The LinkedIn and job search glossary
60 terms defined the way this site does everything: what the thing actually is and does, minus the folklore. Each entry links its related terms and, where one exists, the free tool that works with it.
- 100% free
- Myth-free definitions
- No signup
About Section
Your profile's free-text summary, up to 2,600 characters, where you tell the full story of who you are and what you offer.
Full definitionAction Verb
The strong, specific verb that opens a resume bullet and stakes a claim, like led, built, or negotiated.
Full definitionAlumni Search
The Alumni tab on any school's LinkedIn page, filtering graduates by location, employer, and field.
Full definitionApplicant Tracking System (ATS)
Software employers use to collect, parse, store, and search job applications; humans, not the software, make the reject decisions.
Full definitionBanner Image
The 1584 by 396 graphic across the top of your profile, with key content kept right of the photo overlap.
Full definitionBehavioral Interview
An interview built on questions about what you actually did in past situations, probing real events and results.
Full definitionBoolean Search
A way to combine keywords with AND, OR, NOT, quotes, and parentheses so a search returns exactly what you mean.
Full definitionCareer Gap
A stretch without formal employment; common, survivable, and best handled with brief, honest framing rather than fudged dates.
Full definitionCarousel Post
A multi-page swipeable post, created on LinkedIn today by uploading a PDF as a document post.
Full definitionCold Outreach
Contacting someone with no prior relationship, where research, brevity, and one small ask separate signal from spam.
Full definitionCompany Page
An organization's official LinkedIn presence, run by admins and followed rather than connected with.
Full definitionConnection Request
The invitation that links two LinkedIn members as first-degree connections, optionally with a short personal note.
Full definitionContent Pillar
One of the few recurring themes you deliberately publish about, so strangers learn what to file you under.
Full definitionCounteroffer
Your current employer's offer to keep you after you resign, which fixes pay but rarely the reasons you looked.
Full definitionCover Letter
A one-page letter connecting your specific evidence to a specific role, doing the arguing a resume cannot.
Full definitionCreator Mode
A retired LinkedIn profile setting for content creators; its follow and tool features are now part of every profile.
Full definitionCustom URL (Public Profile URL)
The personalized linkedin.com/in/ address you claim to replace the random string LinkedIn assigns to your public profile.
Full definitionDuty Statement
A resume bullet that lists a responsibility without any result, reading like the job description rather than a performance.
Full definitionEndorsement
A one-click vote a connection gives one of your listed skills, lighter-weight social proof than a written recommendation.
Full definitionEngagement Rate
Interactions on a post divided by how many times it was shown, used to compare content quality over time.
Full definitionExit Interview
The conversation HR runs when you leave, gathering feedback for the company rather than changing anything for you.
Full definitionFeatured Section
A pinned showcase near the top of your profile for posts, links, and documents you want every visitor to see.
Full definitionHashtag
A clickable topic tag that categorizes a post and lets members follow the subject.
Full definitionHiring Manager
The person the open role reports to, who owns the problem, the headcount, and usually the final decision.
Full definitionHook
The opening line of a post, whose only job is earning the tap on see more before the fold.
Full definitionImpressions
The number of times your content was served on screen, counting repeat views by the same person.
Full definitionInformational Interview
A short conversation requested to learn about someone's work and field, explicitly not to ask for a job.
Full definitionInMail
LinkedIn's paid message type that reaches members outside your network without a connection request.
Full definitionKeyword Matching
Using the job description's own vocabulary, truthfully, so recruiter searches and skims both register the fit.
Full definitionKeyword Stuffing
Cramming repeated or hidden search terms into a resume or profile, a tactic that reads as spam and backfires with human reviewers.
Full definitionLinkedIn Headline
The line under your name that follows you across LinkedIn search, comments, and invites, and doubles as key search text.
Full definitionLinkedIn Premium
LinkedIn's paid subscription tiers, adding features like InMail, profile view insights, and LinkedIn Learning.
Full definitionNotice Period
The time between resigning and your last day, set by contract or custom, and a standard early recruiter question.
Full definitionOpen to Work
A LinkedIn setting that tells recruiters only, or everyone, that you are open to new roles, with your preferred titles and locations.
Full definitionOutcome Bullet
A resume bullet built around what changed because of your work, with the result made concrete.
Full definitionPersonal Brand
The professional reputation that precedes you, built from consistent evidence across your profile and what you publish.
Full definitionPersonal Profile
An individual member's LinkedIn page, the human-owned counterpart to a company page and where most engagement happens.
Full definitionPosting Cadence
The rhythm you publish on; sustainable consistency beats bursts, and there is no universal magic frequency.
Full definitionProfile Photo
The headshot beside your name everywhere on LinkedIn, best kept recent, sharp, well-lit, and unmistakably human.
Full definitionReach
The number of unique people who saw your content at least once, as opposed to total impressions.
Full definitionRecommendation
A written reference a connection publishes on your profile, with their name and face attached to the praise.
Full definitionRecruiter Lite
The entry-level version of LinkedIn's hiring product, with recruiting filters, pipelines, and InMail for small-scale hiring.
Full definitionReferral
An employee vouching for you as a candidate, which typically earns your application an earlier human look.
Full definitionResignation Letter
The short written record of your resignation: intent, last day, thanks, and transition help, nothing else.
Full definitionResume Objective
An older-style opening line stating the job you want, now mostly replaced by the summary except for career changers and first jobs.
Full definitionResume Parsing
The software step that converts a resume file into structured fields like titles, employers, dates, and skills.
Full definitionResume Summary
A short opening paragraph stating who you are, your scope, and your strongest proof, tuned to the target role.
Full definitionSales Navigator
LinkedIn's paid prospecting product with advanced search filters, lead lists, alerts, and InMail.
Full definitionScreening
The first filtering stage of hiring, where recruiters and knockout questions reduce the applicant pool to interview candidates.
Full definitionSecond-Degree Connection
Someone connected to one of your connections but not to you, shown with a 2nd badge on LinkedIn.
Full definitionSee More Fold
The truncation point where LinkedIn hides the rest of a feed post behind a see more link.
Full definitionShortlisting
Narrowing screened candidates to the small group who will actually interview, judged against the role's must-haves.
Full definitionSituational Interview
An interview using hypothetical scenarios to test how you would reason through problems you have not met yet.
Full definitionSkills Section
The structured list of up to 50 skills recruiters can filter and search by, each endorsable and attachable to roles.
Full definitionSocial Selling Index (SSI)
LinkedIn's 0 to 100 score of how actively you build a brand, find people, engage with content, and grow relationships on the platform.
Full definitionSourcing
Proactively finding and contacting candidates who never applied, mostly through search tools like LinkedIn Recruiter.
Full definitionSTAR Method
A structure for behavioral answers: Situation, Task, Action, Result, keeping stories tight and landing on outcomes.
Full definitionTalent Acquisition
The employer function covering sourcing, recruiting, employer brand, and workforce planning, broader than filling today's vacancy.
Full definitionThought Leadership
Influence earned by publishing genuinely useful, specific perspective over time; a label others give you, not a title you claim.
Full definitionWarm Introduction
Being introduced through a mutual contact whose vouching transfers trust a cold message never carries.
Full definition