LinkedIn has become the world’s foremost social network for professionals. Since its acquisition by Microsoft, it has only gotten bigger and better. Many of the world’s biggest companies, across all major industries, use LinkedIn for posting job vacancies and hiring talented candidates.
While it has become an efficient and life-saving tool for job search, it is an even more powerful tool for those who are not looking for a change. It allows anyone to connect with the best of the best in their industries and open a direct line of communication between a fresher and thought leader, regardless of their stature, role, and experience.
This can make anyone question the need for a resume or cover letter anymore since people can directly approach employers and ask for an interview based on their relevant skills and experience, mentioned in their LinkedIn online profile.
Let’s face it, building an impressive resume is a tough task. But updating your social media isn’t. Linkedin makes the process of documenting your professional journey as easy as posting a status update.
It doesn’t just connect job seekers to job openings but makes so much more possible for your career. So should you just make a Linkedin profile and forget about it, or spend time building a separate Resume? Let’s find out.
Should your Linkedin match your resume?
Yes, because the differences aren’t hard to find.
Almost all the recruiters in this day and age have profiles on the major hiring platforms across the world, and Linkedin is one of them. Their profiles are recruiter-specific, with added features that make the job of the talent acquisition teams a lot easier while searching for good candidates.
Suffice it to say, they can see your work experience, education, certifications, and all other professional details that you may have entered on LinkedIn, without you even noticing.
In case of any mismatch, you may be questioned and if there are a lot of discrepancies between your resume and your Linkedin, you may be kicked out of the candidate pool without getting a chance to justify it.
No, if you have sensitive information to share.
Usually, it is a good idea to make sure that the data updated on your LinkedIn profile, matches what you have in your resume. However, there could be scenarios where posting some sensitive information on Linkedin could land you in trouble.
A formal resume also allows you to convey certain details that may not be suited for a social platform. For example, an accomplishment like ‘Closed deals worth $200 million in past 7 quarters’ may not be the wisest choice to be put on your LinkedIn summary. It is a public platform after all.
In these scenarios, you can simply add such information to your resume which is expected to stay between you and your hiring managers. They’ll be left impressed, and you’ll be safe from any possible legal fallout of revealing vague (but still important!) financial information to a competitor!
Resume Vs Linkedin Profile: 3 Important Distinctions You Need to Make
Brevity:
While your Linkedin profile can have as much text as you want to write in every category, to be able to present your career story so far, your resume is meant to have only the important stuff.
Everything in your resume is supposed to catch the eye of the recruiters so that you can land yourself an interview with the organization.
They usually don’t have the luxury of time to be able to read through a five-page long resume of a candidate, because they have 30 more resumes to go through. So keep it short, brief, and direct.
Proof of work:
Linkedin allows you to embed a profile picture, hyperlinks, images, videos, documents, recommendations from any important person in the industry, and lots more as proof of your achievements in your career.
It allows you to build a personal brand and list your accomplishments in a compelling way. However, a resume differs from this and does not have this advantage.
So make sure to use the right keywords and highlight your skills which directly convey the value you added as an employee in your last company.
Your resume can only have so much information along with a link to your LinkedIn profile so if a recruiter wants to know more, they can just click it and see for themselves.
Customization:
You can only have one LinkedIn profile but you can have multiple resumes at any point, customized to be more relevant for the jobs you are applying to.
You can add keywords and relevant skills to your resume which will help the AI-based applicant tracking systems, used by major firms, to highlight your application and put it on top of the pile.
Are Linkedin Resumes Really Good?
It depends on how well you can create your resume. Apart from you, the hiring manager will be the first person to see your resume and they will have seen thousands of them.
Most people who don’t put in the effort to make a customized resume, simply download the Linkedin profile as a PDF document and share it with the potential employer.
While it is not a bad thing, it does not show any key differences from the other applicants for the job title who may have done the same.
Linkedin now has a new tool called ‘Resume Builder‘ however it is also simply a copy-pasted version of your LinkedIn profile.
It would demand a lot of edits so that it does not look like a lazy and traditional resume, upholds professional standards, and puts you in a better position to get that interview call.
Applying With Linkedin Vs Resume
Linkedin constantly keeps adding features that make it easier to apply to jobs. One such feature is the ‘Easy apply’ button which will simply share your LinkedIn profile with the recruiter.
However, you lose out on the ability to customize your resume for the open position and may lose out on the race if your profile does not have any major difference from other professionals.
Linkedin Experience Section vs Resume
The experience section is the key highlight of both your resume and LinkedIn profile. It usually holds the highest importance when applying for a new job.
The Linkedin experience section is succinct and beautiful, as it clearly mentions the organization, job title, duration of employment, position, and the location of the job.
It would be wise to emulate the same format in the resume along with a brief summary. A better alternative to long paragraphs in the resume would be to use bullet points highlighting your roles, responsibilities, and achievements in your previous company.
6 Ways Your Resume Should Differ from Your LinkedIn Profile
TL: DR; While we have established that Linkedin and resumes hold a lot of differences from each other, these six ways are sure to maximize your chances of landing an interview via a resume.
1. Customization
Your resume should be customized as per the job you are applying to. Make sure to add relevant keywords, skills, and measurable contributions from your previous jobs.
2. Length and level of detail
While your Linkedin profile can be written in a conversational tone and has more space for details, your resume should be professional and direct, so it holds the attention of the recruiters.
3. Supplementary proof
As with Linkedin, you cannot embed any documents, videos, recommendations, etc. in your resume. You can simply add a hyperlink to your Linkedin profile in case the recruiter wants to see more.
4. Privacy
Unless you work for the marine corps, not all your achievements can be mentioned on a public platform. Hence, make sure to mention them only in your resume.
5. Tone of voice
Your tone of voice should be respectful, professional, and straightforward in your resume.
6. Imagery and media
Contrary to popular belief, it is not a good practice to include your personal photo in your resume as the recruiter may hold an unconscious bias that may affect your prospects of getting the interview.
Conclusion
In the era of information technology, everyone is rocking LinkedIn profiles. While it is not a must-have, it certainly goes a long way in enhancing your professional network and connecting you with professionals. It makes it easy to search and apply for jobs online but it lacks the power that a resume carries, customization for a job. So clearly, resumes are here to stay and you better make one for that job you love!