LinkedIn Profile — audit, then rewrite the parts that pay

A profile is not a CV. A CV is read by someone who already decided to consider you; a profile is read by someone deciding whether to. Three readers, in descending volume: the scanner (three seconds, from your comment on someone else's post — sees photo and headline only), the evaluator (forty seconds — headline, half the About, Featured), the decider (minutes — everything). Almost all traffic is the scanner. Almost all conversion is the decider.

Workflow

1. Audit before rewriting. Ask them to describe their profile section by section, or have them fill assets/profile_worksheet.md, then:

python3 scripts/profile_completeness_auditor.py --input profile.json --output human

Exit 0 STRONG / 2 INCOMPLETE / 3 WEAK. It ranks every gap by points per hour and prints a first-hour plan — usually Featured, Open To, and skills, which cost minutes and recover real points. Start there, not with the About section they wanted to agonise over.

2. Headline next — it is the only string that travels. It rides along with every comment, search result, and invitation.

python3 scripts/headline_scorer.py --headline "..." --output human

Five dimensions at 20 points: audience, outcome, proof, searchability, clarity. Exit 0 SHIP (≥75) / 2 SHARPEN / 3 REWRITE. It also checks the 220-character cap and whether the first ~60 characters — the part that survives in search results and invitation previews — carry anything.

Iterate here. Two or three passes is normal; the stop condition is exit 0, or the user saying they would say it out loud to a peer.

3. About section — write to the fold. LinkedIn collapses it after roughly 265-300 characters. Collect the five parts from the user, then assemble:

python3 scripts/about_section_builder.py --input about.json --output human

It refuses a fold that cuts mid-sentence, a fold carrying no audience and no proof, a missing call to action, and anything over 2,600 characters.

4. Experience, Featured, recommendations. Rewrite duty lists as outcomes. Pin one artifact a stranger could evaluate in sixty seconds. Ask for two specific recommendations by naming the project and offering a first draft.

Rules

• Never invent a credential, a metric, or a role. Every number on a profile is checkable by someone. If the proof does not exist, the claim is qualitative or it is absent.
• First person. A profile in third person reads as a press release someone else wrote.
• The fold is the section. Whatever sits above "…see more" is what most readers get.
• Front-load the headline. The strongest segment first; everything after is a bonus.
• Do not fetch anything. The user describes their own profile; nothing is scraped.

Scripts

References and assets

• references/profile_architecture.md — what each section is for, and the three readers (7 sources)
• references/headline_and_positioning.md — the 220 characters that follow you everywhere (7 sources)
• assets/profile_worksheet.md — fillable section-by-section worksheet
• assets/example_profile.json — input shape for the auditor

Distinct from

• linkedin-strategy — what to post and how often. This is who you are before you post. If the audience answer is fuzzy, run positioning_brief.py there first; the headline falls out of a good brief in ten minutes.
• product-team/, c-level-advisor/ — career and role strategy. This writes the profile, not the career plan.

Version: 1.0.0