LinkedIn and Recruiting Glossary

Headline

The line right under your name on LinkedIn, limited to 220 characters. It’s the most-read field on the profile and the one that weighs most in keyword searches, but most people leave just their current job title, wasting the space.

Example: Weak: "Marketing Manager." Strong: "B2B Marketing Manager · Growth & Paid Acquisition · +60% qualified leads in 1 year."

ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

Software used by companies to automatically screen résumés before a human reads them. Résumés with multi-column layouts, tables, or icons are often misread by ATS, even if they look visually appealing.

Example: A 2-column résumé with contact icons can make the ATS read your phone number as part of your job title, rejecting the candidate for "invalid data."

Resume downloaded (on LinkedIn)

A notice that appears in LinkedIn's application tracking (under "My applications" or notifications) when the recruiter behind a job posting opens and downloads the resume file you attached when applying, usually via Easy Apply. Unlike a "profile view," which only means someone opened your page, "downloaded" confirms the recruiter actually opened the file — a stronger signal of real interest in your application.

Example: If you get a "Your resume was downloaded" notification but never hear back for an interview, the issue is likely the resume's content, not whether it was seen — worth checking if your experience entries show results, not just activities (see the XYZ method below).

See the full guide on resume downloads

Open to Work

A LinkedIn badge that publicly signals (or only to recruiters, depending on the setting) that you are available for new opportunities.

Percentile

The relative position of your profile compared to other professionals in the same field. A percentile of 80 means your profile is better positioned than 80% of comparable profiles.

STAR Method

Situation, Task, Action, Result. A structure used to describe professional experience so the reader understands the context and the impact, not just the activity.

See the full guide with examples

XYZ Method

"Accomplished X, as measured by Y, by doing Z." A compact format for résumé bullet points, popularized by tech companies, that puts the result before the activity.

Example: "Increased customer retention by 9 percentage points by building a post-sale follow-up process."

Engagement rate

The ratio between interactions (likes, comments, shares) and the reach of a post. It’s the main indicator used to assess whether content is performing well on LinkedIn.

Authority Score

ProLeap’s indicator that summarizes, in a single rating, how much professional credibility a LinkedIn profile conveys at first glance.

See how the score is calculated

SSI (Social Selling Index)

LinkedIn’s own metric (0 to 100) that evaluates your presence for social selling purposes: establishing your professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships. Unlike the Authority Score, SSI is calculated by LinkedIn itself and visible at linkedin.com/sales/ssi.

"About" section

A free-text field (up to 2,600 characters) right below the banner, where you tell your story in first person. It’s one of the most neglected fields: many profiles leave it empty or copy the current job description into it.

"Featured" section

A profile area where you can pin posts, articles, external links, or documents (like a PDF portfolio). Underused, but high-impact for showing social proof or concrete work without relying on the "About" section.