showcase their capabilities, and how they match specific roles, while also providing more contextual markers on LinkedIn, helping to maximize utility.

Or they could just help to catch the attention of busy recruiters as they whittle down their applicant lists. When you’re reviewing hundreds of applicants, reading the full “About” section for each could be a task, so adding your relevant skills could be a good way to ensure you stand out, based on the role’s requirements.

Some handy updates, which could become more important for job seekers over time.