A few years back, I was hiring for a marketing role at one of those companies where the coffee is free, and the politics aren't. Forty-odd applications landed on my desk. I'd love to tell you I read every CV with the care of a monk illuminating a manuscript.

I didn't.

I opened LinkedIn, lined up the profiles like a row of tinned soup, and started forming impressions. Headline. Photo. About section. Next. Headline. Photo. Next. By the time I'd finished my second flat white, I'd narrowed a long list down to a short one - and the people who didn't make it weren't worse at the job. They just hadn't realised the profile was being read first. They were still at home, polishing their CVs, agonising over whether to use "spearheaded" or "led."

None of them had done anything wrong. They'd simply spent their energy on the wrong document. I'm not proud of how fast it happened - but I'd far rather you knew it happens, and beat it, than learn it the hard way from another silent inbox.

Clearly, recruiters aren't waiting for your CV. However, they've often made up their minds about you on LinkedIn before your application has finished uploading. I've hired hundreds of people across multiple teams over the years, and I promise you the same profile mistakes turn up every single time, like a bad penny in a nice suit.

So when you "do the work, apply, and never hear back" - and we've all been there, marinating in the silence - it's rarely the CV that lets you down. It's the profile you forgot was your shop window.

Let's fix the window.

Most people's LinkedIn headline reads like a job title someone shouted at them across an office. "Marketing Manager at [Company]." Riveting stuff. The trouble is, a job title tells people your rank, not your value - and rank is the one thing that doesn't follow you to the next role. Your value does.

Drop the title. Tell them what you actually do, who you do it for, and what happens as a result. "I help SaaS companies turn churn into loyalty" beats "Senior Customer Success Manager" every day of the week, because one is a person and the other is an org chart. It's your first impression. Make it specific, make it human, and let it sound like you wrote it - not HR.

There is a peculiar British instinct to write your About section as though you've died and a respectful colleague is reading it aloud at the wake. "Harvey is a results-driven professional with a passion for synergy." Who is this Harvey, and why does he sound like a LinkedIn bingo card?

Write in the first person. You are not your own publicist. Lead with what you do and who you do it for, give the reader a reason to keep reading, and finish with a clear next step - how to reach you, what to do, where to click. A reader who's nodding along and then hits a dead end is a reader you've lost.

Responsibilities are not achievements. "Responsible for managing the regional sales team" tells the reader what you were supposed to do. It says nothing about whether it actually went well. It's the CV equivalent of "available on request" - technically words, but no one's any the wiser.

Show impact instead. Use numbers wherever you possibly can, because numbers are the one thing on LinkedIn nobody assumes you've inflated. "Grew the territory 34% in eighteen months" lands. "Passionate about growth" drifts past unread. And tailor the language to the roles you actually want next, not the one you're trying to leave behind.

Most people leave their Featured section as barren as a Monday-morning fridge. This is prime real estate - the bit of the profile that says "look at the good stuff", and it's sitting blank, like a billboard that just reads "AVAILABLE."

Pin your best work. A post that did well, a case study, a talk, a piece you're proud of. Give the reader evidence, not adjectives.

A dormant profile is a sad thing. It quietly says, "I only show up when I need something" - which is roughly the energy of texting an ex at midnight. Even one post a week tells a recruiter you're engaged, you're thinking, you're around. Showing up consistently is the cheapest credibility you can build - and it gets noticed.

First impressions are visual before they're verbal. A blurry, badly-cropped photo - the one clearly taken at a wedding with someone's elbow lovingly edited out - costs you trust before you've said a word. And that grey default banner? It's the digital equivalent of turning up to an interview in a beige cagoule.

Get a clear, friendly, human photo. Use the banner to reinforce what you do. It's free, it's quick, and almost nobody bothers - which is precisely why bothering pays off.

Your LinkedIn isn't just a profile. It's your pitch before the pitch - the version of you that's working the room while you're asleep, in the shower, or doom-scrolling at 11pm, wondering why nobody's called back.

Make sure it's selling the person you actually are.

This week: Rewrite your headline so it says what you do, who for, and the result - not your job title. Then swap your About section into the first person and add a clear next step at the end.

This month: Audit your Experience section line by line. Turn every "responsible for" into a result with a number attached. Fill your Featured section with two or three pieces of your best work. Sort the photo and banner.

This quarter: Commit to one post a week. It doesn't have to be a TED talk - a lesson, an observation, a thing you got wrong and put right. Consistency builds the credibility that gets you found before you've even applied.

You've been judged before you knew it. The good news? You get to decide what they see.

Keep on rockin'!

Harvey

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