Do you still believe your Resume is your most important career document? Sorry to tell you, it is not. No longer. It is your LinkedIn profile.
Yes, 25 years ago, your Resume opened the door. Today, it’s your LinkedIn profile that opens the door, and your Resume supports it later.
Think back to the time before the internet became part of our lives and everyday business. Finding information worked very differently back then.
If you wanted to find a company, a restaurant, an airline, a plumber, or a job, you reached for the Yellow Pages or another printed directory.
You picked up the telephone and dialed a number. Job applications were typed, printed, and posted. If you lived nearby, you might even deliver your application by hand.
That world no longer exists. It changes everything.
Your Resume is no longer your first impression
Today, we search online. Google helps us find information. LinkedIn helps us find people.
If your profile appears in our search results, we spend only a few seconds deciding whether to continue or move on to the next profile.
Think about what we see before we scroll down (if we even do that).
- A banner.
- Your photograph.
- Your name.
- Your headline (line/s below your name).
These few elements determine whether we scroll down and read further (next stop: About). I call it your LinkedIn Shop Window. Just as shops use their windows to make people stop, look, and come inside, the top of your LinkedIn profile must quickly encourage recruiters to keep reading.
If your header, your LinkedIn Shop Window, does not immediately tell me your industry, your function, your level of responsibility, and your area of expertise, you have lost my attention before I have even reached your experience section.
Keywords get you found. Personality gets you hired
Your profile gets you the interview. Your personality gets you the job.
Hard skills are for your profile. Soft skills are for your interview.
I see way too many professionals use headlines such as “Experienced Professional,” “Seasoned Executive” or “Results Driven Leader.”
Your LinkedIn profile should be optimized for searchability. It should include the keywords that recruiters search for, such as industries, functions, job titles, technologies, certifications, geography, and areas of expertise. Those are what make your profile visible.
Your soft skills, on the other hand, are difficult to prove with a claim like “excellent communicator” or “strong leader. Or energetic, and a team player. Those qualities are much better demonstrated in conversations and interviews. And we never use these words when we search for profiles.
Your headline should answer one question immediately. Who are you professionally?
Only after your profile convinces me that you might be relevant will I spend time reading your About, Work Experience, Education, skills, and accomplishments.
Later, perhaps during our second conversation, I will ask for your Resume.
Some recruiters use the paid LinkedIn Recruiter app
Larger corporate HR departments and professional third-party recruiters often use LinkedIn Recruiter or LinkedIn Recruiter Lite rather than the free version of LinkedIn.
These premium paid-for platforms are designed for searching large numbers of candidates efficiently. The initial search results focus on your headline, current position, location, and keywords rather than your banner image.
That does not make your banner unimportant.
Most people who visit your profile are using the standard LinkedIn interface. Hiring managers, business leaders, potential clients, colleagues, and networking contacts all see your complete profile, including your banner.
Even headhunters, executive search firms, and agency recruiters who first identify with you through LinkedIn Recruiter will usually open your full profile before deciding whether to contact you.
By the way, the LinkedIn Recruiter still relies heavily on keywords. If your headline says “Experienced Professional” or “Business Leader,” you will perform poorly in Recruiter searches.
We do not search for “great people”. We search for job titles, industries, functions, and keywords. If your headline clearly tells me your role, industry, level, and expertise, you are much more likely to be found.
LinkedIn first, Resume second
That does not mean your Resume is unimportant. A well-written Resume still plays a critical role during interviews, internal discussions, salary approvals, and final hiring decisions.
But if your LinkedIn profile never earns you that first conversation, your excellent Resume will never be seen.
Your LinkedIn profile has become your shop window. Your Resume has become the supporting document.
If you are investing hours perfecting your Resume while ignoring your LinkedIn profile, you are working on the wrong document first.
The next time you update your career documents, start with LinkedIn. Once your profile clearly communicates who you are, what you do, and why someone should contact you, make sure your Resume tells the same story.
Your LinkedIn profile gets you found. Your resume gets you considered. Together, they should tell exactly the same professional story.
