Is there a cut-off for relevant information on resumes on Linked In, or should you include everything?

Hi Brenda,

Great question! I wondered the same thing when I was putting my page together, and I think your head is in the right place. It is a good idea to have a balanced profile. It's nice to view a person's page and be able to get a feel for who they are, what they're interested in, and how they spend their time.

If your volunteer experience in 9th grade was meaningful to you and is something you can talk about -- the experience that inspired you to start volunteering more often, a memorable experience you learned something valuable from, etc. -- then I think it would be a good idea to keep it on your page.

Try taking the perspective of a recruiter sifting through hundreds, if not thousands of pages, trying to find the right candidate. You want to make yourself stand out in the right way. Your LinkedIn page should be a curated page of your professional history that helps spark interest in you as a person.

Hope this is helpful,
Gabe

I will start off with a joke I heard when I was in school thirty years ago about what a resume stands for

RESUME: Record of Socially useless meaningless endeavors!!

The truth is the resume wherever you have should try and paint an honest profile for yourself.

You may have spent twenty years in a job that does not excite you any more may not deserve a full mention but a six week internship in ninth grade is still a memory you cherish, add it in. Any work/job/project that challenged you and broke your comfort zone barriers should go on that resume.

of course that is an idealized representation of what resumes should be. Most people when they search for candidates unfortunately do not read them. They do word searches.

so you should have two resumes: one with all keywords prominently included that will enable your resume to be highlighted in a keyword search.

And second resume with actual work you have done to take to the interview after you have cleared the hurdle of the "keyword search".

I would include anything that pertains to the position you are seeking. Be sure to use key words specific to your industry. This is often how you will be found. Also, be sure to include awards earned.

Yes there is. You want to make sure you have the most updated and relevant information for the last 5 years of your professional life. Do not make it any longer than two pages. Ideally one page is good. If there is a gap in your work history you will need to come up with a reason why or fill that gap in.

If you have been with the same company for an extended period of time then talk about all of your different roles at that company and how it has helped you and the experience you have gained from it.

Now that I've taken the time to read the two articles that "back up" the previous contention, they lack any semblance of empirical research. The Times They are A'Changin.' Millennials and younger don't seem to have any problems talking to each other, from what I can see. The Generation Gap that has existed for at least the past 45 years is alive and well. We did not blame it on technology then, why blame it on technology now?

I review resumes day in and day out. Resumes that break all of our "rules," that I want to start rebuilding from scratch. But I pause long enough to ask one question: "Are you getting interviews?" Shockingly, the answer is "yes." . . . I participate in a professional chat group. A member needed someone to do a not so small contract job. I jumped on it. He's in California. I'm in Texas. We never met. Never Skyped. A few e-mails, one phone call, a deposit, and the deal was sealed.

A client tells me he wants to work at a particular company. Because I've connected with the recruiter on LinkedIn, I send her a private message, she requests the client's resume, and he gets the job.

It's a new age, and, I resisted it as much as everybody else. But, truth is, it is here,and it works. It's just different.

Keep right on asking your questions Brenda! Go to all the campus career activities that you can! That sort of training can be costly on the outside! Please remember, not all hiring managers think alike, so mix things up a little. Since you are a freshman, try to get some volunteer experience, internships, and part time jobs, so that you will have both experience and education. Join some groups, do some fundraisers, etc. Yes, eventually you want to leave high school behind, which is why you want a new set of experiences to replace that which you did in 9th grade. For now, of course ,it is fine! Gabe's advice above is a good place to start!

Best of luck to you!

I would say include on LinkedIN what you would include in your resume. In addition if you got any professional contacts or friends who use the website, add them too. Basically, I would included whatever you think would make your resume stand-out so you can get a job.