7 ways your LinkedIn profile screams you're faking success

I spend an unhealthy amount of time on LinkedIn—part curiosity, part research, part “why is everyone suddenly a visionary?”

When a profile is more theater than truth, it shows.

The funny part? Most people don’t mean to fake it. They’re copying what they think “professional” looks like and end up signaling the exact opposite.

Here are seven dead giveaways your profile is trying too hard—and how to fix each one in five minutes.

1. Your headline tries too hard

If your headline reads like a motivational poster (“Disrupting paradigms | Visionary CEO | Building the future”), you’re not impressing anyone who actually hires.

You’re broadcasting that you’re chasing status, not solving a problem.

Headlines should be specific, human, and useful.

Try this quick template: I help [audience] get [outcome] by [method].

Examples:

• “I help CPG brands cut packaging waste 20% with lifecycle audits.”

• “I help seed-stage founders ship their first data pipeline—without a data team.”

I once A/B tested a fluffy headline against “I help editors publish psychology stories readers finish.” The practical one won by a mile in replies.

Surprise: clarity converts.

Fix it: Replace job-title salad with who you help and how. Add one proof point if you’ve got it (a metric, a recognizable client, a credential).

2. Your summary dodges specifics

If your “About” section is a word cloud of “results-driven, passionate, strategic, innovative,” you’re hiding.

Buzzwords are the camouflage people wear when they don’t have receipts.

A better move is to show, not tell. Use the X → Y by Z formula:

• X (the before): “Marketing CAC ballooned 35%.”

• Y (the after): “Reduced CAC 18% in two quarters.”

• Z (how): “Shifted budget to creative testing and fixed attribution.”

Even LinkedIn’s own data suggests jargon confuses more than it clarifies. Their State of Workplace Jargon report found overuse of jargon leads to misunderstandings and drags productivity.

Link that to your profile and you’ve got a strong case for simple language.

Fix it: Pick three mini-stories. In 2–3 lines each, write the problem, the result, and how you did it. Delete anything you can’t back up with work samples or references.

3. Your awards are pay-to-play

If your Featured section is a trophy wall of “Top 10 Coaches to Watch” and “Best of Something” with no recognizable editorial brand behind it, it reads like you bought your own plaque.

A lot of those lists are backlink farms dressed in confetti.

Awards aren’t bad; contextless awards are. A single community-chosen recognition with a short why-it-matters beats five vague badges.

Fix it: If the badge didn’t require peer review, measurable criteria, or a real selection process, demote it. Feature outcomes and artifacts instead: a published case study, a public talk with slides, a GitHub repo, a product demo, a press mention.

4. Your skills feel like spam

Fifty skills with 99+ endorsements from cousins, college roommates, and people who’ve never worked with you screams “please clap.”

Recruiters can tell when endorsements are random.

You don’t need 50; you need 10 laser-focused skills that match the roles you want. Then you need three specific endorsements that tell a story: “Priya rebuilt our onboarding and cut time-to-first-value from 14 days to 6.”

Fix it: Prune your skills to the 8–12 that show your lane. Ask three colleagues to endorse you for a specific project—give them a prompt like, “Could you mention the launch metrics and my role in the data migration?”

5. Your posts chase applause

If every post is a selfie next to a rented Lamborghini (or the professional equivalent: a stage shot with “humbled” in the caption), it’s a highlight reel with no value.

Pros don’t want to watch you winning. They want to learn how you win.

As Steve Martin put it, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” That’s the game. The applause is a side effect, not the strategy. Source

Fix it: Make one out of every three posts a useful artifact—a teardown of your own process, a one-page checklist, a short Loom showing a workflow, a script you used to cold email. I’ve mentioned this before but the fastest way to build credibility is to publish something someone else can use today.

6. Your timeline hides the truth

Long gaps covered with “Stealth” or shapeshifting titles every three months look like you’re dodging questions. People don’t punish honest narratives; they punish obvious spin.

“Authenticity is a collection of choices,” writes researcher Brené Brown. Translation for LinkedIn: choose to show up honestly, even when imperfect. Source

If you took time off to care for family, say so. If a startup folded, say what you learned. If you switched fields, explain the thread that connects the old to the new.

Fix it: Add one line of context to each transition: “Sabbatical to care for a parent—completed two data engineering certificates.” “Startup closed post-Seed—open-sourced our data quality tool.” Honesty shrinks skepticism.

7. Your recommendations are generic

“Great leader. Team player. Pleasure to work with.” This sounds nice and says nothing. If all your recommendations sound templated, it looks like you swapped them in a group chat.

You want scene-level detail. “Rosa pulled our churn cohort and found we were losing users at day 3. She rewrote onboarding copy and recorded a 2-minute tutorial; activation jumped from 28% to 41% in two weeks.”

Fix it: Give first, specifically. When you ask, seed details: “Would you be open to referencing the Q2 launch and the 18% CAC reduction?” People appreciate a prompt. Future readers appreciate the receipts.

How to rehab your profile this weekend (quick checklist)

• Rewrite your headline using the audience → outcome → method pattern.

• Pick three X → Y by Z mini-stories for your About.

• Feature artifacts (case study, slides, demo) over badges.

• Prune skills to 8–12 and get three specific endorsements.

• Post one useful artifact for every two updates.

• Add honest context to gaps or pivots.

• Request two scene-level recommendations.

A note on buzzwords, trends, and taste

I’m a California-based writer who got into this work through music blogging and the psychology of everyday decisions. That mix has taught me one thing about signals: they age fast.

What looked impressive in 2018 looks try-hard in 2025.

If you want a sanity check, read your profile out loud to someone outside your industry. If they can’t tell who you help and how, you’re still hiding behind noise.

Also, skim LinkedIn’s own research on jargon—overuse muddies communication and creates inequity for folks who didn’t grow up speaking the lingo.

That’s the opposite of what you want a profile to do.

The bottom line

Your profile should feel like a good handshake: firm, warm, and brief.

Ditch the theater. Show your work. Let the numbers and artifacts carry the weight.

When you do, you’ll stop signaling “I’m faking it” and start signaling “I’m ready.”