How to Add Your Resume to LinkedIn

Uploading your resume to LinkedIn can enhance your professional presence and streamline your job applications. You can share your resume on your profile, use it whilst applying for jobs, save it for future applications, or create a specific LinkedIn post featuring it. Learning how to add your resume to LinkedIn offers multiple time-saving and networking benefits. Read on to explore the best ways to highlight your resume on LinkedIn.

Choose a method of uploading your resume to LinkedIn 

Once you've created your LinkedIn account, you can leverage it in multiple ways to further your professional career. Besides networking with industry peers, you can upload your resume for recruiters to view and apply for jobs directly on LinkedIn. Read on to learn more about the different methods to upload your resume.

Upload your resume to the Featured Media section. 

The featured media section is where you can upload or add items to your main profile page. You can use it to showcase your work, such as articles you’ve written and presentations you’ve given. You’ll also find that it allows you to provide external links to portfolios, resumes, and other content. Follow the following steps to upload your resume to this section:

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile page.

2. Next, click “Add profile section.”

3. Expand the section labelled “Add Featured.” 

4. Click the + Add icon you see at the top of the page. 

5. Search your files for the resume you want to feature and upload it from your computer or device.

Apply simply with Easy Apply. 

LinkedIn posts millions of jobs on its site [1]. When you find a job you want to apply for, LinkedIn's Easy Apply option comes in handy. Note that if the job posting only has an “Apply” option, you'll visit an external site to fill out an application directly with the company. To add your resume to a job posted on LinkedIn when the Easy Apply option is available, follow these steps:

1. Pull up the job listing for which you’d like to apply. 

2. If Easy Apply is an option that the job poster has allowed, you can click the blue button that says “Easy Apply.” 

3. A window will pop up that asks for some information. Make sure you've filled this out correctly, then click "Next." 

4. Use the "Upload Resume" button to find your resume file from your computer or device, upload it, and click next. 

5. The last prompt gives you a chance to review your application. Make sure all information is correct, then click "Submit Application."

Create a post for your resume.

Having your resume available is a good idea for employers and recruiters who come across your profile. A more proactive way to get it in front of more eyes is to make your resume a LinkedIn post that will appear in your connections' home page feeds. All you have to do is:

1. Click the “Start a Post” button at the top of your LinkedIn feed.

2. Click the icon that looks like a note.

3. Click “Choose File” and upload your resume. 

4. Once those steps are complete, click “Done” at the bottom right of the window.

With this method, people can now download your resume directly from the post. Since this is a feed post, consider adding a few simple sentences about your career goals and aspirations. 

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Treat your profile like a resume

You can also add all of the information on your resume to your LinkedIn profile page. This is one of the most common ways people use LinkedIn. Profiles are a great way to showcase work experience, educational background, and other skills that are typically on a resume. 

Profile Pro Tip

Putting your resume information front and centre allows your profile to show up in search results when hiring managers or recruiters are looking for new hires. It also gives you a place to send potential employers or clients to see credentials. Many job application systems on company sites will include a field for your LinkedIn profile URL.

How do you add your resume to your LinkedIn profile? It’s simple:

1. First, it will ask for a few sentences about you in the “About” section.

1. Next, add your complete job history under the “Experience” section. 

1. After that, you’ll fill out the “Education,” “Volunteering,” “Skills,” and “Honors and Awards” sections. Add relevant experiences to each section.

Take advantage of having a resume on LinkedIn

Having a resume on LinkedIn offers numerous benefits. Uploading to Easy Apply simplifies the application process. Having your resume on LinkedIn also helps you gain exposure, letting recruiters and connections alike know you are job searching.

Once uploaded, LinkedIn also uses your resume to recommend jobs, help grow your network and personalise your feed. Consider the following additional options to get the most out of LinkedIn:

• Download the LinkedIn app: Treat it like any other social media app. Check it often, engage with others, follow potential employers to stay up to date on their happenings, and share articles that you think are interesting. 

• Have a current and professional profile picture: When choosing a photo, make sure it's suitable for a professional setting and has high resolution. 

• Make connections that matter: Seek out the accounts of coworkers and professional contacts in your industry. Think of your LinkedIn connections as quality over quantity. 

• Contribute more content: Sharing content is an easy way to make sure you’re being seen. It’s also a way to showcase your knowledge and impress future employers.

Get noticed on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a networking platform with more than one billion users [2]. It’s an excellent place to make connections and grow your network. You have several ways to make sure your profile stands out among the digital crowd. Here are a few:

Include relevant keywords. 

Having good keywords in both your profile and resume plays a big part in you showing up in searches made by recruiters. Titles, location, and skills weigh heavy here—although location-based keywords may become wider in range as remote work continues to grow in popularity. For example, if you live in Bengaluru, stating Karnataka will suffice. 

One good way to choose keywords is to look at job listings that fit what you’re looking for and use the keywords from those listings in your profile. Many of the keywords you see in postings will also be what recruiters use when searching for candidates. Be wary of filler or buzzwords that sound interesting but are not good keywords. Examples of these would be words like rockstar and guru.

Use resume optimisation tools. 

Many candidates submit job applications online, where a person does not read the application. Among Fortune 500 companies, 99 per cent use AI-based applicant tracking systems to sort out the best, most qualified candidates, according to Jobscan [3]. An increasing number of Indian companies have implemented these systems to review resumes and streamline the hiring process.

Thankfully, just as technology tracks applications, you can also use technology to optimise your resume and hopefully reach the hands (or inbox) of an actual human.

Some services exist solely to help you optimise your resume keywords—ILA for Placements, for example. These tools help you build a resume by comparing it to the description of the job you’re applying for. The system calculates how well you match the job description and recommends keywords to add to your resume.

Taking advantage of these technologies can give your application a boost over hundreds of other applications that did not optimise their resumes.

Align industry and location.

When applying for jobs, it’s essential to ensure your location and industry align with the jobs you’re applying for. This means making sure your listed location aligns with where you’re hoping to find a job and not necessarily where you currently live or work. The same recommendation applies to the industry. It can be good to list the industry you’re aiming to work in rather than the industries you’ve worked in previously. 

Take the next steps 

Sharing your resume on LinkedIn enhances your professional presence and helps you streamline the job application process. If you need to build a resume, you can use resources that offer free resume templates. Canva is a great place to create an attractive resume. Google Docs also has a free template gallery. Both of these websites are user-friendly.

To learn how to write a winning resume, consider taking the University of Maryland's course Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters on Coursera. After you’ve perfected your resume and learned how to add a resume to LinkedIn, it’s time to start networking and applying.