How to make good use of industry sectors on LinkedIn

Industry sectors on LinkedIn are an important variable that most users are barely aware of.
Let me explain the situation simply.
When you create your LinkedIn profile, the platform asks you which sector you work in today. You are given access to a long dropdown list of industry sectors identified on LinkedIn.

Download the complete list of LinkedIn industry sectors for free

This closed list was created by LinkedIn. You will sometimes struggle to identify which sector best matches your activity. Once you have chosen, you often forget which sector you registered under and are not really sure what it is actually used for.

On top of that, there is no place on LinkedIn that lists all these sectors in an easily accessible resource.

Three important points to help you see things more clearly:

1/ Find your industry sector and change it if necessary

To do this, go to your LinkedIn profile and follow the steps as described in the video below. Video player 00:00 00:49

2/ What LinkedIn industry sectors are used for: recruitment

LinkedIn industry sectors are used by recruiters to find candidates in a specific sector when they have a precise recruitment brief for a company.

Most often, headhunters and HR directors use a Premium version of LinkedIn called LinkedIn Recruiter.

For example: I am recruiting a Production Director in the Automotive Industry sector in Lyon.

The search engine returns 225 people holding this position in the automotive industry whom I can directly "hunt": Search for automotive production director in Lyon

3/ What LinkedIn industry sectors are used for: prospecting

You want to prospect in the local authorities sector. The best matching sector on LinkedIn is "Public and territorial authorities".

If I want to identify Chief Executives in the Paris region, I find 601 decision-makers matching my selection:

Search for local authority CEOs in Paris

You now understand the importance of choosing the right industry sector in order to be found by recruiters and clients, and you will be able to identify your commercial targets using LinkedIn's industry sectors.

To make things easier, we have compiled a PDF containing the complete list of LinkedIn industry sectors.