Optimize Your Resume & LinkedIn Profile for Update Your Resume Month

September is recognized as International Update Your Resume Month, making it the perfect time for you to optimize your resume and LinkedIn profile.

As year-end performance evaluations approach, this month offers an opportunity to go beyond simple updates and focus on a comprehensive resume refresh that improves your professional profile on paper and online.

Get Your LinkedIn Profile In Sync for Maximum Impact

Your LinkedIn profile should align with your resume’s polished, professional narrative. Maintaining consistency across both platforms enhances your visibility with well-written content, a critical factor in making a solid impact in today’s competitive job market. However, LinkedIn offers more than just a place to display your resume; it’s a dynamic platform to showcase your authentic professional self, allowing for personal pronouns and a more engaging, narrative-driven style.

Essential Considerations for Resume and LinkedIn Harmony

What Should You Update First: Resume or LinkedIn?

Start by refining your resume to highlight your quantifiable achievements and clearly define your career trajectory. Once you’ve built this solid foundation, translate it into your LinkedIn profile using bullet points with white space for better readability and clarity. Ensure your LinkedIn profile remains approachable and professional, maximizing its impact on your professional brand.

Master the Uniqueness of Each Platform

LinkedIn is your primary, public-facing professional profile—so make every detail count. On the other hand, your resume should be a personalized document carefully tailored to each job application. Avoid posting your resume publicly on LinkedIn, as it requires customization for different roles to maximize your chances of success.

Technical Tips and Strategic Enhancements

Formatting Excellence

Explore our guide on 73 Formatting Tips to Optimize Your Resume to Get Hired for advice on presenting your credentials.

Balance SEO and Engaging Content

Design your resume and LinkedIn profile for searchability by keywords and human recruiters. Format your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) while focusing on compelling narratives and measurable achievements to engage recruiters and highlight your professional impact.

Keywords Are Essential

Choose industry-specific keywords to enhance your visibility in search results and align closely with job descriptions. This strategic approach increases your chances of being discovered by recruiters and hiring managers.

Addressing Specific Resume Challenges

Bridge Employment Gaps

Leverage your resume and LinkedIn profile to proactively address any career gaps, framing them as periods of growth, development, sabbaticals, or other reasons. This approach ensures that potential employers view these breaks in a positive light.

Proactively Maintain Your Resume

Maintain an ongoing record of your accomplishments and newly acquired skills to streamline resume updates and keep your profile current. This practice ensures you’re always prepared for opportunities like performance reviews or new job openings.

Combat Age Discrimination with Modern Techniques

• Contact Information: Use dashes or dots to update your phone number by eliminating parentheses around the area code when we had rotary phones.
• Highlight Skills and Achievements: Focus on specific skills, projects, and impactful outcomes rather than merely listing job duties or years of experience.
• Relevant Experience: Tailor your history to include only pertinent job experiences, emphasizing recent roles that align with your career goals, perhaps going back 10-15 years.
• Education Details: Omit graduation years to focus on the qualifications and certifications you’ve earned, steering clear of dates that could hint at your age.
• Technology Proficiency: Showcase your knowledge of current tools and industry trends while leaving out outdated technologies.
• Modern Email Address: Opt for a professional Gmail address over dated service providers like AOL or Hotmail.
• Active Participation on LinkedIn: Commenting on LinkedIn Can Create Visibility, Discoverability, & Credibility, so showcase your thought leadership. Don’t expect results if you are not active on the platform. You will reap what you sow.
• Networking: Expand your professional network to include peers and potential employers, maximizing your exposure to job opportunities. According to numerous resources, up to 80% of jobs are found via networking.
• Contemporary Language: Employ up-to-date terminology and avoid archaic phrases, making your profile relatable and engaging.
• Continuous Learning: Display recent training or certifications to underline your dedication to professional growth.
• Engaging About Section on LinkedIn: Write a compelling and personable summary in your About section, using concise language, bullets, and emojis to convey enthusiasm and relatability. Some of the content can come from your resume.

Recap & Encouragement

• Prepare your documents to reflect your current professional role or position yourself for a future-forward pivot or reinvention.
• Take charge of your professional narratives by keeping your documents ready for opportunities as they arise. Engage in career management so you don’t have to scramble if the situation arises that you need a resume fast.

Conclusion

• I cannot stress the importance of keeping your resume and LinkedIn profile updated and optimized to reflect the best version of you. Being minimalistic will NOT tell your story, as people do not have ESP. 
• Writing without metrics will NOT share your impact. What should anyone care about the accomplishments in your head that are not in writing? They don’t know what they don’t know. Include STAR, SOAR, PAR, CAR, or PARADE stories.
• If you need a resume review, book a free discovery call. See NEXT STEPS below.

NEXT STEPS

• Subscribe to my newsletter on LinkedIn™ for bright ideas on how to manage your career.
• If you need a resume or LinkedIn™ profile to get you to your next step, book a call to chat! Can’t beat a free discovery call!
• Join as a member at https://greatcareers.org/membership of the #1 business networking association on the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Book of Lists four years in a row! 
• To support our charity at KeepOnSharing.com and use the referral code Career
• Follow #GreatCareersPHL 

BIO

Lynne Williams, Ed.D. Candidate, is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Network, which provides online career development and networking for career transition (job seekers) and career management (employed and self-employed). Lynne writes resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and LinkedIn company pages, and focuses on keywords. She is currently working on her doctoral dissertation on the topic of LinkedIn.  

Lynne was included with other LinkedIn peers on the 2024 list of the Top 50 LinkedIn Experts worldwide and on the same 2022/2023 list. In addition, she was on the Philadelphia list of the Top 15 LinkedIn Experts in 2023. She is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in  Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker on career topics. Connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/lynnewilliams and visit https://linktr.ee/lynnewilliams to learn more.