You do not like LinkedIn. I get it. The humble-brag posts. The fake gurus. The "I am thrilled to announce" parade. Most veterans I talk to want nothing to do with it. So they skip it. Then they wonder why their job search stalls.

Here is what most people miss. You do not have to post. You do not have to network all day. You do not have to become a LinkedIn person. You just need a profile that does not look empty when someone checks. That takes about 20 minutes.

Before I went federal, I sold in the private sector. Tech sales lives on LinkedIn. Every rep I worked with treated it like a tool, not a hobby. They set it up once. They kept it clean. Then they got back to work. That is the bar you need to hit. Not influencer. Just findable.

This guide is the minimum setup. No fluff. No posting plan. Just the parts that matter so a recruiter who finds you does not bounce. If you want the full play on getting hired through the platform, read how veterans get hired on LinkedIn after this. This article stays in the shallow end on purpose.

Why Should You Bother If You Hate It?

You do not have to live on LinkedIn for it to help you. You just have to exist there. Recruiters and hiring managers look people up. When they get your resume, many of them search your name. They want to see a real person behind the paper.

An empty profile reads as a red flag. A half-built one reads as lazy. A clean, simple one reads as normal. That is all you are going for. Normal beats nothing every time.

Think about it from the other side of the desk. A recruiter has your resume and ten others. They want to cut the pile fast. They search a name. One person has no profile at all. Another has a clear photo and a plain job title. Who looks like the safer bet? The recruiter has not even talked to you yet, and the blank profile already lost a point.

The platform is also where a lot of jobs get posted and shared. The Department of Labor VETS office points veterans to online job search tools for a reason. People hire through their screens now. You can hate that and still use it.

What Does the 20-Minute Minimum Cover?

Set a timer if you want. Twenty minutes gets you the parts a recruiter actually checks. You can do this once and leave it alone for months. Here is the whole list.

That is it. Five parts. We will walk each one fast. None of them ask you to post a word.

Dominic Landed a Six-Figure Role
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"The most effective resource I used in my transition."
— Dominic, E-7, Marines

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How Do You Pick a Photo and Headline?

Start with the photo. People skip profiles with no face. You do not need a studio. A phone, a plain wall, and good light work fine. Wear what you would wear to the interview. Look at the camera. Done.

You can shoot it yourself in five minutes. If you want the full breakdown on phone versus pro, we cover it in the veteran LinkedIn headshot guide. For the minimum, your phone is enough.

Now the headline. This is the line under your name. By default LinkedIn fills it with your current title. That is a mistake for a veteran. "Hospital Corpsman, U.S. Navy" tells a recruiter nothing about the civilian job you want.

Write the headline as the role you are going after. Keep it plain. Use the words a civilian recruiter would type in a search.

Notice the good one still says veteran. You are not hiding your service. You are just leading with the job. The military part is the proof, not the headline.

If you want examples for your field, the veteran LinkedIn headline examples post has a stack of them. Pick one close to your target role and tweak it.

What Goes in the About Section?

Most veterans freeze here. They think the About section needs to be a speech. It does not. Three or four short sentences beat a blank box every time.

Here is the simple shape. Say what you do now or what you want to do. Say one or two things you are good at. Say what kind of role you are looking for. That is the whole section.

Skip the buzzwords. No "results-driven leader." No "dynamic team player." A recruiter reads those a hundred times a day. Plain words from a real person stand out more than polished filler.

If you want a fuller version once the minimum is done, the LinkedIn summary guide for veterans walks through longer examples. For 20 minutes, keep it to four sentences and move on.

How Do You Handle the Experience Section Fast?

You do not need to list every duty station. For the minimum, add your last job or two. Put the title at the top. Then two or three plain bullets under it.

The catch is the same as the headline. Write your military work in civilian terms. A recruiter searching for "logistics coordinator" will not find "92A." So put both. Lead with the civilian role and let the military detail back it up.

Keep the bullets simple. What did you run, fix, or lead? How many people or how much gear? Numbers help. "Managed a $2M parts inventory" lands harder than "responsible for supply."

Want it done line by line? The LinkedIn experience section guide converts military roles one bullet at a time. For now, two jobs and a few bullets clear the bar.

Should You Turn On Open to Work?

Yes, but use the quiet version. LinkedIn lets you tell recruiters you are open without slapping a green ring on your photo. LinkedIn hides the signal from recruiters at your own company, so in most cases your boss does not see it. LinkedIn does say it cannot guarantee that fully, but for most people it stays quiet.

This is the one setting that does real work while you do nothing. Recruiters filter for people who flag themselves as open. Turn it on and you show up in those searches. That is free reach for a job seeker.

Set your target location and the job titles you want in the same menu. Keep the titles plain, same as your headline. If you are still on the fence about the green banner, read should veterans turn on Open to Work for the full call.

Do You Have to Post or Network?

No. This is the part that scares people off, so let me be plain. The minimum setup does not ask you to post. It does not ask you to comment. It does not ask you to slide into anyone's messages.

A clean profile works on its own. Recruiters search. Your profile shows up. They reach out to you. You did not have to write a single post for that to happen.

If you ever want to do more, you can. Adding a few connections and following a couple of companies helps over time. But that is bonus, not the minimum. Plenty of veterans land jobs with a profile they set up once and barely touched.

Here is the one small move worth making if you have an extra minute. Connect with the people you already served with. Search a name or two, hit connect, done. You do not have to message them. A handful of real connections makes your profile look lived-in. That alone tells the system you are a real person, not a ghost account.

What Is the Fastest Way to Build the Profile?

You can type all this yourself. It works. But the slow part is the translation. Turning "92A" into the right civilian words is where most veterans stall and quit.

That is the part our tool handles. BMR's LinkedIn optimizer takes your background and writes the headline, About section, and experience in civilian terms. You copy it into LinkedIn. The translation work is done for you. It is free to use.

I built this because my own transition was a mess. I am a Navy veteran. When I left, I had no idea how to say what I did in words a recruiter wanted. A tool that does the translation would have saved me months. So we built one.

Use it for the 20-minute setup, then leave your profile alone. If a recruiter ever asks for your resume too, the same platform tailors that for a specific job. Both run off the same background, so you only enter it once.

What If You Still Do Not Want To?

Fair. Some people will never warm up to LinkedIn. You do not have to love it. But think about the trade. Twenty minutes once, versus a recruiter finding nothing when they look you up.

Veterans are not short on skills. The data backs that up. Bureau of Labor Statistics veteran employment data shows millions of veterans working across the civilian economy. The skills are there. The job is to get found. A blank profile makes that harder for no reason.

So treat it like a chore, not a lifestyle. Knock it out. Then go back to the parts of your search you actually like, like talking to people in person or applying direct. The profile sits there and works while you do other things.

The mistake I see most is the all-or-nothing trap. Veterans think they have to go full influencer or skip it entirely. So they skip it. But there is a huge gap between posting every day and having nothing at all. The minimum lives in that gap. It costs you almost nothing and it covers your back when someone checks.

One more thing. Set a reminder to glance at it once a month. Not to post. Just to clear any messages and check that your target role still fits. Thirty seconds. If a recruiter wrote you and you never saw it, that is a missed shot you will never know about. A quick check keeps that from happening.

If you only do one thing today, set up the photo, the headline, and Open to Work. That alone puts you ahead of most empty profiles. The rest can wait for tomorrow. Get it done and stop thinking about LinkedIn.