Want to make more connections, receive higher engagement and build out your professional brand? A range of HR practitioners share their best LinkedIn tips.

LinkedIn is more than a networking platform; it’s a stage for professionals to showcase their expertise, connect with like-minded individuals and build their professional brands. For HR practitioners, it’s a space to demonstrate thought leadership, share insight and align their online presence with their professional identity.

But where do you start, and how do you stand out without overwhelming your audience – or yourself?

Below, eight AHRI members and HR practitioners share their top strategies for making the most of LinkedIn, from crafting an authentic profile to mastering the art of consistent, value-driven engagement. Whether you’re a LinkedIn novice or a seasoned user, their advice will help you elevate your presence and turn connections into opportunities.

1. Consistency over frequency

Shane Hatton, culture and leadership expert

LinkedIn is a powerful positioning tool, and often the first point of contact for a person to learn more about you before engaging with you. Your LinkedIn profile should tell a story.

Patty McCord, the former chief people officer of Netflix, said: “If people aren’t informed by you, there’s a good chance they will be misinformed by somebody else.” LinkedIn is a chance for you to lead your own narrative. 

At the bare minimum, ensure your profile photo and ‘about’ section accurately reflect the story you want to project to the world. Decide how you would like to be known and then ensure the content you share reflects that story.

When it comes to posting, consistency matters more than frequency. If you post once a week, consistently post once a week so your audience will learn what to expect from you. Be a dripping tap, not a sporadic fire hose.

If you want to build engagement, engage more. Don’t post and ghost. Talk to people, not at people. Curate your feed with the people you want to engage with, constantly ask ‘what would add value for these people?’ and then speak directly to them through your content.

2. Find the right balance

Carl Roberts CPHR, HR Projects and Operations Lead, Collins Food Limited

The key to enhancing your LinkedIn presence is balance. Engage too much and you risk becoming viewed as a nuisance, which may result in you being muted. Don’t engage enough and you risk being forgotten.

My top tip would be to channel your engagements to relevant people and topics with a good mix of posts, comments and reactions within your chosen field(s) of interest. Even responding to polls will mean you are noticed and remain current and relevant. Be deliberate about your network too – focus on quality connections and not quantity.

3. Prioritise meaningful engagement

Gillian Kelly, Director and Head of Careers, Transition and Talent Marketing, Outplacement Australia

If you want to build your online brand but don’t have much time, I’d suggest focusing first on engagement.

Posting is great, but LinkedIn is built to generate conversation; the algorithm is designed for it. Everything changed when I shifted my focus from purely ‘posting’ to simply being in meaningful discussions. The more I showed up in a genuine and meaningful way on others’ posts, the more engagement I received on my own posts.

My learning: don’t overlook the power of the comments section. The comment section is where the magic happens. Whether you’re responding to comments on your own posts or sparking genuine discussions on others’ content, active participation is key.

 When commenting on others’ posts, go beyond the standard ‘great post’. Instead, aim to add a few lines that will move the conversation forward positively. When it comes to your own posts, the faster your post gains engagement, the better its visibility in the algorithm, so think about topics that you enjoy that will spark interest with your network and stick around for the following conversation after you’ve hit ‘upload’.

Finally, if you have a great conversation with someone on a post, consider following it with a connection request, and, of course, don’t forget to strengthen your networks by taking your online networks offline and your offline networks online. If you meet someone at an event, connect with them afterwards on LinkedIn. If you know someone purely on LinkedIn, offer to buy them a coffee and meet in person. When you know people in both worlds, it’s much easier to keep the connection. 

4. Join groups, maintain authenticity and share consistent topics

Desleigh White CPHR, HR Consultant and Coach, People Matter Coaching and HR

My focus has always been to try to offer value to my audience. I’m deeply uncomfortable being promotional or ‘sales-y’, so I post content that feels more authentic and values-aligned for me. For example, some of the things I will post are: what I’ve learned, things I am thinking about or working on and articles, podcasts and events that I’ve particularly enjoyed. I generally post each day and love the ‘schedule post’ feature to help me to upload in batches.

I also enjoy participating in LinkedIn groups such as the AHRI LinkedIn Lounge members’ group to connect with like-minded people in my field. When posting in these groups, context is key. I’ll suggest ideas for people seeking guidance or share a complimentary workshop I think might be of interest to that specific group.

On my own channel, I’ve also been experimenting with themes – Wildcard Wednesday, Thought for Thursday and Feel Good Friday. The Friday posts are a particularly nice way to end the week.

4. Promote your skill set

Hanan Gamali CAHRI, HR/OD/L&D Director, 3 Step HR

HR practitioners can use LinkedIn strategically to enhance their profiles by focusing on professional branding, networking and showcasing expertise. 

For starters, create a concise and impactful headline that highlights your HR expertise, such as ‘HR Business Partner | Talent Acquisition Expert | DEI Advocate.’

Next, consider adding a custom banner that reflects your professional identity or company branding and write a professional and engaging summary in the ‘About’ section which outlines your career journey, key HR skills (e.g. talent management, employee experience) and passions within the field.

In the experience section, detail your HR roles with measurable achievements (e.g., ‘Increased employee retention by 25 per cent through innovative engagement strategies’).

Make sure you feature your relevant HR credentials (CAHRI, CPHR, SHRM, etc.) and ask your colleagues, managers or clients to write recommendations to validate your expertise and impact (and do the same for them in return).

Finally, make sure you share valuable content for your audience. For example, share HR-related articles, trends and tips to establish thought leadership (e.g., ‘Top 5 Employee Retention Strategies for 2025’) and publish original content about HR topics such as recruitment strategies, company culture, or employee well-being.

HR practitioners who complete any of AHRI’s micro-credentials can include their digital badges on their LinkedIn profile to promote their new skill set to their professional network.

4. Find a comfortable blend of personal and professional

Jess Anderson FCPHR, Senior Consultant, Human Resource Solutions Australia

I have built my LinkedIn presence over the past 15 years. Originally, I used it for headhunting when working in recruitment roles, but LinkedIn has evolved a lot since then. Now I like to follow thought leaders and companies that I align with.

Personally, I don’t post all that frequently. When I do there’s usually a thoughtful connection between my personal and professional life. While LinkedIn is designed for professional networking, I like to remind people that we are a ‘whole person’. Recently, I posted about being involved in a rock band and how I leveraged skills I have developed in the workplace in that context, like teamwork and determination.

My recommendation to those just starting out is to accept requests, send requests and follow people and organisations of interest. You can build a huge professional network with determination and authenticity. 

7. Educate, entertain or inspire

John Farren MAHRI, Director, Farren McRae Workplace Lawyers and Consultants

I have been consistently active on LinkedIn for about six years, and approximately 60 per cent of my firm’s business comes directly or indirectly from my presence and content on LinkedIn.

With this in mind, my top tips are:

1. Offer value – 75 per cent + of your posts should be purely delivering value to your readers. To be of value, your posts should do one or more of the following: educate, entertain or inspire.
2. Be yourself – you don’t need to be a buttoned up, humourless droid on LinkedIn. While you should maintain a professional tone, it’s always good to show your personality.
3. Be reciprocal – If someone takes the time to comment on your posts, take the time to respond.
4. Be authentically curious – To increase engagement, pose a question at the end of your posts that begs an answer in the comments.

8. Post content for in align with your network’s niche

Aylin Mancini MAHRI, Principal HR Consultant, 360 HR Connect

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for HR practitioners to establish thought leadership and connect with their target audience. But it’s important that you’re not just being self-promotional; your content should add value to your reader in some way.

In my world as an HR consultant, value-driven content looks like posting education content like legislative updates, HR tips and commentary about  industry trends. For instance, I share Fair Work Commission case highlights, best practices and common compliance mistakes to inform my audience of small-to-medium business owners.

You can also grow your audience by using strategic hashtags that align with the topics that your audience will be searching for. For example, you might include 5-10 hashtags at the end of a legislative update post, such as: ‘#smallbusinesshr #fairworkcompliance #HR #employementlaw’ to expand your reach.

Join AHRI’s member-exclusive AHRI LinkedIn Lounge – with nearly 6000 members – to connect with your HR peers, share learnings and engage with useful content from AHRI.