LinkedIn to replace Resume

For lower income, less experienced, non-professionals a resume may be their only tool. Your profile in LinkedIn should contain much the same information as a resume. Branding is not in everyone's ability to establish. We have blogs, personal websites, etc. Those venues are being utilized by companies, recruiters and anyone else with an agenda on who they are seeking. A resume and the exercises used to populate it are still in demand. For those who are career changers or good in several different fields because of ability or their own interests in life will find it difficult to target one thing for everyone. LinkedIn would be the most popular venue where Branding is a must. One profile, one direction, but with industries failing and many employers seeking the best of the best in a particular field, some can be overlooked; so LinkedIn can continue to be the networking tool to help you go and find the people you need to connect with. The fact that Recruiters are using it to find candidates will also limit their choices because at the time of the search, the perfect candidate is trolling and not specific enough to get caught. Candidates should still reach out, find those who can help and use the Social Media for that purpose. How do you stand out from the crowd? Go to the leaders, not wait to be found.

Yes, recruiters and hiring managers look at LinkedIn profiles to get the gist of someone's experience, see their photo and read what people say about them. LinkedIn is a very important tool for a job search and for building your professional brand.

But depending on a social profile to present your experience tailored to a specific opportunity is a bad idea, and when you sit down in an interview, as Perry says, the interviewer is not going to be using your LinkedIn profile as a guideline, nor can they take notes on it.

A resume is your chance to present yourself for a specific job. It's your marketing document and it presents the information you want them to have about you in the way you want them to see it. It will be evaluated and filed digitally, but not showing up to an interview with one printed on paper is a big mistake. A great resume creates the impression you want, gives the information you want to give, and can be the tipping point for getting the offer.