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Resume Q&A: How Important Is LinkedIn?

Mar 22 2020

Q. I have been trying to guide my college-aged daughter in her job search and highly recommended that she join LinkedIn. She replied that LinkedIn is not used by her generation—it is for “old people.” I looked up LinkedIn statistics and she might be right. Only 24 percent of users are college age, and the largest age group of users is 30- to 49-years old. So does she need to be on LinkedIn?

A. One of the arguments you might use for encouraging your daughter to have a LinkedIn profile is that the 30 to 49 age group corresponds to the age of most managers. A study by the Harvard Business Review in 2012 cited 42 as the average age of those in leadership training. So the people she would be reporting to and interviewing with are very likely on LinkedIn.

Another reason to be on LinkedIn is the power it gives her to check out people who already work at the companies where she is applying or having interviews. In most cases, she does not need to link to them to find out their background, the correct way to spell their names, and their positions in the company. She might also check if the company itself has a LinkedIn posting. The information she gathers will let her better target her resume, ask more informed questions (and give more informed answers) at her interview, and help her decide whether the company is a good fit for her.

Finally, she can add information to her LinkedIn profile that is not on her resume. For example, she might create a link to a paper she wrote, a portfolio she put together, or a blog she posted, or she might give more details on a job or college course than would fit on a resume.

LinkedIn is one tool in a job search toolbox. That being said, if your daughter is making strides with a stellar resume, college-age networking, and other job-hunting tools, I am not sure it is worth fussing about LinkedIn.

If she does decide to go on LinkedIn, she should make sure that her profile is well written; bolsters but does not duplicate her resume; and includes a strong list of skills, which are keywords for recruiters and hiring managers who use LinkedIn to find candidates. At Robin’s Resumes®, we write resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles for college graduates and also offer career counseling; we would be happy to work with your daughter.

Resume Q&A: LinkedIn Profile vs. Resume

Dec 02 2018

Q. Everything on my resume is on my LinkedIn profile. I don’t understand why I even need a resume. I think companies should just ask for an email expressing interest with a link to your LinkedIn profile or online portfolio—why bother with a separate resume? It is so old-school.

A. Maybe in the future job applications will be handled the way you suggest: everyone will simply look online. But right now there are three major reasons why companies have not discarded resumes.

One is the simple fact that all of us still print out important information. The “paperless society” never took root, and that is unlikely to change in the immediate future.
The second reason is that resumes create a “standard template” that ensures every applicant supplies the same essential facts, from contact information to previous positions to education.
The third, related reason is that most companies now rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS), in which all resumes are loaded for comparative analysis. There is no equivalent automated method for gathering up individual online resumes from LinkedIn, Pinterest, Indeed, or private sites and then comparing them.

Think of your LinkedIn (or other online) profile and your resume as separate but equal documents. Instead of making them completely identical, use your LinkedIn profile to expand on information that might not fit in your resume; for example, use “Projects” under the Accomplishments tab to give more detail about specific projects or accomplishments. You can list up to 50 skills on LinkedIn—excellent for keyword searches although far too many for a resume. More important, LinkedIn encourages your peers and clients to give you endorsements for those skills. Finally, LinkedIn allows for multiple recommendations at length, something that would weigh down your resume.

You can also use your LinkedIn profile to show more of your own professional personality. For example, in my own LinkedIn profile, I go into the history of Robin’s Resumes®, something I would not do on a formal resume or job application.

Precisely because your resume and LinkedIn profile are different in some ways, you should make sure they are equally professional, clear, concise, and focused on the job you want. If your resume gives one impression and your LinkedIn profile gives another, hiring managers and recruiters will be confused and less likely to trust either version.

How do you achieve that different-but-equal balance? Contact Robin’s Resumes® and I will be delighted to help you.

Your Resume on Social Media

Jan 15 2017

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned using social media to aid your job search. One of the major ways to do this is to have a professional profile on LinkedIn or other professional sites.

These days, the majority of recruiters and hiring managers use social media to search for the ideal candidate or to find out more about a candidate. However, your own company is probably among them, and you do not want your company to know you are looking to move on.

Most social media sites allow you to communicate with people privately and hide certain activities, which helps. You also want to be careful about posting even brief comments online that reveal your (a) dissatisfaction with your current job; (b) desperation to change jobs; and (c) continuous conversations with recruiters, hiring managers and competitors of your current company.

Aside from alerting your own company to your desire to leave, comments about your dissatisfaction and desperation are counter-productive to your job search. Companies are not looking to add unhappy employees to their staff. However, some hiring managers and recruiters are overjoyed to find a job seeker who will accept any offer just to get out of an intolerable situation. You may end up selling your talents cheap and to an employer no one else wants to work for.

Finally, you should approach your social media profile with the same care and consideration as your resume. Because social media sites have their own forms for professional profiles, your profile may not be absolutely identical to your resume. But it should be as close as possible.

You may want to have your profile professionally written, to make sure that you are delivering the strongest possible information about yourself in the space allowed. You want to be sure that your profile is:

Clear, concise and accurate
Grammatically correct and properly spelled
Focused on achievements that set you apart from the competition
Set up so hiring managers and recruiters can easily contact you

Robin’s Resumes® can help you achieve all that and more. Contact us today for a professional profile on social media.

Does Your Resume Emphasize the Wrong Things?

Jan 18 2015

A client called me recently for an update on his resume. In the past, he had worked as a second-in-command in Human Relations at various colleges and now he was eager to transition into a higher level job with a company outside the educational sector. He wondered if his resume could be honestly updated to give him a better chance of a corporate interview.

When your resume lags behind your career goals, recruiters and hiring managers have difficulty in figuring out just where you will fit in their organization. You have to show them that you have the skills, experience, education, and achievements that they want. You can do this in three ways.

First, carefully read advertisements and job postings to find out the keywords that are most commonly used in the field and position you are interested in. For example, my client’s old educational resume included many keywords related to community relations and youth. We instead emphasized keywords in his experience that were more suitable for a corporate environment, such as experience with HIPAA, workers’ compensation, and unions.

Second, review the list of achievements on your resume and reorder them to give prominence to the ones that most closely match the achievements an employer or recruiter would look for in your goal position. For example, my client’s new position would require more leadership skills, so we made sure to emphasize his achievements as a leader in committees and as a board chair in volunteer organizations.

Third, adjust your profile to match expectations for any applicant for that job. In the case of my client, we removed from his profile information about curriculum development and academic counseling and instead emphasized his experience dealing with Human Resources laws and practices, as well as his ability to communicate at all levels of an organization.

A change in emphasis reflects the multiple skills we all have. Recruiters and hiring managers need to know that you fit their needs and they will not go hunting through your resume for the information; you need to tell them clearly. Contact Robin’s Resumes®, and we will make sure your resume gives recruiters and hiring managers good reason to hire you for the job you want most.

Three Major Mistakes Job Seekers Make on LinkedIn

Nov 30 2014

The other day I reviewed the information a client sent for his resume, including his address on LinkedIn. When I went to LinkedIn to look at his profile, I discovered he had not updated it after leaving his previous job. His LinkedIn profile had him working at a company he had left two years earlier!

Another client who wanted her LinkedIn address included on her resume had not posted a profile at all—just her name and job title. While her desire to include her LinkedIn address was sound, the empty profile simply wasted a recruiter’s time.

Bottom line: if you are going to direct people to your LinkedIn profile, make sure it is up to date, matches your resume and is fully filled out.

Now here is another mistake job seekers make on LinkedIn: They do not use it to network. LinkedIn is a wonderful opportunity to connect with individuals who work in your field, work at companies you are interested in and may have early knowledge of job openings.

How do you get in touch with these people? Comment on their posts, with thoughtful information, questions or referrals. Ask your #1 connections if they know your desired contacts/companies and would introduce you. Join groups that your desired contacts/companies are likely to follow or join.

Finally, job seekers are making a mistake if they believe LinkedIn is a one-way street. Yes, companies will look for potential employees on LinkedIn but job seekers should also be looking for potential companies to join and jobs to apply for. The LinkedIn profile established by companies in your target industry or field contains valuable information about their own achievements, struggles and company culture. This information can help you write a resume that better shows your fit for the job you want.

Robin’s Resumes® is your source for a profile that adds value to your resume and for information on using LinkedIn to your advantage. Contact us today.