Your LinkedIn profile and your CV share some common attributes, but they also have some very real differences. What looks great in your online profile might not look so impressive when you push it onto your CV and vice versa, partly because they are different mediums, and partly because of what they are used for.
If you are serious about promoting your career prospects and sending out the right message to the key people, you need to have both working for you.
1. A CV is Focused, LinkedIn Tells a Bigger Story
You normally write a CV for a specific purpose, generally when applying for a job. You tailor it for that reason, and you understand that it needs to grab attention and hit the mark when you send it off. There’s less space to play with, and the wording needs to be highly specific and straight to the point. Many businesses just want a 2-page CV that allows them to decide whether to invite you for an interview or not. If they want to know more about you, they’ll head to your LinkedIn profile.
Conversely, these days the first impression an employer, recruiter or client has of you is made online. If they’ve come across your LinkedIn profile in their search results, and like what they see, they’ll contact you for your CV or invite you straight to interview. LinkedIn has all the colour and back story that you don’t reveal on your CV and can naturally cater for a much wider audience.
LinkedIn has all the colour and back story that you don’t reveal on your CV and can naturally cater for a much wider audience. Think of the difference as similar to a book synopsis and the actual book itself.
The LinkedIn summary section has a limit of 2,000 characters. You can share a lot about yourself with that much space. But remember, out of those 2000 brilliantly worded characters, the readers only get to see about 200-230 characters and even less on mobile, only about 60 characters displaying. You’ll need to find a way to interest readers to click to see more.
2. Active Searching
All things on the internet are active. If you want to find someone with a certain set of skills or background, you actively search for it. LinkedIn profiles are basically a series of web pages promoting you and what you stand for. Whereas a CV is tailored and sent directly to an individual business, your online profile has the potential to attract and engage a much wider audience. Tailoring your LinkedIn account means including the right phrases and keywords that are appropriate to your industry or sector, as well as that value added extra information which provides meat on the bone.
3. Creating a Brand
Branding is important when it comes to developing your online profile. For example, if you want to set yourself up as an expert in your field, or a thought leader in your sector, you need to bring that across in your profile in some way. There’s little room for it on your CV, but there’s plenty of opportunities to do just that with your profile, particularly if you blog and post updates regularly.
4. Interview vs. Online Content
When you write a CV, you don’t have space to provide all the evidence to back things up. On LinkedIn, however, you have space to clarify and provide examples that support your claims. A glowing testimony from your former boss or client will go a long way in convincing a hiring manager that you’re that one for the job. If you have a wide range of experience, you can get former workmates, suppliers, clients and employees to endorse you for particular skills or complement your reputational claims with thoughtful article entries and posts. It’s much easier to humanise yourself with a LinkedIn profile than it is with a CV. For many people, getting the balance exactly right is a problem.
How do you create an eye-catching CV that stands out from the hundreds of others that a potential employer is likely to receive?
What exactly should you include in your LinkedIn profile?
Getting it right requires hard work and plenty of thought.
At ABCV Solutions we can help you stand out both offline and online. Leveraging all the tools at your disposal is increasingly important in today’s competitive job market, and our professional team can work closely with you to ensure you get the exposure you are looking to achieve.
Contact us today to find out more ABCV Solutions
