LinkedIn Profile Is More Important Than Résumé

  • 1 min read

Do I shock you with this declaration? Think again. Your résumé is typically being sent to individuals, to recruiters, or as a job application, which has limited exposure. Yet your LinkedIn profile is open to literally the entire world around the clock. Moreover, as I understand it, LinkedIn is now considered the choice tool by recruiters and human resources professionals because it is so user-friendly and searchable.

If you think like I do, then you may want to revisit your LinkedIn profile and make a few easy improvements. For example, upload a professionally produced photo to enhance your image. Make sure the tagline contains a good description of what you do. The Twitter feature should be used frequently and appropriately. The summary section should be your marketing piece. Your current and past positions should be clear. Don’t say too much; rather, make them intriguing. Include a few but strong accomplishments in your bulleted items. Keywords pertinent to your profession should be listed as well. Listing your specialties offers additional, specific information that enhances your chances to distinguish yourself.

LinkedIn lets you upload various applications. Take advantage of that. Recruiters like to see that you have several recommendations. After all, they have to sell you to their clients. Recommendations serve as strong support for your candidacy because they come from others. Everything else you say in your LinkedIn profile comes from you, and in this case you’re a salesperson selling a product, which is yourself. If you have a Web site or blog posts, list them. Belonging to several professional groups also enhances your image. Similarly, if you’ve received honors and awards, they should be listed. You also should include some interests because you’ll be selected not only for your qualifications but also for your fit factor.

And finally, review your personal settings. There may be great qualifications listed on your Linkedin profile, but if you limit those you allow to view the profile, who do you think is losing out?

Picture of Alex Freund

Alex Freund

Alex Freund is a career and interviewing coach known as the “landing expert” for publishing his 80 page list of job-search networking groups. He is prominent in a number of job-search networking groups; makes frequent public presentations, he does workshops on resumes and LinkedIn, teaches a career development seminar and publishes his blog focused on job seekers. Alex worked at Fortune 100 companies headquarters managing many and large departments. He has extensive experience at interviewing people for jobs and is considered an expert in preparing people for interviews. Alex  is a Cornell University grad, lived on three continents and speaks five languages.

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

People who bounce back from setbacks quickly aren’t the ones who never struggle, they’re often the ones who explain the setback differently — as temporary and specific rather than permanent and all-consuming, the exact pattern Martin Seligman’s decades of research on explanatory style links to resilience

People who bounce back from setbacks quickly aren’t the ones who never struggle, they’re often the ones who explain the setback differently — as temporary and specific rather than permanent and all-consuming, the exact pattern Martin Seligman’s decades of research on explanatory style links to resilience

Global English Editing
Psychology says people who struggle in the first year of retirement aren’t bored or unprepared, they’re grieving a version of themselves that had a title, a place to be, and people who needed them by nine in the morning—and nobody thinks to call that a loss

Psychology says people who struggle in the first year of retirement aren’t bored or unprepared, they’re grieving a version of themselves that had a title, a place to be, and people who needed them by nine in the morning—and nobody thinks to call that a loss

The Vessel
Psychology says people who say “sorry” when someone else bumps into them aren’t weak, they learned early that smoothing things over was safer than being right

Psychology says people who say “sorry” when someone else bumps into them aren’t weak, they learned early that smoothing things over was safer than being right

The Vessel
Psychology suggests grandparents who say yes to everything their grandchildren ask aren’t spoiling them, they’re getting a second chance at a kind of patience they couldn’t quite afford the first time around

Psychology suggests grandparents who say yes to everything their grandchildren ask aren’t spoiling them, they’re getting a second chance at a kind of patience they couldn’t quite afford the first time around

The Vessel
Nobody tells you that home has an expiration date — one day you wake up in the same rooms you’ve lived in for years, and it doesn’t feel like home anymore, just a place you’re visiting

Nobody tells you that home has an expiration date — one day you wake up in the same rooms you’ve lived in for years, and it doesn’t feel like home anymore, just a place you’re visiting

The Vessel
Across 43 studies of 11,196 couples, nobody could reliably say from the questionnaires whose relationship would improve or sour, though the answer that showed up most often was believing your partner wants it to last

Across 43 studies of 11,196 couples, nobody could reliably say from the questionnaires whose relationship would improve or sour, though the answer that showed up most often was believing your partner wants it to last

The Vessel
Load more
CATEGORIES
Explore