Is Your LinkedIn Profile Simply a Copy of Your Resume?

This article is intended for all those folks who need to find a new position and decide to jump onto LinkedIn by merely copying over their resume.

This is a big mistake and an even bigger missed opportunity!

Let me explain why.

Let’s start with the missed opportunity.

The big opportunity on LinkedIn is for you to tell your story and not merely rattle off a series of facts.

You have ample space on LinkedIn to tell your story and you should use it.

Resumes need to be brief for a reason and you do need one. (I don’t subscribe to the belief that resumes are going away sometime soon.)

But, people who use LinkedIn to identify candidates understand what a good LinkedIn profile offers, and they look for those things.

A complete, well written, All-Star LinkedIn profile which tells your story gives you a big step over your competition in looking for a new position.

Now, let’s talk about that big mistake.

As you may have guessed by now, it’s in not using LinkedIn to tell your story but to merely post your resume.

How do you avoid making this mistake?

First, use all the parts of the LinkedIn Profile especially the header, summary, and include a profile picture.

Next, employ LinkedIn best practices:

1. Turn off change notifications until you’ve almost completed your profile
2. Employ a good vanity URL
3. Use keywords in your header; summary; and experience titles and descriptions
4. Have social proof of your accomplishments
   1. Recommendations
   2. Endorsements
5. Avoid redundant information

One more thing, a question that I get a lot:

Should you attach your resume to your LinkedIn profile?

I say no for two reasons:

1. You may need to have multiple versions of your resume for your job hunt (Actually, you really should have several!)
2. Having someone who is interested in you ask for a copy of your resume gives you an opportunity to start a conversation with them.

In telling your story on LinkedIn, you can present yourself as a living, breathing candidate to a potential employer and not just a canned set of facts.

Further, optimal use of LinkedIn demonstrates that you are current with new technologies and how to use them.

That’s it for now!

Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.

Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.