Posted by: Meagan Riggsbee
LinkedIn is a modern-day approach to marketing yourself, the opportunity to construct a significant representation of your professional experience is at your fingertips. There is a lot of discussion as to whether your LinkedIn profile is more important than your resume. Let’s discuss the differences between the two.
500 million users worldwide, and counting, LinkedIn is the leader of professional networking platforms. Most recruiters and human resources professionals choose LinkedIn as one of their main tools in the recruitment process, one of many reasons could be its user-friendly platform. LinkedIn is a vast database which allows users to search by keywords to quickly find the person or skill set they’re looking for. LinkedIn can be a highly effective way of marketing yourself, A profile that stands out increases your visibility with hiring managers.
Why is LinkedIn so important? At one time the interview was your first impression on a hiring professional, nowadays LinkedIn is the initial impression. More than likely, your profile will show up in one of the top pages in a Google search. Which makes it crucial that you invest time and energy to make your profile captivating.
Most often, hiring professionals will compare your resume to your LinkedIn profile, for example; matching dates, companies employed with, skills developed and so on. It’s important to be consistent between your resume and LinkedIn profile otherwise it may look like you’re not telling the truth. Also, recruiters may look for groups you have joined and skills that other co-workers have endorsed, these can be telling as to whether you would be a good fit for the position you’re applying for.
Resumes are still an important tool in any job search. First off, most companies require you to submit a resume in order to apply to any position. Your resume is an amazing tool because you can tailor it to fit the job description of the role you’re applying for. “You can have different resumes for different jobs you wish to pursue, and you can send such carefully customized resumes directly to the headhunters, corporate recruiters, and hiring managers you most want to talk to.” explains Martin Yate, author of Knock ‘Em Dead.
Hiring professionals do not believe that the resume is completely dead; nonetheless, the LinkedIn profile has outshined it in terms of significance to modern day job seekers, explains Matt Kapko, Freelance Writer, CIO. The old-fashioned resume and the LinkedIn profile both have their differences. LinkedIn is more personal and generally the first impression on HR professionals and recruiters, it allows you to shine in ways far beyond your resume. Resumes are more formal and tell a story in just a few bullet points. They both play a big role in the job search process, therefore keeping both up to date should be a priority.