What to post on LinkedIn to get noticed
Six kinds of post that build a reputation, an example of each, and how to stay visible to recruiters and your network without becoming an influencer.
By Will Bryant · Updated October 12, 2026
Post things that show how you work: a lesson from a project, a result and how you got it, a clear view on a change in your field, or a short how-to colleagues keep asking you for. Write in your own voice, put the point in the first line, and post as often as the quality allows.
Why posting is worth the effort
Applying is crowded. In June 2025 The New York Times reported LinkedIn figures showing about 11,000 job applications a minute, up 45% on the year before, as Ars Technica relayed. When the front door is that busy, being someone a recruiter or a former colleague already knows counts for more, and posting is the cheapest way to stay known.
Your readers are your peers. In a Pew Research Center survey of US adults in 2023, 40% of those aged 30 to 49 said they use LinkedIn, more than the roughly three in ten aged 18 to 29 or 50 to 64.
Proof, not pleas
Two posts from the same person, both invented:
Example
‘I’ve been laid off and I’m looking for my next opportunity. Any leads appreciated.’
Example
‘A retailer I worked with was losing 30% of online carts at checkout. We changed three things in two weeks and recovered most of it. Here’s what they were.’
The first is a plea. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it asks the reader for something. The second is proof: it shows exactly what you’re good at, and it makes a recruiter or a former colleague think ‘I know who to call.’ Aim for proof.
Six kinds of post that work, with an example of each
Every example post on this page is invented for illustration.
- A lesson from your work. Something you learned, changed your mind about or would do differently.
Example: ‘Eight years of supplier audits taught me that the best early warning of a late shipment is a supplier who stops asking questions. Three signs I watch for now.’
- A result, and how you got it. The most hireable kind of post, because it shows your judgment at work.
Example: ‘We cut our month-end close from eight days to five without new software. Here are the three changes, in the order we made them.’
- A clear view on your field. Where you think things are heading, and why.
Example: ‘Every logistics conference this year has a session on AI forecasting. Nobody mentions the data cleanup it needs first, so here’s what that took us.’
- A how-to people keep asking you for. The thing colleagues ask you to explain, written down once.
Example: ‘The five questions I send a new client before our first meeting, and why each one is there.’
- What you’re learning. Useful for career changers and anyone returning to work.
Example: ‘Week six of learning SQL after 15 years in finance. What finally clicked: a join works like a reconciliation.’
- The occasional human note. A thank-you, a milestone or a small story, used sparingly.
Example: ‘Twenty years ago this week I started on the night shift at a distribution center. Two people there taught me most of what I know about running a team, and neither was a manager.’
Weak and strong, side by side
| Kind of post | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Job search | ‘Looking for my next opportunity. Any leads appreciated!’ | ‘After 12 years in supply chain I’m looking for an operations role. The problem I’m best at is keeping stock accurate when volume doubles, and here’s one example.’ |
| Lesson | ‘Leadership is all about people.’ | ‘The best manager I had asked one question every Friday: what slowed you down this week? I’ve asked it ever since.’ |
| Result | ‘Proud of the team for a great quarter!’ | ‘We cut new-hire onboarding from six weeks to three. Three changes made the difference.’ |
| View on your field | A shared article captioned ‘Interesting read.’ | The same article, plus two sentences on what it gets wrong for your corner of the field |
| How-to | ‘Some tips for better meetings’ | ‘The four questions I send before every project kickoff’ |
| First line | ‘I’ve been thinking a lot lately about...’ | The point itself, in the first line |
| Engagement | ‘Comment YES if you agree!’ | A real question you’d like answered |
| Human note | ‘Humbled and honored to announce...’ | A thank-you that names the person and what they taught you |
Put the point in the first line
LinkedIn shows only the start of a post before the ‘see more’ link. ContentIn, which makes LinkedIn writing tools, estimates that LinkedIn ‘typically shows only around 140 characters on mobile and roughly 210 on desktop before truncating’, and LinkedIn doesn’t publish a number. So the first line has to carry the point, the result or the question on its own, as every example above does. More patterns are in LinkedIn post hooks.
How often to post
Buffer, which sells social media scheduling software, analyzed over 2 million posts from 94,000+ LinkedIn accounts and found that ‘Each step up in frequency delivers better per-post results, even after controlling for account size and niche.’ Posting more often doesn’t cost you reach. For most people with a full-time job, two to three good posts a week is a rhythm you can keep, and comments fill the gaps, because, in Buffer’s words, ‘thoughtful, engaging comments now work like micro-posts, surfacing to people beyond your own network.’ There’s more in how often to post on LinkedIn.
Quiet posts aren’t failed posts
Likes undercount readers. Jakob Nielsen’s 90-9-1 rule, a 2006 rule of thumb for online communities in general rather than LinkedIn data, holds that ‘90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don’t contribute).’ Most people who read a post never react to it, so a post with four likes can still have been read by the hiring manager who never clicks anything.
What to leave out
- Anything confidential about an employer, a client or a colleague.
- Complaints about a former employer, however fair.
- Engagement bait, such as ‘Comment YES’ or ‘Agree?’
- A figure you can’t point to a source for.
- A draft you haven’t edited into your own voice, whoever or whatever wrote it.
From the founder
Next steps
- If writing is the hard part: Standout Daily writes two LinkedIn posts every weekday in your voice. You pick one, edit it if you want and post it yourself; it never posts for you.
- Fix the profile people click through to: the free LinkedIn Score rates your profile from 0 to 100 across headline, About, experience, skills and completeness, with no signup.
- More on posting: LinkedIn post ideas for job seekers, how often to post and personal branding on LinkedIn.
Two ready-to-post LinkedIn posts every weekday, written in your voice. 7-day free trial.
See Standout Daily →Common questions
You know more than you think. Write down the questions colleagues ask you most often, the mistake you'd warn a new hire about and the last problem you solved at work, and each one is a post. You're not trying to be original for the internet, only to show how you think about your work.
Only if you perform. A useful post or a real point of view, in your own voice, reads as competence. What looks like trying too hard is chasing engagement with dramatic stories, bait questions and hooks the post can't back up.
No. A post that shows what you're good at often does more than one saying you're looking, because it gives a recruiter or a former colleague a reason to think of you. If you do announce it, name the role you want and add one piece of proof. The guide to LinkedIn post ideas for job seekers has examples.
Spend a week commenting thoughtfully on other people's posts, which Buffer says can now reach people outside your own network, then publish one short post about something you know well. It doesn't need to be long or clever. Keep going at a pace you can hold, because consistency matters more than any single post.
As often as you can without the quality slipping. Buffer's analysis of over 2 million posts found that reach per post rose with each step up in frequency, so posting more doesn't get you penalized. For most people with a full-time job, two or three good posts a week is a rhythm that lasts.
Yes, if every post says something true about your work and sounds like you. Edit any draft until it's something you'd say to a colleague, check every figure, and never post a claim you can't stand behind.
More in the Standout guides library.