September 2021 – Croixstone

Know How Your Resume Differs From Your LinkedIn Profile

Your resume and LinkedIn profile are two foundational tools that support your personal brand. While each plays a role in communicating your professional background and expertise, they serve slightly different purposes. And because of this fact, your resume and LinkedIn profile should be different.

So just how should they be different?

We leveraged the expertise from the team at Vault to answer this question.

Customization. Many experts recommend that you customize your resume for each job to meet the relevant needs of a specific position and the hiring manager. Your LinkedIn profile, on the other hand, does the broad job of presenting your professional persona. While it may require some tweaking, you typically don’t tailor it to the same degree as your resume to fit the requirements of a role.

Length & Level of Detail. You don’t have the luxury of space with your resume. The document is designed to be scanned so that recruiters and hiring managers can quickly understand your career narrative and qualifications. Your LinkedIn profile offers the luxury of space to communicate a full and colorful story. Use it to your advantage and be certain to include information about involvement with professional associations, nonprofit organizations, etc.

Supplementary Proof. Your resume is typically a 1-2 page stand alone document. LinkedIn offers features for you to add attachments, hyperlinks, videos, skill endorsements, recommendations and more. We recommend that you take full advantage of these features to shape your colorful story on LinkedIn.

Privacy. Since LinkedIn is a public platform, you need to be careful about listing confidential business metrics or sensitive personal information. Since your resume is a private document to be selectively shared, there is more opportunity to include specific facts and figures that build a strong case for you to be hired.

Tone of Voice. While professionalism is a must on both your resume and LinkedIn, your tone can differ. Your resume should prioritize formal wording over colloquial phrasings, and you should avoid using first-person pronouns. Since LinkedIn exists as a networking site and social platform, a degree of informality is allowed to the extent that you should feel at liberty to showcase your personality (within the boundaries of professionalism, of course).

Imagery. For the vast majority of job seekers, your resume should never include your photo. On LinkedIn, a professional profile picture is essential to sharing the story of you.

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Personal Branding & Job Seeking Tips for Older Professionals

Last week the folks at outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas issued a press release to promote the benefits of companies hiring workers over the age of 55. Having recently conducted a national survey where 81% of respondents cited difficulty in filling roles, the outplacement firm is wisely touting the advantages of hiring experience.

That said, employers continue to deal with the misguided bias in perceiving that the over 55 age group can’t use technology well or work remotely. As a consulting firm built squarely on the foundation of highly experienced professionals, the Croixstone team appreciates the following tips that Challenger, Gray & Christmas shared to combat this issue.

Update your resume. Be sure your resume is up to date and emphasizes the accomplishments you achieved in your most recent positions. Do not go into great detail about things you did more than 10 or 15 years ago. Let your expertise shine, but trim the resume to keep it to two or three pages. Consider leaving off your earliest positions if they are no longer relevant.

Don’t apologize for your age. Never be untruthful about how old you are and don’t apologize for it. Be confident and have a positive attitude about all you have to offer. Your age reflects years of valuable experience that can translate into impactful contributions to a company.

Stay current. Make sure technology has not passed you by. Do you know what software is being used in your field? Are you comfortable using video platforms for interviews or meetings? If not, learn. Take courses. Seek out tutoring. Practice. Gain new credentials and list them on your resume. Read job descriptions to find out what employers are seeking. Get a new personal, professional email address (e.g.,xxxjones@gmail.com versus ChessAce1@aol.com).

Embrace LinkedIn. Once you update your resume, be sure to put the same information on your LinkedIn profile. Learn how to use LinkedIn to network and to learn about job opportunities. Add a professional headshot.

Check your attitude. Even if you have to stifle it, do not come across as annoyed by being interviewed by someone half your age. Do not be condescending.

Be active on social media. Your social media presence will be checked by recruiters and potential employers. Being active on social media shows you are current. This is a way to market your brand. You may be “older,” but if your online presence shows you as active, vibrant, and healthy (cycling on Facebook, running a 5K on Instagram), it helps counteract any preconceived negative notions of how “older” is defined.

Network. Reach out to your relationships you have spent a career building. Let them help spread the word that you are ready, willing, and able to find a new role.

Be open and be positive. Explore positions that may offer less money and a lower title than in your past. Think about safer roles during the pandemic, such as jobs you can do online from your home. It may take time to find the position for you, but with over 10 million open positions in June, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, there are plenty available.

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Consulting Industry Factoids

How is the consulting industry faring amidst the global pandemic?

Thanks to the hard work of our talented consultants, Croixstone Consulting celebrated a record revenue year in 2020 (and 2021 is proving to be even better)! In light of our firm’s success, we decided to dive into Statista’s latest published consulting industry research over the weekend to see how the rest of the industry is faring.

Here are 5 fast facts about the management consulting industry.

Industry Size: The global consulting market delivers $132B in annual revenues while the USA market produces $64.4B. The USA is the world’s largest management consulting market.

COVID Impact: After experiencing continuous growth between 2015 and 2019, the consulting industry saw a significant revenue loss (-12.5%) across all markets and segments in 2020.

Number of Businesses: In 2020, the number of consulting businesses in the USA reached 831,621, a slight increase over 2019. It is estimated that this number will increase by 30,000 units in 2021.

Number of Consultants: Since 2012, the number of management consultants in the USA has increased every year, reaching 734,000 consultants in 2020.

Revenue Per Consultant: The average annual revenue per consultant of management consultancies worldwide decreased overall between 2015 and 2020. During a 2020 survey, respondents reported an average annual revenue per consultant of $208K.

Click here to read more highlights from Statista’s latest research on the consulting services industry.