Why do I prefer a CV to a Linkedin profile?

I know that the recruitment market changed a lot during the last few years. But still… a CV remains an image of what we are as specialists.

You might ask why do we still need a CV when we have a Linkedin profile? 

The answer is simple: because I saw so many poorly made profiles - incomplete, irrelevant, or incorrectly completed.

There are a lot of candidates who tell me on the phone screen: “ I don’t know if you read into my CV, but I have experience on this and this...”. Well, I didn’t read it because you don’t have a public CV. I just saw your Linkedin profile; in most of the cases you wrote there only you work as a “software engineer” and I had to assume that you write in Java or C#.

And imagine this: your profile will be sent to a technical interviewer. He will assess it and it will agree or not on having an interview. Or, your profile you be sent to a client; he will assess it and it will agree or not on having you into his project.

That profile is the best you can do as a technical specialist?

There is no perfect CV, but we can make it correct, easy to read, and relevant. It has to contain: contact details, experience (from the newest to the first; present details on what is still relevant for your role now), studies, linguistics, and digital competencies. Ideally, it has to contain 1-2 pages.

Why do I prefer a CV and not a Linkedin profile?

• It contains contact details. I must confess that I received also CVs without email and phone number :) but generally, there were more Linkedin profiles without contact details than CVs.
• You can personalize in format and color. Linkedin has a pressed format; for everybody is the same.
• It is easier to be unique and the interviews can remember easier your CV.
• You can adapt the information shared on the job you apply for. On Linkedin the information is public and you can’t share everything. When you adapt the content you can fit it into 2 pages
• You can make it 100% in English. Check the settings from your Linkedin profile. It happens when you download it to be partially in Romanian. This is not ok when you send it to screening to foreign interviewers.

I know making a CV asks effort from our side and a lot of candidates are not willing to put effort into it.

Me neither, I don’t have a CV now up-to-date. But for sure, if tomorrow I would find a company that interests me, I will make an effort to make it because it says something about my professional image.

If you want to check other articles on writing a CV, you can check these: 1 and 2.

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