I was recently asked for a resume. This is for what I think can be an exciting writing experience (I’d essentially have my own “column”).
The person who asked me said I would need to submit a resume. Folks, I haven’t had a resume for about seven years! And that resume is for a project/product manager, not for a writer.
In the last seven years my career has taken a dramatic twist, and what they want me for is for my writing.
I asked if I could send them my LinkedIn Profile and they said that might be fine, but to please put it into Word. So I exported to pdf, then copy-and-paste to Word.
As I was looking at the “document,” which was liked a stripped down Profile and nothing like a resume, my thought was “the LinkedIn Profile CAN’T take over the resume.”
Perhaps if my Profile had only resume-like stuff on it… maybe it would work. But putting my exported Profile into Word and thinking it was going to be a “resume” was a joke.
I think there will always be people who ask for a “resume.” And your Profile will not look like a resume. To get it right you’ll have to do a lot of reworking… might as well start from scratch.
I would love to hear your opinion and experience on this. Mine says NO WAY.
LinkedIn does not replace a resume but can be used to develop one. There is a tool at http://www.linkedinlabs.com called Resume Builder which takes your LinkedIn profile and converts it to a professional resume. There are several formats to choose from. The important thing to remember anytime that you create a resume is that it should be targeted to the specific job which you are applying for. LinkedIn is a generic profile. Therefore, simply copying and pasting your profile as is would not work. It must be “tweaked” for the position applied for.
Good luck on your job search!
@Edie, thanks for the comment.
I tried the Resume tool at LinkedIn Labs but the problem is the content on my Profile is written in such a way that it just doesn’t translate over to a resume format.
So, the final output of that tool was a format with content that was grossly mismatched. Darnit :/
Yes, I’ve tried the resume creation too and it doesn’t work for me, don’t think it’s geared up for business owners. It can be ok for people with a more traditional career path but still needs work.
I think we may be looking to need more not less, and am increasingly helping clients create a one page profile/bio with photo they use as an introduction when they contact companies direct.
anyway … did you submit a resume for the writing gig?
I sent my horrid pdf-output (what you get when you export your Profile), and then my portfolio (a list of sites where I write).
If they need more than that I think we’re not a good fit 🙂
Hi Jason, I really think for some gigs all they need is examples of work, some companies just have unwieldy systems and can’t vary it. Hope you get the gig, if you want it.