What Skills to Put on LinkedIn in 2026 (and How to Order Them)

What skills to put on LinkedIn depends on the jobs you want next, not every task you have ever done. Choose 15 to 30 skills that appear again and again in postings for your target role, put the strongest three first, and back each one with proof in your experience and endorsements from people who have seen you work.

This guide takes about 30 minutes. Your skills list is one small part of the full job search process, but it is one of the few parts of your profile that recruiters can search and filter directly.

What does the LinkedIn skills section actually do?

The LinkedIn skills section is a list of short terms, each one a keyword that a search or a human reader can match to a job. Recruiters use skills to find candidates, and readers glance at yours to see what you do. LinkedIn's Help Center says you can add up to 100 skills, but a long list is not the goal.

A focused list tells a recruiter you fit the role. A scattered one looks like guesswork. Think of it as the proof layer for the rest of your profile: your headline and About section say who you are, and your skills confirm it.

What do you need before you start?

You do not need special tools. Gather these first:

• One target role: the job title you want next. If you are aiming at two, run this process twice.
• Three to five current job ads for that title, in the country where you want to work.
• A notes file or spreadsheet to tally what you find.
• Your LinkedIn profile open in a browser or the app.

Expected result: a list of 15 to 30 skills, a top three, and a short list of people to ask for endorsements. The 15 to 30 range is a practical target, not a LinkedIn rule.

How do you choose what skills to put on LinkedIn?

Step 1: Collect the skills that job ads ask for

Open your postings. Copy every tool, method and skill phrase from the requirements and responsibilities sections, using the ad's own wording. Wording varies by country: a US posting may say accounts payable where a UK one says purchase ledger, and a UK person specification covers what a US requirements list does.

If you have a stack of ads, an AI assistant can tally the repeated terms. These Claude prompts for LinkedIn are a starting point, but check any counts against the ads yourself.

Step 2: Sort each skill by what you can prove

Count how many ads mention each skill, then place it in one of three buckets.

Say you want to move into project coordination, and four of your five ads mention Stakeholder Management, three mention Jira, and one mentions Six Sigma. The first two go in the core bucket if you have used them. Six Sigma is a skip unless you have trained in it.

Use one test: could you describe the last time you used this skill, for two minutes, without bluffing? If not, it is not ready for your profile.

Step 3: Add skills using the names recruiters search

Type each skill into LinkedIn and pick the suggestion that matches the ad's wording, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rather than your own phrase. Standard names are more likely to match what recruiters type. If a skill is missing from the suggestions, try a plainer version of the ad's phrase.

1. Open your profile and choose Add profile section.
2. Open Core and choose Add skills. If you already have a Skills section, use the plus icon inside it.
3. Type a skill, select a suggestion, and repeat for each skill on your list.
4. Save your changes.

Menu labels shift between the desktop site and the app, so follow what you see on screen.

Which skills fit your field? Short examples

The best skills to add on LinkedIn change by field. These examples show how the top-three logic works in six of them. Treat them as illustrations: your own job ads always beat any list, including this one.

Changing fields or starting out? Lead with transferable skills that appear in your target ads, such as Data Analysis or Customer Service, and add one skill you are actively building. Be ready to say how you are building it.

How do you order and pin your skills?

Order is a signal. LinkedIn shows only the first few skills on your profile until a reader opens the full list, so the top of your list does the heavy lifting. Depending on your version, you may also see an option to pin top skills.

1. Click the Me icon at the top of LinkedIn, then View profile.
2. Scroll to the Skills section and click the Edit icon.
3. Click the More icon, then choose Reorder.
4. Drag each skill into place using the handle beside it, then save.

In the app, the path is similar: tap your profile photo, open Skills, then use Edit and Reorder.

Use these rules to decide the order:

• Top three: the skills named in most of your target ads, which should also match the role in your headline.
• Next ten: tools, methods and domain terms from your core bucket.
• Everything else: stretch skills, then a few soft skills such as Communication, kept short.
• Reorder whenever your target role changes, not just when you change jobs.

Do not lead with the skill that has the most endorsements unless it is also the one you want to be hired for. If you need help making the top three match your headline, see these headline examples for job seekers.

How do you get LinkedIn skill endorsements without awkward asks?

An endorsement is a one-click vote from a connection that says this person really has this skill. It is lighter than a written recommendation, but it puts visible proof next to the skill. LinkedIn's Help Center explains how skill endorsements work.

Ask for a few endorsements, from people who saw you work

Ask one person for one to three specific skills. Choose someone who watched you use them, and never send the same message to your whole network. Giving first helps: endorse a colleague's real strengths, and they may return the favor on their own.

Here is a message you can adapt:

Hi Maya, I'm updating my LinkedIn skills as I move toward project coordination. You saw me run the vendor onboarding project, so if you're comfortable, could you endorse me for Project Planning and Stakeholder Management? Happy to return the favor.

Keep it short, name the exact skills, and make saying no easy. A quick reminder after two weeks is fine; a third nudge is not.

Timing helps. The easiest moment to ask is right after you finish a project or get thanked for your work, while the memory is fresh.

Who should you ask?

Back every core skill with proof

Skills with no evidence are easy to doubt. Tag each core skill to the role where you used it, when the option appears, and name it in a bullet that shows the result. For layouts and wording, see these Experience section examples by role.

Mention your top two or three skills in plain language in your About section too. These About section examples show how to do it without sounding like a keyword list.

You also control what shows. LinkedIn lets you choose which endorsements to show, so you can hide ones that do not fit the career you are aiming for.

What mistakes should you avoid with LinkedIn skills?

Most skills sections go wrong in the same few ways.

Before you apply to a specific job, compare your resume with the posting using the free AI resume checker. If it flags a skill you truly have, add it to your LinkedIn list too.