How to Add Experience on LinkedIn (Add, Edit or Delete a Position)

It's a two-minute job, but there are a few settings in that window that decide who hears about it. If you're quietly updating your profile while job hunting, those are the bits to get right.

Here are the steps for desktop and mobile, how to edit or delete a role, and LinkedIn's own rules on what belongs in the Experience section.

Adding a position on a computer

1. Click the Me icon at the top of LinkedIn and open your profile.
2. Click Add profile section in your intro section.
3. Open the Core dropdown and select Add position.
4. Fill in the Add experience window.
5. Click Save.
6. Repeat for any other roles you want to add.

Adding a position in the app

1. Tap your profile picture and open your profile.
2. Tap Add section.
3. Under Core, tap Add position.
4. Fill in the Add experience window.
5. Tap Save.

Editing or deleting a role

What you want	Desktop	Mobile
Add another role	Experience section, Show all experiences, Add icon	Experience section, Add icon
Edit a role	Show all experiences, Edit icon on that role	Tap the Edit icon (twice) on that role
Delete a role	Edit icon, then Delete experience	Edit icon, then Delete experience

Who gets told when you add a job

This is the part that matters if you're being discreet. LinkedIn says that if you've switched on the Notify network option, your network may be told about changes you make. If you don't want an announcement going out, check that option before you click Save.

There's also an Update my headline option. If you select it, your current experience can show in your intro section and you can edit your headline at the same time. Leave it unticked if you'd rather keep your existing headline.

If you're updating your profile because you're job hunting, you might also want to add Open to Work on LinkedIn, which has its own visibility choices.

What counts as experience

LinkedIn is fairly specific about this. The Experience section is for jobs, internships, contract work and similar positions. Any company you link to should reflect a professional connection, such as:

• Employment.
• Contract work.
• An official internship.
• A volunteer role.
• Board service.

Informal links don't belong there. LinkedIn's example is being a customer of a company's products. If you're a big fan of a brand, that's not experience at that company.

Adding skills to each role

When you add or edit a position, you can attach skills to it, and those skills then appear in your Skills section too. Do this. It shows recruiters where you used each skill, which LinkedIn says hirers value more than a bare list. My guide to adding skills on LinkedIn covers the Skills section itself.

Have these ready before you start

The Add experience window is quicker if you've got the details to hand. I'd gather:

• The job title as it appeared on your contract or offer.
• The company name, so you can pick the right LinkedIn Page when it appears.
• Your start date, and end date if you've left.
• Two or three lines on what you did and what changed because of it.
• The skills you used most, so you can attach them to the role.

Writing the description in a separate document first also helps. You can check it for typos, trim it down and paste it in, rather than drafting inside a small box on your phone.

Things that catch people out

• If you've got a profile in another language, changes to your Experience section don't copy across. You have to update the second profile yourself.
• If you haven't added any positions, the Experience section doesn't appear on your profile at all.
• Volunteer roles can go in Experience, but LinkedIn also has a separate volunteer section if you'd rather keep them apart.
• A promotion at the same company is a slightly different job. Here's how to add a promotion on LinkedIn.

Updating quietly while you job hunt

If you don't want your current employer to notice a flurry of profile changes, make them in one sitting with Notify network switched off, and leave the headline box unticked until you're ready. Then nothing goes out to your network, and your profile simply looks up to date when a recruiter lands on it.

Writing the entry so it works for you

The form is easy. The content is where most profiles fall flat. Recruiters skim, so the first line of each role does most of the work, and a wall of duties rarely gets read. A few habits that help:

1. Use the job title people would search for, not an internal title nobody outside your company understands.
2. Open the description with what you were responsible for, in one sentence.
3. Add two or three results or projects, in plain words.
4. Attach the skills you used most in that role.
5. Keep older roles shorter than recent ones.

My advice

Before you click Save, check the Notify network option and the headline tick box, because they decide whether your update is quiet or public. Attach skills to every role, keep the titles searchable, and if you've got a second-language profile, update that one too. It's a small job that makes the rest of your profile far more believable.

This guide is part of my LinkedIn Help: 28 Guides to Profile Views, Impressions, Algorithm and Account Fixes.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add a job to my LinkedIn profile?

Go to your profile, select Add profile section or Add section, choose Add position under Core, fill in the Add experience window and save.

How do I edit experience on LinkedIn?

On desktop, scroll to Experience, select Show all experiences and click the Edit icon on the role. On mobile, tap the Edit icon on the role.

How do I delete a job from LinkedIn?

Open the Edit icon on the position in your Experience section and choose Delete experience.

Will my network be notified when I add a job on LinkedIn?

If you enabled the Notify network option, your network may be notified of the change, so check it before saving.

Why isn't my Experience section showing on LinkedIn?

If you haven't added any positions, the Experience section doesn't appear on your profile.