Professional Resumes and LinkedIn Profiles –

I am a freelance writer. I write business blogs for a few blogging companies. I also write website content. Recently, though, I have developed a niche business with friends and good acquaintances by assisting with resume development and LinkedIn profile set-ups.

I have attended many resume-writing courses to develop my own professional resume. There are various styles from chronological to functional, targeted to nontraditional. Personally, I use a combined approach. The goal with any resume is to communicate your professional information and history in a concise, easy-to-read format, regardless of the type of style you choose.

Tips to create a comprehensive resume:

1) Do not include your address on your resume. Due to the increase in identity theft, the only contact information you need are an email address, a phone number, and a LinkedIn profile URL.

2) Provide a comprehensive list of your employment history, including the company name, address, and phone number. Additionally, you should include your supervisor’s name and the title of your position.

3) Include your job duties, responsibilities, skills, and expertise. In addition, many HR professionals are interested in results of each job responsibility. If you are an ESL teacher, provide analytics that include the number of students you teach and learning growth data. For example, if a majority of your students were not at grade-level reading at the beginning of the academic year and 75% achieved this goal by the end of the year, include this information. Each job duty should have at least one example of a specific result that you have achieved.

4) Add any professional and volunteer acknowledgements and awards. HR professionals deem it an asset when others have acknowledged your accomplishments.

5) Education and training are a must on any resume. You no longer need to list the year of your graduation or certification. This can be a disadvantage if you are either a seasoned or young professional. The goal is to secure an interview and then allow your winning personality to promote your experience in person.

Tips to create a complete LinkedIn profile:

1) Follow the tips for creating a resume. In addition, customize your personal LinkedIn profile URL to use on your resume. To do this, copy and paste this link to the LinkedIn Help Center: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/87

2) Follow the LinkedIn prompts to create a complete profile. LinkedIn will prompt you to add information to your profile. I have included some online publications, college courses related to my field, causes that I support, etc. Every time LinkedIn would offer a suggestion to improve my profile, I added what was pertinent to my industry.

3) Add a profile picture. It is hard to create connections with others when you present yourself as a blue profile head. Your picture doesn’t need to be a professional head shot but it should look professional. I have seen profile photos with family pets and poor crop jobs with another person’s shoulder in the head shot. I suggest a friendly smile but if you aren’t the friendly, smiling type of person, you can look professional without looking hostile and harsh. Plus, LinkedIn is a professional social media site; sexy, provocative photos should be avoided.

4) Join groups to communicate with others. This is a networking site and groups are a great way to meet people and make business connections. You will find that you can easily increase your connections by finding people through groups.

5) Share information via posts frequently. LinkedIn is not necessarily the place to sell yourself, your business, or products. Just by connecting with others, you are increasing your visibility. The hard sell, though, is definitely not appreciated. If you are an expert in your field, sharing links to interesting articles or providing information on upcoming events (networking, training, etc.) seems to increase a more positive response.

With both the resume and LinkedIn profile, it is important to use industry-specific language that HR professionals may use to identify you as a potential hire. Human Resource personnel are given specific education and job-related functions by companies as requirements to fill positions. If you utilize the proper lexicon for your industry, you will increase your chances of standing out amongst the multitude of other job seekers and securing an interview.

Remember, many companies now vet through LinkedIn. I suggest you create a killer LinkedIn profile and customize your LinkedIn URL to add to your resume. I wish the best of luck to all the job seekers!