Personal Branding

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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41 Day Challenge: Refresh Your Personal Brand

“It’s a new brand world.”

So began an article published in Fast Company magazine in August 1997 whereby the concept of personal branding was introduced by business author, management guru, and speaker Tom Peters. Tom’s compelling premise was that all of us are CEOs of our companies: Me Inc. He promoted that to be in business in today’s world, our most important job is to be the head marketer for the brand called You.

Fast Company published this article during the time when resumes dominated the world of personal branding, and LinkedIn’s launch in May of 2003 was still almost 6 years away. As every astute business professional understands, managing your personal brand is an essential responsibility in managing your career.

As we approach the 24th anniversary of Tom Peters’ article, the Croixstone team is launching a 41 Day Challenge to encourage all of our #FreshStart readers to take the time between now and August 31 to refresh your personal brand. Follow the below action plan to get started.

Action Plan to Refresh Your Personal Brand

Step 1: Read Fast Company’s newly-published article on personal branding.

Step 2: Write down 3 qualities that you aspire to in order to differentiate your personal brand.

Step 3: Ask 5 people you know well and another 5 people you know less well to write down 3 adjectives about you.

Step 4: Analyze the similarities and differences between the lists to understand where your personal brand is strong…and where there are disconnects to focus.

Personal Brand Factoids

Everyone has a personal brand. You don’t have a say in the matter. Accept this as a fact and manage it well.

Your personal brand is not permanent. You have to work hard to build a powerful personal brand, and you have to keep working to maintain its power and grow it.

Your personal brand is not what you say about yourself. Your personal brand is what others say about you when you are not in the room. It is an assessment the marketplace makes about who you are and what you bring to the table.

Your personal brand is not an extension of your employer’s brand.

Your personal brand is not your social media presence. Rather, social media amplifies your personal brand.

Personal Branding – Advanced Skills Workshop

A well-developed and communicated personal brand can land you that next great job or promotion. But how do you truly define, and communicate, what sets you apart in the workplace and beyond?

Join personal branding expert Emily Lopez, leader of Croixstone Consulting’s human capital practice, for an interactive, 60-minute Zoom video meeting. Emily is known for her high-energy style and ability to deliver practical, actionable tips to help professionals drive their careers.

You Will Learn the Following

How to find the “secret sauce” that really sets you apart.
How to define what you are all about in the workplace and beyond.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday, June 9
Time: 2-3pm EDT
Cost: Free with Eventbrite registration
Registration Deadline: 5pm EDT on Monday, June 8
Zoom Log-In Info: Will be emailed to each registrant

Write a Winning LinkedIn Headline

Ever wonder how to write a LinkedIn headline that will get you noticed? The following are key messages and tips on how to use your LinkedIn headline to advance your personal branding objectives.

The headline is the section on LinkedIn that gets searched the most.
Your job title is not necessarily the right, or best, headline. You have the ability to change your headline beyond the default that LinkedIn uses (your title). Be purposeful in choosing the right headline.
The headline has a limit of 120 characters so plan your text wisely.
For consulting, consider spotlighting what you do and who you help.

Read Forbes magazine’s full article here for more details and examples.