I’ve spent the last year or two updating and adding to my LinkedIn profile and it has a ton of information about me. But now the job I’m applying for wants a resume from me and I really don’t want to create one from scratch. Is there a way to export my profile information from LinkedIn so I can sidestep the problem?
There is a way to do that and while it’s different from even a year ago [see my now obsolete article Can LinkedIn Produce a Resume For Me? to compare with the current approach] it’s not too hard to figure out.
As a first step, it’s obviously a good idea to give your LinkedIn Profile a once over, a quick pass to ensure that it doesn’t show as current jobs you had in the past, shows everything you’re currently involved with, etc. Looks good? Good!
Now on LinkedIn, look along the top menu for “Profile”:
You can pop up the choices and see what options it gives you…
Or you can just click on the word “Profile” itself. Either way, you’ll want to end up looking at your own profile, which will look just like mine (though hopefully with a different photo!)
Click on the “Edit” button and a number of options appear:
Choose Export to PDF and you’ll be ready to go, though in some browsers it’ll default to showing you the PDF document rather than saving it on your computer. This is Safari on a Mac:
I choose “Save File”, click “OK” and seconds later I have a file “DaveTaylor.pdf” that I can forward along to hiring managers, etc. Hope that helps out and good luck with the new job!
So wait, are you saying that you can simply export your Linkedin profile and use it as a resume? Is that a thing people are doing nowadays? I certainly have nothing against it, but it just seems too good to be true. Making a resume in the past was always such an ordeal; I’d love to be able to just export something and have it ready made for me.
That’s exactly what I’m saying, Elizabeth. Is the Linkedin export the best possible resume for a job seeker? Probably not. But it’s a great starting point…
Lots of information missing in the exported PDF…
Try SaveTheResumes.com. Fast and free export of LinkedIn profile to PDF or an editable MS Word document.
LinkedIn is removing the Export to PDF feature in their new redesign. This stinks. But I found a tool that will create a PDF or MS Word document from your linkedin profile. It’s the LinkedIn PDF Exporter at http://www.savetheresumes.com. It’s free, fast, and worked well for me.
I import my phone number in the likned in profile .But when I export it my phone number is not appearing!!can eny one help ?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t let you choose which contact data to print out, so mine just comes out without even my phone number, just my email!
Sucks…
Dave,
Your post is really helpful. It is simple and direct. Thanks!
Troy
Buyer beware !! doyoubuzz.com may be “free” but will not populate from Linkedin. I have tried it and the whole thing really sucks. 15 minutes of my life wasted, so don’t waste yours registering, etc. to doyoubuzz.
Thanks for this tip. I also download my profile to a PDF and save it each month. As a career coach I also recommend that you visit http://www.linkedinlabs.com and check out their resume builder. In addition http://www.doyoubuzz.com is another free resume site that will populate from LinkedIn. By the way, API systems do not read PDFs so it’s best to have your resume in a text rich or Word file. Be well, Anne Pryor