For a long time, I hated LinkedIn. Not in a mild “this isn’t for me” way, but in a visceral, full-body ick way. That was before I appreciated why LinkedIn matters to me as an Executive Assistant…
Laura Taylor, an award-winning LinkedIn strategist and founder of Social Flow Collective, and a former Executive Assistant, shares her story of utilising LinkedIn to build her business career. She now helps women build visibility and recognition on LinkedIn through digital reputation strategy, executive ghostwriting, and organisational training.
“As an EA, I was never asked to touch my boss’s LinkedIn profile. That was their propertyโoff-limits. But more than that, the entire platform felt performative with people announcing promotions with exaggerated delight, thinly disguised bragging, and earnest posts that made me cringe.
I became a lurker. I watched conversations happen without joining them. I saw opportunities circulate without reaching for them. My public contribution was limited to the occasional “Congratulations” when a connection gained a promotion that I triple-checked for spelling errors, just in case.
What I felt wasn’t just irritation or eye rolling. It was fear.
Who did I think I was to share an opinion? What if people disagreed? What if nobody noticed? What if my boss thought I was looking for a new job? And underneath all of that was an older message many women recognise well: be seen, but not heard.
Then COVID-19 hit, and I lost my job.
Suddenly, with no office to go to and no executive to support, I had to ask myself: who am I without that role? What do I actually bring to the table? And how do I let anyone know I exist?
That’s when I reluctantly opened LinkedIn properlyโnot to manage anyone else’s profile, but to figure out my own story.
What happened next changed everything.
The shift nobody tells you about
I made a decision that LinkedIn was going to work for me. So I started sharing small updates about my new business, my experience,ย my story along with the skills I’d developed over years of supporting senior leaders. I wasn’t trying to become an influencer or build a personal brand. I just needed to be visible to get potential clients to notice me.
There was so much cringe and fear around publishing that first post. And do you know what, Iโd got my knickers in such a twist over nothing.
The post was like tumbleweed, with a couple of pity likes, some polite encouragement. A lot of silence.
It wasn’t the instant validation the internet promises, and that turned out to be important.
Because LinkedIn, like most visible spaces, isn’t a slot machine. You don’t pull the lever once and get rewarded. You build familiarity. You earn trust. You learn by doing, and by publicly getting things wrong.
So I kept going. Not perfectly. Not gracefully. But consistently.
Within weeks, I was hearing from my audience that they were resonating with what I was sharing. Profile views went through the roof and I started to attract opportunities. I became fully booked with my brand new social media manager business within 5 months – without a website, and just by using LinkedIn.
But more importantly, I started seeing myself differently.
Why LinkedIn matters to assistants: you are not defined by the exec you support
For the first time in my career, I wasn’t defined solely by the executive I supported. I had my own voice, my own expertise, and my own professional identity that existed independently of anyone else.
Over time, the thing I thought I hated (the platform) revealed something else entirely. LinkedIn wasn’t the problem. My relationship with being visible was.
Once I stopped treating it like a performance and started treating it like a conversation, things changed. Not overnight. But meaningfully.
That personal exploration didn’t just help me find my clients. It completely transformed my career trajectory as I pivoted into sharing what I was learning about being visible on LinkedIn.
Today, I’m an award-winning LinkedIn strategist specialising in helping women build visibility and recognition on the platform. I also ghostwrite for senior leaders, which has given me unique insight into how executive visibility is evolving and how professional presence accelerates careers.
But here’s what I want every PA and EA to understand: you don’t need to become a LinkedIn strategist or a content creator to benefit from this platform. You just need to show up as yourself.
Why LinkedIn matters for your career (even if nobody’s asking you to use it)
The fear most people feel about LinkedIn isn’t really about the platform. It’s about what happens when you let yourself be seen in a professional contextโand the old rules that suddenly start screaming again.
Don’t show off. Don’t take up too much space. Don’t make it about you.
Except: if your work matters, someone has to make it visible. And most of the time, that someone is you.
And just to be clear: if managing your executive’s LinkedIn isn’t part of your job description, that’s completely fine. This isn’t about taking on more work for someone else. This is about investing in yourself.
Also, your current role does not define your career.ย Whether you’re planning to stay in the assistant or office support profession for decades, pivot into a new field, or step into leadership yourself, you need professional visibility that exists beyond the person you support.
LinkedIn gives you that. It’s where:
- Recruiters search for candidates โ If your profile is sparse or outdated, you’re invisible to opportunities, even great ones you’d be perfect for.
- Your professional story lives โ Years of experience, complex projects, strategic thinking, crisis managementโall the work you do that nobody sees gets to be documented and celebrated.
- Your network expands beyond one company โ When you move roles (and you will), your LinkedIn connections move with you. Your boss’s network doesn’t.
- You control the narrative โ Instead of being “Jane Smith’s assistant,” you become “EA specialising in executive operations and strategic project management.”
And perhaps most importantly, LinkedIn is where you start building the confidence and credibility that opens doors you didn’t even know existed.
Practical steps to get started (without overthinking it)
If LinkedIn still feels daunting or “not for you,” I understand totally. That was me 6 years ago. But I also know that the assistants who start showing up on this platform (even quietly) are the ones who create unexpected opportunities for themselves.
Here’s how to begin:
1. Start with your profile basics
LinkedIn is your digital footprint and it works like a mini personal website for you 24/7.
โก๏ธ Upload a current profile photo (400 x 400px) โ I’ve been to events where I didn’t recognise someone because their photo was years out of date.
โก๏ธ Create a custom banner (1584 x 396px) using Canva instead of leaving it blank. This is valuable personal brand real estate โ use it to show your title, company name, or what you’re passionate about.
2. Make your headline work harder
Your headline follows you everywhere on LinkedIn and is one of the first things people see. Make sure it does you justice. The first 40 characters are the most important, but use all 220 characters โ they’re searchable and help you be found. Spell out what you do clearly:
Executive Assistant | C-Suite Support | Operations Specialist | Mental Health Advocate
Use fence | posts | to separate your skills and add causes you support or things you’re passionate about.
3. Write your About section in first person
Make it forward-focused rather than labouring over past experience (that’s what your job history is for). Talk about your achievements and what you’re hoping to achieve from being on LinkedIn โ whether that’s connecting with other assistants, sharing your expertise, or exploring new career opportunities.
End with a clear call to action: do you want people to email you, send a direct message, or visit a website or blog?
4. Maximise your skills and get recommendations
You can list up to 100 skills on LinkedIn and add them to each experience โ make sure you maximise these. If you’re job hunting, having relevant skills listed helps you hit that 10/10 candidate checklist with recruiters.
Ask for recent recommendations strategically from people who can speak to your capabilities. And give some love back โ write recommendations for people in your network. It’s lovely to receive feedback when you haven’t asked for it.
5. Use the Featured section strategically
Add posts, articles, or media that demonstrate your expertise to your Featured bar. This could be any industry events you’ve attended, or thoughtful posts you’ve written. When someone visits your profile, they’ll immediately see evidence of your professional contributions.
6. Start engaging before creating
You don’t need to post your own content right away. Begin by commenting thoughtfully on posts from other assistants or people in your industry. Share articles that resonate with you. Congratulate connections on new roles. Engagement builds visibility without the pressure of content creation.
And when you’re ready to share your own perspective, start small. What did you learn this week? What challenge did you solve? Your lived experience as an assistant is valuable, and there are thousands of others who need to hear it.
The permission you’re waiting for
Here’s what I wish someone had told me years ago: you don’t need permission to invest in your own professional visibility. You don’t need to wait until LinkedIn is “part of your job” to build a presence that serves your career.
Your executive’s success doesn’t diminish when you have your own. Your value as an assistant doesn’t decrease when you’re recognised as a professional in your own right. And your career doesn’t have to be defined entirely by the person you support.
The fear and loathing many assistants feel towards LinkedIn is worth examining. Because it’s rarely about the feed. It’s about visibility. Power. Permission.
And what happens when you finally decide to stop staying quiet.
The platform I used to hate led to 11,000+ followers, international clients, Forbes and Stylist features, and a business I built entirely through showing up consistently. Not because I became louder, but because I became clearer about what I do and who I help.
The question isn’t whether LinkedIn is “part of your job.”
The question is: what opportunities are you missing by staying invisible?
About the Author:
Laura Taylor is an award-winning LinkedIn strategist and founder of Social Flow Collective. A former Executive Assistant, she now helps women build visibility and recognition on LinkedIn through digital reputation strategy, executive ghostwriting, and organisational training. Laura has been featured in Forbes and Stylist.
Connect with Laura and learn more at Social Flow Collective.
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