As a LinkedIn user, you have likely spent time building up your profile to showcase your skills, experience, and accomplishments to your network. With all this great content already on LinkedIn, it makes sense that you may want to export parts of your profile for use in other applications or documents, like resumes, CVs, or job applications.
Can you download your LinkedIn profile as a PDF or Word doc?
Unfortunately, LinkedIn does not have a built-in feature to generate a PDF or Word document version of your entire profile. However, there are a few workarounds that allow you to export and format parts of your LinkedIn profile into a resume-style PDF or Word document.
Option 1: Copy and paste profile sections
The simplest option is to manually copy and paste relevant sections from your LinkedIn profile into a Word or Google Docs document. You can then format it to look like a traditional resume or CV.
Here are the steps:
- Open your LinkedIn profile in one web browser tab/window.
- Open a blank Word or Google Doc in another tab/window.
- Go through your LinkedIn profile and copy and paste any relevant sections you want to export, such as:
- Summary section
- Experience section
- Education section
- Skills section
- Accomplishments/Highlight sections
- Format the sections in your document to look like a resume or CV.
- Make any desired edits or additions to customize the content.
- Save/download the file as a PDF or Word document.
Pros:
- Simple and easy to do
- Allows you to fully customize the formatting
Cons:
- Time consuming to manually copy and paste everything
- Requires reformatting the content into a resume/CV layout
- Does not export your entire profile – need to select what to include
Option 2: Use LinkedIn Export tool
LinkedIn does provide an data export tool that allows you to download your profile data, including profile sections, connections, media files, and more. You can then look through this exported data and copy relevant sections into a resume document.
Here are the steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Click on “Get a copy of your data”
- Choose which data you want to export (select profile data at a minimum)
- Enter your password to request the export
- LinkedIn will email you a link to download your data when ready (usually within minutes up to 72 hours)
- Download the zip file and look for the “profile.json” file
- Open this JSON file to view your exported profile data
- Copy and paste any relevant sections from this file into your resume/CV document
- Format and customize the document as needed
- Save/download as PDF or Word document
Pros:
- Exports your full profile data
- Easy to request the export
Cons:
- Need to dig through JSON data file to find profile content
- Still requires copy/pasting content into resume document
- Formatting not retained
Option 3: Use third-party exporter tools
There are some free and paid third-party tools and apps that can help export your LinkedIn data more easily.
Many of these tools will do the work of extracting your profile sections, formatting into a resume layout, and letting you download as a Word doc or PDF. Some popular options include:
- LinkedIn Resume Builder
- Kickresume
- Resume.com
- VisualCV
- Rezi
- Novoresume
- Careerfy
The workflow is generally:
- Connect/authorize the third-party app to access your LinkedIn profile
- The app extracts your profile data
- You select which sections to include in your exported resume/CV
- The app auto-formats it into a resume layout
- Download the final output as PDF or Word document
Pros:
- Automates extraction and formatting process
- Very quick and easy to generate LinkedIn-powered resume
Cons:
- Need to trust external apps with your LinkedIn data
- Features and capabilities vary across apps
- Some tools may involve fees or paid subscriptions
What LinkedIn profile sections are good to include in your CV?
When exporting your LinkedIn profile to a CV format, focus on including the most relevant sections that present your skills, qualifications and career highlights.
Good LinkedIn sections to include are:
- Summary – Your professional summary or bio
- Experience – Your work history and roles
- Education – Degrees, certifications, trainings
- Skills – Key skills and areas of expertise
- Accomplishments/Recommendations – Highlights, achievements, testimonials
- Projects – Relevant projects with summaries
- Honors & Awards – Recognition and awards
- Courses – Relevant specialized courses
- Licenses & Certifications – Professional credentials
- Publications – Articles, papers, books authored
You may also choose to include select information from your LinkedIn activity section, such as:
- Groups – Professional association memberships
- Volunteer work and causes
Exclude any personal or irrelevant sections like interests, hobbies, test scores, and so on.
How should you format your LinkedIn profile content in a CV?
When repurposing your LinkedIn profile for a CV, it’s important to format and structure the content appropriately. Here are some tips:
- Organize content into standard CV sections – Work Experience, Education, Skills, etc.
- Start with your professional summary as the profile/bio section
- List work history in reverse chronological order
- Include details like position titles, company names, dates worked
- Use bullet points to list key responsibilities and achievements
- Keep formatting consistent – fonts, sizes, spacing
- Optimize keywords and content for applicant tracking systems
- Focus on accomplishments rather than generic duties
- Edit content for brevity and relevance
You can model your LinkedIn CV formatting after standard resume/CV templates and samples. Be sure to customize the formatting to highlight your strengths and most sellable professional attributes.
Should you include everything from your LinkedIn profile in your CV?
No, you shouldn’t include your entire LinkedIn profile in your CV. You’ll need to be selective.
Here are some tips on what to leave out:
- Irrelevant work history – Only include roles relevant to the job you are applying for.
- Extraneous skills/keywords – Keep skills tailored and targeted.
- Long summaries – Trim content to highlight accomplishments.
- Personal interests – Exclude hobbies or interests unless very relevant.
- Blog posts – Unless critical to your personal branding.
- Recommendations – Select one or two strong ones to include.
- Headers/footers – Omit unnecessary LinkedIn branding elements.
- Job preferences – Don’t include your job seeking status or preferences.
- Metrics – Take out irrelevant metrics like profile views or connections.
The key is to shape the LinkedIn content into a strong, concise CV document tailored specifically for each job application. Follow standard CV best practices and showcase only your most relevant qualifications. Quality over quantity.
How do you customize your LinkedIn profile content for different CV applications?
When repurposing your LinkedIn profile into a CV, it’s important to customize the content for each specific job application rather than just using a generic exported document.
Here are some tips on customizing your LinkedIn-powered CV:
- Tailor your professional summary to match the target job description.
- Include keywords and skills listed in the job posting.
- Highlight achievements and responsibilities that align with the role.
- Put your most relevant experience and education first.
- Add, remove or reorder CV sections as needed.
- Adjust wording to use relevant industry terms.
- Update fonts, colors, and formatting for each application.
- Expand on details most applicable to the employer/role.
- Remove irrelevant or outdated information.
- Mention companies, products or services by name.
The goal is to take your LinkedIn profile “master content” and adapt it to tell a tailored story for each application. Show how you are the ideal fit.
Having a strong, customized CV is critical for effectively applying for jobs using your LinkedIn profile. Invest time updating your exported CV content before submitting each application.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when repurposing LinkedIn profile content for a CV?
When exporting your LinkedIn profile to a CV format, it’s important to avoid some common pitfalls that can make your document less effective.
Here are mistakes to avoid:
- Leaving LinkedIn branding/headers/footers – Omit them and use a clean CV header.
- Using LinkedIn writing style – Adapt content to formal CV writing style.
- Failing to customize for each job – Avoid a generic exported CV.
- Listing irrelevant work history – Only include roles relevant to the target job.
- Leaving unformatted blocks of text – Use bullets, fonts, sizes to enhance readability.
- Including extraneous skills/keywords – Tailor to be specific.
- Copying whole summary – Trim and rework for each CV.
- Keeping old information – Remove outdated accomplishments.
- Forgetting contact info – Add your full contact details to CV.
- Using casual language – Maintain professional tone.
- Listing every position – Focus on selling your top relevant experience.
The goal is to take your LinkedIn data and shape it into a strong, polished, and customized CV document tailored for each application. Follow standard CV formatting and quality best practices as you repurpose your profile.
Conclusion
While LinkedIn does not have a built-in tool to export your full profile as a resume or CV, there are options to manually repurpose LinkedIn content into customized career documents using copy/paste, exports, and third-party tools. Focus on shaping the most relevant LinkedIn profile sections into a tailored, properly formatted CV that highlights your top qualifications and applicable experience. With some effort, you can effectively turn your LinkedIn presence into a powerful career search asset. Just be sure to avoid common CV conversion mistakes and aim to represent yourself in the strongest possible light with each application.