Have you finished your studies and earned your Ph.D.? So do you want to know how to add a Ph.D. to your name on LinkedIn? Should you add a Ph.D. to your name at all? Read the rest of this text to get the answer.
Higher education has been our modern world’s normal for some decades. There are not as many people who never went to college or universities as there were about 50 years ago. Many people have bachelor’s, master’s, or other degrees around you, and many earn their degrees every semester in different fields.
Maybe that’s why it’s been harder to find a decent job with a high school diploma. Of course, there is nothing wrong with choosing not to go to college or anything; all we are saying is that there are a lot of more educated people on the market right now.
To add a PhD to your name on LinkedIn, go to your profile and click on the "Edit" button. In the "Name" field, add "PhD" after your last name. Then, click "Save" to update your profile.

At the same time, there are people with Ph.D. degrees. I mean PhDs are not as many people with other degrees but still a lot more than they were before.
But why do people choose to include Ph.D. in their LinkedIn name? We don’t see other people do such a thing, do we? I have a master’s degree and never even considered including it in my name.
Well, because being a Ph.D. is an honor. High education is challenging, but a Ph.D. degree is quite an achievement.
People not only share that they have a Ph.D. in their posts, but they also add it to their education and to their names.
How to add a Ph.D. to your name on LinkedIn? There are some ways to do it.
You can add it to the education section, and thankfully LinkedIn allows you to add any suffixes to your name.
- Log into your account
- Choose “View Profile” from the “Me” dropdown menu in your account’s top right corner.
- Click the pencil icon under your cover photo.
- Add Ph.D. to your last name box
- Click Save.

Adding Ph.D. to your LinkedIn name pros and cons
That is the way you have to add a Ph.D. suffix to your name, but the experts still can’t agree upon whether you should add it to your LinkedIn name or not, and each group has its own reasons to do so or not to do it.
Pros
Future leaders
A lot of PhDs have experienced it. They had to do crap, low-paid jobs just to pay the bills and their student loans. But after a while, they get employed for a decent leadership position. Industries know that PhDs can make perfect leaders.
The respect
Now, there is no argument on this one; it is like an ancient gene in humans. Most of us respect people with PhDs unintentionally, just like the way people used to respect Aristotle, Confucius, Democritus, and many others. Not like they had a Ph.D. or something; it’s about the knowledge and thoughts.
Cons
Over-qualification
Well, it is a wholly known saying, and you might have already heard it in some interviews you had: “you are overqualified for the available post for you’re a Ph.D.”
So you have two ways. You can either choose to remove the suffix from your name to attract more recruiters (in every field with every job they are looking for candidates for) or just leave it there and wait for the one who is looking for someone with a Ph.D. to lead their company.
It is perfect that you’ve earned a Ph.D. and you can find some very decent jobs now, whether in industries or the education system. You just needed to know how to add a Ph.D. to your name on LinkedIn, and now you do. So, go on and enjoy your knowledge.