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The Worst LinkedIn Headline: 'In Transition'

This article is more than 7 years old.

Whatever you want to say about yourself in your LinkedIn headline, don't use the words "In transition" to describe yourself. All of us are in transition at every moment. That isn't your brand!

If you say that you are "in transition," you're saying that you won't have a real identity -- an identity apart from the murky "in transition" - until you get a new job. However, your job does not define you as a person! If you are a marketing person, then you are a marketer whether you're working right now or not.

You can get a consulting business card and start taking on consulting projects right now. You can update your "In transition" headline to read "Consultant." You are a consultant now. You can do whatever kind of consulting suits your abilities and interests.

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You are not in purgatory just because you are job-hunting or changing careers. Every working person with an awareness of the new-millennium talent market and the shiftiness of individual jobs has at least one eye on the job market. You'd be crazy not to!

You are not less worthy just because you are between jobs. You are every bit as qualified and amazing as you have ever been. You don't have to hide your flame behind the pale brand "In transition."

You don't have to wait for an employer to notice you and yank you out of the cold  into its warm embrace. You are fine at this moment. You are mighty, because of the challenges you've already faced and surmounted.

You carry your talents with you wherever you go. You are not in suspension --- once you start working again you won't  be as awake and alive as you are right now!

Describing yourself as "In transition" is the human equivalent of the text from the postal service that says your package has shipped and is on its way to you. Whatever is in the package won't do you any good until it's in your hands.

Until then, it's not tangible. You are different. You are as tangible as can be. You are a powerful mix of potential and wisdom. Tell us about it in your LinkedIn headline!

Use your LinkedIn headline to tell us what you care about and what you're interested in. You could use "CFO and Consultant" if you're a job-hunting CFO as well as someone who's available for consulting projects. You could use the headline "Exploring Marketing Opportunities" if you think you'll be a marketer in your next job. You can tell us what you've done already or want you want to do next in your LinkedIn headline.

"In transition" makes you sound like you're off the grid, living in a hermit's hut and unavailable. Worse, we don't know how to help you when all we know about you is that you're in transition. For that reason "in transition" is the ultimate off-putting LinkedIn headline.

You can be human in your LinkedIn headline. You can say that you're changing careers, because we all change careers at some point. You can use your LinkedIn Summary to tell your story. Just don't make your brand "In transition," because you have much more heft and power than that wan little headline can carry.

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