The LinkedIn Featured section sits directly below your About section, making it some of the most valuable screen real estate on your profile. Most early-career candidates either leave it blank or add a single link that goes nowhere useful. Used well, it becomes the first place a recruiter sees concrete evidence of what you can actually do.
What the Featured Section Can Hold
LinkedIn lets you pin four types of items:
- Posts or articles you have already published on LinkedIn
- External links (a Google Doc, a GitHub repo, a Notion page, a published article)
- Media files uploaded directly (PDFs, slide decks)
- LinkedIn newsletters if you run one
You do not need a personal portfolio website. A Google Doc set to public view or a PDF uploaded directly works just as well for most early-career roles.
Why Most People Get This Wrong
The two most common mistakes are adding too many items and choosing the wrong ones.
Adding five or six items crowds the panel and forces recruiters to scroll. Most will not. Two to three well-chosen pieces are more effective than a pile of loosely related work.
The second mistake is linking to things that require context to understand. A raw GitHub repo with no README, a Google Drive folder with no description, or a class assignment with a generic file name tells a recruiter nothing at first glance.
A Simple Framework for Choosing What to Feature
For each item you consider, ask two questions:
- Does this show a skill my target roles actually require?
- Can a recruiter understand what it is in under five seconds?
If the answer to either is no, either fix the item or leave it out.
What to Feature by Role Type
- Marketing or communications roles: a writing sample, a campaign brief, or a short case study as a PDF
- Software or data roles: a GitHub project with a clear README, or a one-page write-up of a personal project hosted as a Google Doc
- Business or operations roles: a process improvement memo, a slide deck summary of a class or internship project, or a short analysis write-up
- Design roles: a Figma link or a PDF of selected work with brief captions
If you do not have polished work samples yet, a well-written LinkedIn article covering something you learned in an internship or class is a legitimate substitute. It shows communication skill and initiative at the same time.
How to Write the Featured Item Title and Description
LinkedIn gives each featured item a title and a short description. Most people leave the description blank. That is a missed opportunity.
Use the description field (two to three sentences) to explain what the work is, what problem it solved or what skill it demonstrates, and what the outcome was. Treat it like a mini resume bullet.
Example for a data analysis project:
- Title: Customer Churn Analysis, Python and Tableau (Spring 2026)
- Description: Analyzed a 10,000-row retail dataset to identify churn drivers. Built a Tableau dashboard summarizing findings for a non-technical audience. Completed as part of a business analytics capstone course.
That description takes thirty seconds to read and tells a recruiter exactly what skill is on display.
One Practical Step for Today
Open your LinkedIn profile, scroll to the Featured section, and add one item. Pick the single piece of work you are most confident about, write a two-sentence description, and publish it. One strong item is better than a blank section or a cluttered one.