If LinkedIn had its way, there would be no such thing as a resume anymore. We may be heading in that direction, but we certainly aren’t there yet!
The reality is that you need both a well-constructed resume and an optimized LinkedIn profile for an effective current job search. They should share a certain amount of information and complement each other, but not be identical.
Your LinkedIn profile can draw recruiters and hiring authorities to you when you show up in their search results. It can be the pathway for them to reach out to you to request your resume. And, virtually every company of a certain size will require a resume from you for their applicant tracking system at some point in the hiring process.
[See: 10 Ways Social Media Can Help You Land a Job.]
Conversely, when you submit your resume to companies, you can assume that when it draws some interest, reviewers are also likely to search for you on LinkedIn for additional information.
Your LinkedIn profile and resume should both portray the arc of your career. A quick scan of both documents should easily reveal an identical backward chronology of your work history, job titles, dates of employment, skills and a personal branding statement. Both should also demonstrate your value whenever possible by including specific quantification of your achievements.
Stories vs. Results. Typically, the modern resume will list no more than three or four bullets for each job you’ve held. However, each of them should tell a story in miniature: What was your overall challenge, what did you do to meet the challenge and what happened because you did whatever you did?
However, that’s too much information and doesn’t fit the tone of a LinkedIn bullet point. Here it is great to put yourself forward and say something like “I accomplished X.” A simple one- or two-line statement is quite sufficient for LinkedIn when it is results-oriented.
[See: 8 Ways Millennials Can Build Leadership Skills.]
Length. Generally speaking, your resume should be one or two pages, although in certain circumstances it might merit an addendum, such as for works published. By contrast, there are, of course, no fixed length pages online. You can add quite a bit of information to each section of your profile, and you can include a variety of additional documents — Word, PDF, PowerPoint, sound clips and images.
Your limited resume length should force you to pare down your overall story to the bare bones, but on LinkedIn, you can show examples of presentations, portfolios and even append your resume. Note, however, that to prevent scamming and identity theft, you should omit your physical address, phone number or other information that can make you vulnerable.
Formality vs. Sociability. Your resume is a formal document which says by its very nature: “I want to be considered for a job.” Personal pronouns — “I” and “he/she” should not be found anywhere on a resume. Your audience is typically limited to recruiters, HR professionals and hiring authorities. A resume’s sole objective is to get someone to contact you to say: “We’d like to talk with you about such-and-such position.”
By contrast, LinkedIn is, at its essence, social media. It is all about you connecting with, and interacting with, other individuals. It is preferable to speak of yourself using the “I” pronoun. Make it friendly and engaging instead of stuffy and formal.
There are many solid reasons to have a LinkedIn profile in addition to searching for a new job, and it shouldn’t be presumed that just because you have a profile you are looking to make a move.
Remember that your profile isn’t seen just by hiring authorities, but rather by any and all of your first-degree connections, all the way out to third-degree connections. You may come up as a search result for any number of people who are seeking anything that you might have included in your profile, not necessarily having to do with employment.
[See: The 25 Best Jobs of 2017.]
Testimonials and Endorsements. From time to time you might see a short testimonial quote employed in a fancy resume these days. But that is hardly the norm, nor is it expected.
However, one of your LinkedIn profile’s key sections will be a listing of your skills. You can list up to 50 skills in this section, and any of your contacts can endorse you (without your request or permission) for any or all of them. It is a good idea to list all the key skills you have that are relevant for the jobs you seek, as hiring managers can search for people with specific skills.
People can also provide written recommendations for you, which can give potential employers testimonials up front about the kind of employee you will likely be, and how others have valued their professional relationship with you. It’s worth it for you, as well, to identify several of your connections whose work style and accomplishments you value and initiate recommendations for them.
Be sure to keep both your resume and profile complete and up to date. Make use of them in the proper way and you are sure to advance your job hunt prospects!
Happy hunting!
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Why You Need Both a Resume and a Strong LinkedIn Profile originally appeared on usnews.com
