How To Add Your LinkedIn URL To Your Resume

This article will cover whether or not you should include your LinkedIn URL on your resume, where to place it if you decide to include it, and whether other social media links belong on your resume.

Should You Include Your LinkedIn URL on Your Resume?

In the vast majority of cases, including your LinkedIn URL on your resume is a good idea. Most employers will look you up on LinkedIn anyways, so making their lives a little easier by including the link will reflect positively on you.

Many employers may not even consider you for an interview at all if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile or they can’t find it. So, creating an attractive LinkedIn profile and including the link in your resume can increase your chances of getting interviewed, and, ultimately, hired.

Plus, unlike your resume, your LinkedIn profile isn’t limited to a single page, so you have much more room to highlight all of your work experience, accomplishments, and skills. The platform even allows you to provide social proof of your qualifications through endorsements and recommendations.

You can also include more details about each of your past jobs as well as other information to help potential employers get an idea of who you are as a person. For instance, you can add your volunteer experience, interests, hobbies, and other details that won’t necessarily fit on your resume.

Additionally, you can include examples of your work to your LinkedIn profile, including writing or design samples, slide decks or spreadsheets that you’ve created, links to websites that you have built, and so forth. Of course, only include information that isn’t proprietary to any of your former employers.

When Not To Include Your LinkedIn URL

While nearly everyone can benefit from including their LinkedIn URL on a resume, there are a few situations where you should either not include your URL, or you should spruce up your LinkedIn profile before doing so:

You Don’t Have a LinkedIn Profile

Obviously, if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile set up, you can’t include a URL on your resume. However, for almost any position, a completed, attractive profile on LinkedIn can benefit you, so you may want to consider setting one up and including the URL for future job applications.

Your LinkedIn Profile Isn’t Up To Date

If you set up a LinkedIn account several years ago and haven’t updated it since, you will likely want to leave the URL off your resume or give your profile a quick refresh. Update your experience section with all of the jobs you’ve held in the interim, adding bullet points in the description boxes to highlight your skills and achievements in each position.

Make sure your contact information is up to date, and add a punchy headline that’s similar to the one on your resume. Complete the ‘About’ section with an expanded resume summary that shows potential employers what you have to offer, including your hard and soft skills, biggest achievements, and a recap of your work experience. You could also add a resume objective statement if you're looking to expand your career.

Take and upload a high-quality, professional profile photo, and make sure that you have a decent amount of connections on LinkedIn before you add your link to your resume. Profiles with no photo and/or only a handful of connections may appear suspicious to potential employers.

You Haven’t Customized Your URL

LinkedIn offers a custom URL option which can help your link appear cleaner, more memorable, and better branded. If you haven’t set up your custom URL yet, LinkedIn has assigned you one that likely contains your name and string of numbers and/or letters.

Create a more succinct, professional link by changing it to just your first and last name, including your middle initial or name if that URL is already taken. You can also opt to use a phrase or label as part of your URL, such as words that indicate your profession or specialty.

If Your LinkedIn Profile is the Exact Same as Your Resume

Naturally, all of the information on your resume should be present on your LinkedIn profile as well. However, since there is much more real estate available on LinkedIn, you should include information that you may not have been able to fit on your resume.

Otherwise, when hiring managers click your LinkedIn URL, they may feel that they are wasting time by reading the exact same information for a second time. Avoid this by including your volunteering experience, skills, recommendations, more information about your past positions and/or education, and so forth.

You can also post on LinkedIn in a similar way to Facebook - this is a great place to share promotions that you have received, announce that you are starting a new job, share that you’ve earned a certification, and so forth.

Potential employers will likely be pleased to see that you are active on LinkedIn beyond just having a profile, since it shows that you are tech-inclined and prioritize networking. You can start by endorsing your friends’ and acquaintances’ skills on LinkedIn. This social proof helps them out, and they are more likely to endorse your skills in return.

Should You Include Other Social Media Links On Your Resume?

While LinkedIn is a safe bet for almost anyone to include on a resume, you should carefully consider adding other social media links. If you are applying for a job that requires social media presence and knowledge (social media manager, for instance) or your social media highlights your experience and expertise (like if you have an Instagram page for your graphic design work), it makes sense to include links to accounts that are professional and work-appropriate.

However, if that’s not the case, you should generally leave your Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media handles off your resume. But, keep in mind that potential employers will almost definitely look through your social media channels before they invite you for an interview. Be mindful of your public content and what it might say about you to potential employers.

Do a quick Google search of your name before submitting your resume to see exactly what the hiring manager will see when they do the same. Address any potentially compromising content or information as soon as possible.

Where To Put Your LinkedIn URL On Your Resume

Place your LinkedIn URL in your resume header section with your name and other contact information. You can either include it just as text, or you can hyperlink it to your profile as well. Since many resumes are viewed digitally anyways, this saves the employer from having to type in the URL or copy and paste it.

Be sure to shorten the link as much as possible - customize your link as outlined above and remove the “https://www.” from the beginning. There’s no need to label it, since the URL makes it clear that it’s a LinkedIn profile.

Other Places To Include Your LinkedIn URL

You may also want to consider including your LinkedIn URL in your cover letter and in your email signature. In both cases, format the information as follows:

Your Name

Email Address

Phone Number

LinkedIn URL

Key Takeaways

Adding your LinkedIn URL to your resume can make a hiring manager’s life easier and provide them with valuable additional information beyond what’s on your resume. Make sure that your LinkedIn profile is optimized before you add it to your resume by including a professional photo, listing all of your work experience and skills, requesting recommendations, building your network, and customizing your URL.

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