Which Matters More: Your Resume or LinkedIn Profile?

Question : I don't have a lot of time to prepare for my exit from the military. Which should I focus on: a resume or building a LinkedIn profile?

Answer : Hmmm, is that like asking, "I have two hungry children. Who do I give the food to?"

All kidding aside, transitioning from the military to civilian sector requires time, attention and focus. There are no shortcuts, quick fixes or ways to fake it. To have a meaningful and successful transition into the next chapter of your life will take work -- work you'll have to put in.

Let's look at the two transition tools you mentioned: a professional resume and your LinkedIn profile. While very different pieces of your career, they serve a similar purpose. They tell others about your skills, experience and interests.

The Resume

Your resume offers a look backward at everything you've done professionally. From your schooling, training and certifications to your successes, milestones and professional accomplishments, this document highlights your fit for an open position.

Hiring professionals use resumes to assess a candidate's qualifications and potential competency for the job they're hiring. There are requirements and preferences the hiring professional is looking to see on your resume to determine whether you move further in consideration. They want to see whether you have enough training and experience, the right certifications and credentials, and they may evaluate your writing style and ability to communicate your personal brand.

What most resumes fail to do, however, is project who you are and what you can offer in the future. Most resumes simply look backward, offering a catalog of bulleted lists of achievements in the hope that the reader (or applicant tracking system) is intuitive enough to extrapolate the value you can offer the company, if selected for the position.

The LinkedIn Profile

On the other hand, a profile on LinkedIn is like a mini-website for you to promote and position yourself for your career. LinkedIn gives you tremendous real estate on the site to highlight your accomplishments, goals, interests and talents.

On your LinkedIn profile, you can explain why you chose your career path, describing your passion for your career, including military service. And you can clarify a career pivot. If, for example, you're leaving the military as a medic and are pursuing your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. On a resume, you're limited on space. Your LinkedIn profile has ample room for explanation.

Hiring professionals love to view LinkedIn profiles. As the data supports (and many have shared with me personally), they view LinkedIn as a place to learn more about a candidate beyond what's bulleted out on a resume. For instance, they can see how you write about yourself, the ways you interact and engage with others (in your comments, shares and posts), how you describe your skills in more narrative form and what other people say about you (in endorsing your skills or offering you recommendations on your profile).

While a resume is a necessary piece of the job-change toolkit, LinkedIn is a living story of who you are, what you care about and where you're heading. If you're just looking for a job, focus on a resume. Want to build a career? Make sure you have a well-thought-out LinkedIn profile and share knowledge, insights, interests and engage with others regularly.

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