How to Add Your Resume to LinkedIn

You can upload your resume to your LinkedIn profile to share with your network, upload it to LinkedIn while applying for a job and save it to use with future applications, or create a specific LinkedIn post featuring your resume. There are many time-saving and networking benefits when you know how to add your resume to LinkedIn. Let’s explore your options for highlighting your resume on LinkedIn.

Choose a method of uploading your resume to LinkedIn

Once you've created your LinkedIn account, you can use it in various ways to enhance your professional career. Along with networking with others in your industry, you can upload your resume for recruiters to view and apply for jobs on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, after all, had over 20 million users in Canada as of June 2022, according to data on Statista [1]. People in the age group of 25 to 34 years accounted for 54.3 per cent of LinkedIn users. The next closest was the 35 to 54 age range, accounting for 24.7 per cent of LinkedIn users in the country.

To fully take advantage of the platform, you may want to follow one of these many ways to post your resume to LinkedIn.

Upload your resume to the Featured Media section 

The featured media section is where you can upload or add items to your main profile page. You can use it to showcase your work, such as articles you’ve written and presentations you’ve given. You’ll also find that it allows you to provide external links to portfolios, resumes, and other content. Uploading your resume to this section is simple:

1. Go to your LinkedIn profile page

2. Click “Add section”

3. Expand the section labelled “Featured”

4. Click on “Media”

5. Search your files for the resume you want to feature and upload it from your computer or device

If you choose this method, remove any contact information from your resume, as it will be publicly available. Don’t worry about being reachable. If someone sees your resume and thinks you may be a good fit for a job, they can message you on LinkedIn.

Apply with Easy Apply

LinkedIn has millions of job posts on its site [2]. When you find a job you want to apply for, LinkedIn's Easy Apply option will come in handy. Note that if the job posting only has an “Apply” option, you'll visit an external site to fill out an application directly with the company. Here's how to add your resume to a job posted on LinkedIn when the Easy Apply option is available:

1. Pull up the job listing for which you’d like to apply.

2. If Easy Apply is an option that the job poster has allowed, you’ll click the blue button that says “Easy Apply.”

3. A window will pop up that asks for some information. Make sure you've filled this out correctly, then click “Next.”

4. Use the “Upload Resume” button to find your resume file from your computer or device, upload it, and click next. 

5. There will be a few additional prompt slides asking you for a bit more information. 

6. The last prompt gives you a chance to review your application. Make sure all information is correct, then click “Submit Application.”

Create a post for your resume

Making your resume available can help employers and recruiters who come across your profile. Be proactive by posting your resume in a LinkedIn post that will appear in your connections' home page feeds. All you have to do is:

1. Click the “Start a Post” button at the top of your LinkedIn feed.

2. Click the icon that looks like a note.

3. Click “Choose File” and upload your resume.

4. Once those steps are complete, click “Done” at the bottom right of the window.

With this method, people can now download your resume directly from the post. Again, make sure you remove any contact information from your resume that you don't want to share publicly. Since this is a feed post, it’s also a good idea to add a few simple sentences about your career goals and aspirations. Adding relevant keywords can also help your post get found (more on that below).

Treat your profile like a resume

You can also add all the information on your resume to your LinkedIn profile page. This is one of the most common ways people use LinkedIn. Profiles are a great way to showcase work experience, educational background, and other skills that are typically on a resume.

Profile Pro Tip

Putting your resume information front and centre allows your profile to show up in search results when hiring managers or recruiters are looking for new hires. It also gives you a place to send potential employers or clients to see credentials. Many job application systems on company websites will include a field for your LinkedIn profile URL.

How do you add your resume to your LinkedIn profile? It’s simple:

1. Add three to five sentences about you in the “About” section

2. Add your complete job history under the “Experience” section

3. Fill out the “Education,” “Volunteering,” “Skills,” and “Honours and Awards” sections with relevant experiences to each section

Advantages of having a resume on LinkedIn

There are many advantages of having a resume on LinkedIn. Uploading to Easy Apply simplifies the application process. Having your resume on LinkedIn also helps you gain exposure, letting recruiters and connections alike know you’re job searching.

LinkedIn also uses your uploaded resume to recommend relevant jobs, help grow your network, and personalize your feed. Here are a few other things to do to get the most out of LinkedIn:

1. Download the LinkedIn app. Treat it like any other social media app. Check it often, engage with others, follow potential employers to stay up to date on their happenings, and share articles that you think are interesting.

2. Have a current and professional profile picture. According to LinkedIn, users with profile pictures have 21 times more views and nine times more requests for connections than those without a picture [3]. When choosing a photo, keep in mind this is a professional platform.

3. Make connections that matter. Seek out the accounts of coworkers and professional contacts in your industry. In developing your network, value quality LinkedIn connections over quantity.

4. Contribute more content. Sharing content is an easy way to make sure you’re being seen. It’s also a way to showcase your knowledge and impress future employers.

Get noticed on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a networking platform with more than 875 million users globally [4]. It’s an excellent place to make connections and grow your network. There are several ways to make sure your profile stands out among the digital crowd. Here are a few:

Include relevant keywords.

Having good keywords in both your profile and resume plays a big part in you showing up in recruiter searches. Titles, location, and skills weigh heavy here—although location-based keywords may matter less as remote work continues in popularity. For example, it won’t make a difference if you live in Edmonton or Moncton, so Canada will suffice.

One good way to choose keywords is to look at job listings that fit what you’re looking for and use the keywords from those listings in your profile. Many of the keywords you see in postings will also be what recruiters use when searching for candidates. Be wary of fluff or buzzwords that sound interesting but are not good keywords. Examples of these would be words like “rock star” and “guru.”

Use resume optimization tools.

Many candidates submit job applications online, which means it is read by a computer rather than a human. More and more employers are using AI-based applicant tracking systems to sort out the best, most qualified candidates, according to Jobscan [5].

Thankfully, just as technology tracks applications, you can also use technology to optimize your resume and hopefully reach the hands (or inbox) of an actual human.

Some services exist solely to help you optimize your resume keywords—Jobscan and Skill Syncer, to name two. These tools compare your resume to the description of the job you’re applying for. It calculates how well you match the job description and recommends keywords to add to your resume.

Taking advantage of these technologies will give your application a boost over hundreds of other applicants who did not optimize their resumes.

Align your experiences.

When applying for jobs, it’s essential to ensure your experience aligns with the jobs you’re applying for. This means making sure your skills align with what you want to do. If you want to make a switch, it can be good to list the industry you’re aiming to work in on your resume, as well as the industries you’ve worked in previously.

Take the next steps.

If you do not yet have a resume built, you can use resources that offer free resume templates. Canva is a great place to create an attractive resume. Google Docs also has a free template gallery. Both of these websites are user-friendly.

On Coursera, you can find courses on resume writing that can be helpful if you’d like some information on what it takes to build the perfect resume.

Once you’ve updated your resume and learned added it to LinkedIn, you can start networking and applying to a plethora of jobs on the site.