I tailor my resume per job application but running into issues as my LinkedIn doesn't match my resume. Due to my eclectic background, I've worked in a lot of industries.

19 Comments

1. AnonymousDecember 15,2024 at 6:28PM UTC

   I understand your issue with tailoring resumes to match a potential position and your LinkedIn profile does not match the resume. To solve that problem, only the organization's name and my position titles are on my LinkedIn profile. There are no position details. That is done on purpose. In reality, we do a lot in our positions, and it would be difficult to include everything detail on our LinkedIn profiles. Also, this allows me to expand on those functions.

2. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistDecember 15,2024 at 10:42PM UTC

   Everyone is free to set up their LinkedIN profile how they choose. Just so long as you're aware that setting yours up that way will work against you if you're in a job search.

   I could be looking for someone doing exactly what you have experience doing when I run a search in LI, but if you do not have that information if your profile, you will not come up in my search results. And if by some wild chance that you did come up in my search results, I would most probably not reach out to you because I would have no idea what you've been doing.

3. AnonymousDecember 17,2024 at 1:27AM UTC

   Hi Joan,

   You are correct that individuals are free to structure their LinkedIn profiles in a way that best suits their needs. I believe it is also important to note that not everyone uses LinkedIn solely as a tool for job hunting.

   In the original discussion, the concern was about tailoring a resume to match specific job opportunities. Personally, I prefer to maintain my LinkedIn profile at a high level, which allows me to control the narrative. Additionally, I generally do not respond to unsolicited inquiries from recruiters or HR representatives for two reasons: first, there are a few companies or industries where I would not seek employment; and second, there is an increasing number of employment-related scams that pose risks of identity theft.

   Thank you for bypassing my high-level LinkedIn profile.

4. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistDecember 17,2024 at 4:53AM UTC

   You're welcome.

   This forum is geared toward job search advice and in this current very tough job market. my reply was not just addressed to you in particular but to those who are currently in an active job search or for those who may find themselves in an unexpected one in the future.

   Many jobseekers on here ask why they're not getting noticed and having a profile with no information in it is one reason.

5. Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistDecember 16,2024 at 7:30AM UTC

   The most important things that should match on the resume and LinkedIn profiles are the dates and the position info (company and title).

6. AnonymousDecember 16,2024 at 4:52PM UTC

   OP: Thank you all. I submit my tailored resume but then I see companies looking at my LinkedIn instead. I have a stronger resume than LInkedIn as while trying to be concise, there's so many facets that I did in each role that I'm finding it difficult. Example: In my last role, I directed a 10-member marketing and publicity team, was lead marketer for a entertainment marketing division, headed publicity, managed corporate communication, media partnerships and sales marketing. That's one role and when submitting my resume, I highlight specific skills while on LinkedIN, I feel those hodge podge of skills following by other roles in finance, entertainment, education and journalism is confusing even for me to get across succinctly on LinkedIn. To make things more difficult, while I worked in banking during the pandemic, I was responsible for entertainment events and brand marketing. I feel when a recruiter looks at my LInkedIn they are quick to judge industry and title rather than what I really did at the company.

7. AnonymousDecember 18,2024 at 1:16AM UTC

   Ugh….

8. surfnwriteDecember 17,2024 at 1:18PM UTC

   I think everyone tailors their resumes to focus on what they're applying for and if people don't realize that when comparing your resume to Linked-in, they are either short-sighted or annoyingly anal and you probably wouldn't' t be happy working there. But if you want to mitigate any concern, discuss in your cover letter than you have a variety of experience in different fields.

9. AnonymousDecember 17,2024 at 2:45PM UTC

   Yo, what are you talking about?

10. AnonymousDecember 17,2024 at 3:25PM UTC

    For your resume, I’d make sure your responsibilities “fit” the job description as closely as possible as opposed to making the job title align. For instance I wanted to get out of legal and after reviewing my responsibilities more closely with jobs of interest, I realized a lot of what I do is project management (an area of interest). I focused my responsibilities toward project management (aligning to the job description) and less in the industry as much as possible. Where appropriate I also updated my job title (ie., project manager/paralegal).

    Hope this helps.

11. AnonymousDecember 17,2024 at 10:18PM UTC

    I would recommend a "master list" where you list every possible job duty in every position you've held. I see a recommendation for you to keep your info general on LinkedIn, but since you think recruiters are going to LinkedIn instead of reviewing your resume, consider putting the "master list" on LinkedIn. LinkedIn will show chronological order, and that's fine. For your resume you should focus on transferable skills - if your main duty was answering calls and a secondary duty was scheduling meetings, skip or minimize the mention of "answering calls" if you're applying for an office scheduling job. If some previous roles were the same field as what you're applying for, list them first as Relevant Experience, then list Other Experience (newest to oldest so it matches the LinkedIn order) and try to highlight the most transferable (or relevant if there's truly nothing that would translate) aspects. Once you've got your master list, it's easier to just delete whatever isn't relevant. This will make it easy for them to match up your submitted resume with your LinkedIn and they won't wonder if you're hiding something.

12. Inea WestDecember 18,2024 at 1:21PM UTC

    Ma’am..where did she say she was using other people’s profile????

13. Inea WestDecember 18,2024 at 1:24PM UTC

    This!

14. Andrea ChavesDecember 18,2024 at 2:46PM UTC

    I understand you’ve been in marketing all this time. It doesn’t really matter that you’ve been working in different industries, you have transferable skills.

    My advice: search for the keywords for the job you want and tailor your resume using those words. Remember to focus more on achievements than tasks and add numbers to them (increased by x%).

15. AnonymousDecember 18,2024 at 2:47PM UTC

    She was talking about not having the capability to continually keep changing her LinkedIn profile to match every job description she applies for. Every position you apply for, you should be highlighting things in your resume to better match the job description. Although you wouldn’t necessarily do that on your LinkedIn every time.

16. Tami L CannizzaroDecember 18,2024 at 5:19PM UTC

    Here's how I've been successful with this: Our work experience is "fact", something that doesn't change. This info should be basically the same on both the resume and LinkedIn. This is important for recruiters who get our resume then review our LI profile, as they are confirming our experience rather than wondering which version is correct. When it comes to "tailoring" the resume, that doesn't mean completely overhaul or redo the resume. What it "does" mean is to highlight our experience that's relevant to the job for which we are applying. For example, my experience in marketing covers a lot of ground. If I'm applying for an Event Marketing position, under each company/experience, I'm going to make sure any bullet relevant to event marketing is at the top, rather than lower on the list. The bigger adjustment comes at the top of my resume in my professional statement, where I speak specifically to my abilities as an event marketer. I don't change my LinkedIn. In the header, use all of that space to list job titles/industries, i.e. Marketing Director, Marketing Manager, Strategic Marketing, MarComm, Public Relations (etc or whatever works for your industry). I hope this helps.

17. AnonymousDecember 18,2024 at 5:41PM UTC

    Your situation perfectly explains why LinkedIn doesn't work well for most people. This is why I did not join LinkedIn when it started 20-ish years ago and will never join LinkedIn in the future. But to answer your question, I would delete the LinkedIn and focus on Indeed and Ziprecruiter because your LinkedIn will only be used against you when it doesn't match what your resume says.

18. AnonymousDecember 18,2024 at 8:51PM UTC

    OP: Great ideas and I appreciate everyone's feedback! Looking into creating a master list and Related Work Experience section as I think that will be helpful for both LinkedIn positioning and my resumes. Thank you!

19. Nancy CincottaDecember 19,2024 at 2:04PM UTC

    I have a similar situation. It wasn’t until I chose one path from that background and focused all efforts on that, that I was able to land the role best-suited to me. Happens to be a better role with much better pay and growth potential. It sounds counterintuitive to restrict yourself when you have so many options bc of your background but it even helps with the interviewing— your answers flow bc you are consistent. HTH