In the Age of LinkedIn, Are Resumes Still Necessary?
Between the popularity of LinkedIn and the rise of people using video, PowerPoint and other digital methods to promote themselves as job candidates, you may think that resumes have gone the way of vinyl records, public telephones and typewriters But they’re not completely obsolete! Here’s why you need to embrace both the printed and the published version of your CV.
- You still need to send a resume when applying for many jobs online. If a company is using an online applicant tracking system, you can’t just send them to your LinkedIn profile.
- Resumes enable recruiters and employers to quickly compare and contrast multiple candidates. A good resume will tell that person whether you pay attention to detail, if you are a good salesperson, if you are analytical, and even if you are a go-getter through the format and word choices you’ve made.
- Resumes can be easily customized for different target positions, whereas your LinkedIn or other social media profiles tend to be more generic.
- Migration to a new common standard for evaluating candidates would take a very long time to integrate. In other words, resumes aren’t going anywhere.
- You’ll still need a nicely formatted, neat paper copy to hand out at interviews, networking events and job fairs.
However, LinkedIn can work hand in hand with a resume and increase the strength of your message. You can put a link to your LI profile in your cover letter, on your resume or on your business card. Especially when you’re communicating with an online contact, it can be easier to send people to your LinkedIn page instead of attaching a PDF of your resume. And LinkedIn, unlike a resume, gives you a place to include testimonials from colleagues, clients, and employers.
For those of you in IT, LinkedIn’s Professional Portfolio feature gives you a great place to showcase your professional achievements through screenshots, portfolios, SlideShare presentations, photos, images and videos. It allows you to show your accomplishments, results or samples of your work in a way that a text resume can’t.
Any questions? Contact the team at Triumph. We know how to help candidates play up their strengths to help them find the right job.
