Your LinkedIn Profile, Resume, and Cover Letter Are Different. Here's How They SHOULD Be Working Together.

Tell Your Story

There’s no shortage of personal branding articles and information out there.

When it comes to a job search, you’ve likely thought about your resume, cover letter, and even your LinkedIn profile.

You know they’re important but…

How can your LinkedIn profile, resume, and cover letter work together to your advantage?

1. LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn is the big, broad picture of who you are as a professional. It’s the most robust.

You also have the most creative freedom on LinkedIn (relative to your resume and cover letter) to tell your entire story.

And as you think about that story consider how you want to be known, by whom, and for what? There should be cohesion.

You can encapsulate a whole range of experiences on your LinkedIn. Whether they apply to a specific role or not.

When it comes to your LinkedIn profile, there are no limitations on how to phrase things or how much space to use, though there are certainly best practices.

2. Resume

Where LinkedIn is a place for a broader brand or story, your resume is a one-page strategic sales document.

It is NOT a running list of everything you've ever done. Your resume isn't even about you.

Your resume should be written as "you in context of them [company]".

Your resume is future-oriented and should be written for the type of role you wish to secure. Which may or may not be the type of role you’ve had before.

Look through numerous job descriptions to identify the key skills sought by employers for that type of role. Highlight the action words you see. You can also gather this information from conversations with individuals at your companies of interest doing the work you find interesting.

Identify the top 7-10 skills that they're looking for. Those skills become the focus of what goes on your resume.

A strong resume bullet = Action + Context + Result (more on maximizing your resume)

• Highlight the key skills the role calls for using the specific action words from the job description at the beginning of your bullets = ACTION
• Are you showcasing your impact/value add/result of using that specific skill? If your bullets read like a list of responsibilities in a job description, you are missing the mark. = RESULT
• Are you adding context so that the hiring manager can understand the scope and scale of your work? = CONTEXT (this stuff goes in the middle of the bullet between the action and the result)

3. Cover Letter

The scope continues to narrow as you get to the cover letter. Here you're showcasing your knowledge, research and understanding of what that specific company is looking for most in someone to fill the open role.

By only showcasing and elaborating on the top 2-3 skills and how you’ve used those to bring about a positive result, you are demonstrating that you know what will really add value to the organization via the role.

Here's my guide on writing cover letters with just the right amount of customization.

Summary

• The focus as you move from your LinkedIn profile to your resume to your cover letter becomes more narrow and focused on that particular role and company.
• It's not about you. It's "you in context of them."
• LinkedIn is the broadest and offers the most flexibility in how you tell your professional story.
• Your resume is a one-page strategic sales document focused on the top 5-10 key skills sought by the employer.
• The cover letter is hyper focused on the top 2-3 skills and how you’ve used them to bring about a positive result.

If I can answer any questions or help in any way in developing a strategy to find work you wake up excited to do, shoot me a message right here on LinkedIn! I'd love to help.

Erin

PS Making a career change or executing an effective job search is more than just resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and cover letters. Get instant access at erinallett.com to the 6-Step Roadmap my clients use to get out of the wrong job and into a career they're actually excited about...without starting over.