Including a LinkedIn profile on your resume can be beneficial even if you don’t have any professional experience yet. LinkedIn provides a place to showcase relevant skills, volunteering experience, coursework, organizations, and other details that can help demonstrate your capabilities to potential employers. However, there are also some considerations to keep in mind when deciding whether to link your profile, especially if it is sparse or incomplete.
Pros of Including LinkedIn on a Beginner Resume
Here are some potential advantages of including your LinkedIn URL on your resume when you’re just starting out:
1. Shows you have an online presence
Having a LinkedIn profile, even a basic one, indicates tech-savviness and knowledge of professional networking sites. It shows you are developing an online presence and understand the value of connecting with others in your industry online. This can make you appear more modern and engaged than other entry-level candidates.
2. Provides more space for details
Your resume is typically limited to 1-2 pages, so there isn’t much room to include extra details about your experiences and skills. Linking to your LinkedIn gives hiring managers a place to learn more about you if they are interested. You can flesh out bullet points from your resume with more context and examples.
3. Shows off soft skills and activities
Soft skills like communication, teamwork and leadership are valuable for any job but can be hard to demonstrate on a resume alone. Including organizations, volunteer work, course projects, and other activities on your LinkedIn profile provides examples of when you used soft skills. Even personal interests like sports can showcase soft skills that employers want.
4. Gives a broader picture of who you are
Your resume summarizes your academics and professional qualifications, but your LinkedIn profile can provide a more personal, multi-dimensional image. You can share details on your background, interests, values, and personality that resonate with hiring managers and help you stand out.
5. Lets you expand network
Having your profile link on your resume enables hiring managers to easily find and connect with you on LinkedIn. Even if you don’t get that specific job, networking can lead to future opportunities. Displaying your openness to connecting provides a chance to grow your network.
Cons of Including LinkedIn on Entry Level Resume
However, there are also some potential downsides of linking to a LinkedIn profile without much experience:
1. Profile may look sparse or incomplete
If your profile lacks details and you have few connections, it may highlight your lack of experience rather than offset it. Blank or sparse sections of your profile can raise questions if they expect more content based on your resume summary. An incomplete profile can undermine your professional image.
2. Lack of recommendations
Especially for recent graduates, you likely won’t have many recommendations or endorsements on skills yet. This can call attention to your minimal professional interactions versus other candidates’ numerous recommendations.
3. Few connections
Having limited connections on LinkedIn emphasizes that you are just starting to build your professional network. It’s expected with no experience, but side-by-side with the profiles of more seasoned candidates could make you appear disconnected.
4. Basic profile
Without work experience, your profile may look very basic and similar to peers. Unless you have projects, volunteer work, or activities that demonstrate initiative, your profile may not stand out from other entry-level candidates.
5. Screening risk
Some career coaches advise against including links because they enable quick screening. Employers can easily check out profiles and discard resumes if they don’t like what they see. An incomplete or bland profile could get you rejected before making it to the interview stage.
Tips to Strengthen Your LinkedIn Profile
If you want to include a link to your LinkedIn but lack experience, here are some tips to bolster your profile:
Fill out all sections thoroughly
Don’t leave any sections blank – provide an overview, add education details, expand on activities from your resume, etc. Write thoughtful summaries that showcase skills and motivation.
Include numbers and metrics
Quantify your achievements and responsibilities. List numbers like “Organized weekly food drive that engaged 50+ students” or “Published 10+ articles for university newspaper”. Metrics stand out.
Highlight coursework applicability
Many recent grads don’t have formal work experience. But course projects, papers, group work, and labs can demonstrate valuable skills. Explain how these are relevant.
Get recommendations
Ask managers from volunteer work, professors, group project teammates, or organizational advisors for recommendations. Even 1-2 can help back up your abilities.
Showcase awards and honors
Scholarships, dean’s list, club leadership roles, sports achievements, and competition wins illustrate capabilities beyond academics.
Publish articles and content
Posting writing samples, links to projects, presentations, or other content displays initiative and provides examples for employers to review.
Should I Include My LinkedIn URL on My Resume with No Experience? The Key Considerations
Weigh these key factors when deciding if adding your LinkedIn to your resume is beneficial or risky:
Include if you have… | Avoid including if you have… |
– Fully complete profile | -Sparse or empty sections |
– Numerous connections | -Fewer than 100 connections |
– Strong soft skills demonstrated | -Profile identical to peers’ |
– Honors, activities, projects highlighted | -No recommendations or endorsements |
– Articles, work samples in profile | -Little demonstration of skills or passion |
The key is making sure your profile presents you in the best possible light and highlights strengths and abilities, rather than underscoring your lack of full-time work experience. Aim to provide enough meaningful content and connections to show your professionalism and motivation.
How to Include Your LinkedIn URL on Your Resume
If you determine adding your LinkedIn to your resume could be beneficial, here are tips for adding it:
Only include a customized URL
Using the long, generic profile URL looks messy. Create a unique, professional username for your profile link instead.
Place it in contact information section
Add your LinkedIn URL under your email and phone number in your resume header area for easy access.
Use a link, not text
Make your URL clickable so the reader can easily navigate to your profile. Highlight it in blue as a hyperlink.
Check formatting
Make sure the link stands out but blends well with the rest of your formatting. Keep the font, size, and color consistent with other text.
List it last in its section
Put your LinkedIn profile link after your email address and phone number, as it is less important than those primary contact methods.
What to Post on a Beginner LinkedIn Profile
Carefully curate the content you post to your LinkedIn profile as an entry-level candidate to create the best impression:
Custom summary statement
Craft a short but compelling summary highlighting your passions, strengths, and goals aligned to your target industry. Let your personality shine.
Tailored background story
Briefly explain what motivated you to pursue this career path and how your academic and extracurricular experiences prepared you for roles in your field.
Relevant skills
Include the technical and soft skills required for jobs you are applying for, plus any specialized certifications or software proficiency.
Academic projects
Feature course assignments, papers, group projects, lab work, and other academic activities that show ability in your profession.
Leadership experience
Highlight officer positions, team captains, committee chairs, or other leadership roles you held on campus or in organizations.
Volunteer work or causes
Summarize community service, mentoring, activism, or volunteering experiences that demonstrate your values and soft skills.
Alternatives if Your Profile is Sparse
If your LinkedIn profile lacks depth, consider these alternatives to provide more details to potential employers:
Include link to online portfolio
A curated website with projects, articles, designs, or other samples may better showcase your abilities than a slim LinkedIn profile.
List your GitHub, Behance, or other industry profiles
Platforms used in your field that exhibit your work may be more beneficial professional links than an incomplete LinkedIn.
Citation for published work
If you have any published papers, articles, stories, art, or other published pieces, you can list selected citation info.
Link to professional work samples
Upload key projects, presentations, reports, and examples of your skills to Google Drive or Dropbox and share links.
QR code
Create a QR code that links to a landing page with your background, skills, and achievements tailored to each application.
Key Takeaways for Including LinkedIn on an Entry Level Resume
Here are the key tips to keep in mind:
– Only include your LinkedIn if your profile is robust and highlights your professionalism, skills, and motivation. An incomplete profile may hurt rather than help your candidacy.
– Carefully curate your profile content – customize your summary, provide detailed experience descriptions, showcase projects and activities. Quantify achievements.
– Obtain 1-2 recommendations to validate your abilities from professors, group project teammates, volunteer managers, or organizational advisors.
– Use a link instead of text and a customized public profile URL instead of the long generic one. Place it in the contact section.
– If your profile lacks substance, provide links to other professional platforms, work samples, or a QR code to a landing page with details.
– A LinkedIn profile is meant to complement and enhance your resume. Only include it if you are confident it adds value for employers.
Conclusion
Adding a LinkedIn profile to your entry-level resume can demonstrate technology skills, communication abilities, and professional online presence. However, it should only be included if your profile is strong, portrays your qualifications positively, and expands beyond the resume’s scope. If your LinkedIn lacks enough substantive content, work history, connections, or recommendations, it may undermine rather than support your job candidacy. Carefully evaluate if your profile is robust enough to showcase your soft skills, motivation, achievements, and professionalism before deciding to add the URL to applications. With a comprehensive, strategic LinkedIn presence, a link can enhance your resume and candidacy – but an incomplete profile may do more harm than good for beginners.