Should your client’s LinkedIn summary be the same as their resume summary?
This is a common question for professionals who use both a LinkedIn page and resume as the “meat and potatoes” of their job search. Knowing whether your client’s LinkedIn summary and resume summary should be different is a very valid question.
Resume summaries SHOULD BE different from LinkedIn summaries; but ultimately, NOT completely different.
Here are 3 main differences between the LinkedIn summaries and resume summaries for your clients:
1. The resume summary is generally a bit shorter and written in the third person (e.g. instead of using I, you say professional, manager, or executive). The best practice for writing your client’s LinkedIn summaries is to use first-person wordage (e.g. I and my). Since resume summaries are shorter, maybe 6 lines or so, LinkedIn summaries can be up to a dozen or so lines long. In fact, some folks consider LinkedIn summaries to be a brief bio.
2. The resume summary is oftentimes written very “tight” and includes a fair amount of keywords/keyphrases. The LinkedIn summaries you write, on the other hand, should be written “loose” and have a conversational tone (see the below example). Definitely err on the side of caution, ensuring that you aren’t too relaxed with your word choices. You will still want your client’s LinkedIn profiles to be professional.
3. LinkedIn secured an eye-popping $1.2B (that’s billion!) just from its recruitment platform in 2016. So, although recruiters and HR managers are checking out your client’s LinkedIn profiles, they will ultimately want to see their resume too. This is the reasoning as well behind making sure your client’s resume summaries and LinkedIn summaries aren’t duplicate copies of each other. This doesn’t mean there can’t have some similarities — because you will.
How To Transform a Resume Summary Into a LinkedIn Summary
Here’s an example of how a resume summary can be reworked to a LinkedIn summary. Notice that the LinkedIn summary has been rewritten to use first-person wordage and is much more conversational.
Example of Resume Summary From a Client’s Resume
VP of Customer Care – Leverage & Improve Programs, Processes, and Systems That Enhance The Customer Experience & Increase Customer Satisfaction Levels
Take complex projects and programs from conceptualization (data gathering and analysis) to subsequent development and implementation. Manage the projects and programs that support sales and customer service activities; i.e. portfolio development and referral strategies. Focus efforts on multiple departments and functions, specifically handling projects that improve human resources, financial management, customer service/ management, and sales areas of a retail operation.
Example of How The Above Resume Summary Can Be Rewritten to a LinkedIn Summary
Thanks for visiting my LinkedIn profile.
I’m a VP of Customer Care with JohnsonBQ, Inc., overseeing customer service and relationship-building activities for a call center handling 30,000 calls per month. My goal with my current employer is to focus heavily on the complete customer experience, starting with the initial call and progressing throughout the complete client relationship. With management, I identify and improve the programs, processes, and systems that employers are using so I can identify ways to make improvements.
A new component of my current is to analyze and leverage departmental data. By reviewing micro and macro data for my department, I’ve been able to support and improve sales and customer service activities. I also utilize my role to support human resources, financials, customer service, and business development.
In short, I identify the gaps in performance for the customer care team in addition to working closely with the departments that rely heavily on customer satisfaction and revenue.
Please feel free to connect with me if you’re within a management or executive-level customer care position — my email is [email protected].
