LinkedIn and Microsoft are making resume writing easier

Along with a LinkedIn profile, a resume is the first impression professionals leave on a hiring manager, but figuring out the best way to position work experience and skills can be challenging for job-seekers.

Today, LinkedIn and Microsoft are announcing Resume Assistant, a new feature that brings powerful insights from LinkedIn directly into Microsoft Word, where more than 80 percent of people are updating their resume. With this new feature, professionals will get the inspiration and resources they need to craft a compelling resume directly within Word, along with relevant job opportunities from LinkedIn Jobs.

In a recent survey of U.S. professionals, nearly 70 percent (69 percent) stated the most challenging part of writing their resume is not knowing whether they are portraying themselves in the most effective way, and more than 50 percent (51 percent) reported that customizing their resume for a specific role was a roadblock to success.

With Resume Assistant, based on selected job title and industry, job-seekers can see relevant work experience examples and top skills from the LinkedIn profiles of professionals in their desired role, to help give them the inspiration they need to create a compelling resume.

In addition, we’ll surface relevant job openings from LinkedIn’s more than 11 million open jobs on the platform, and job-seekers will have the option to turn on Open Candidates to quietly signal to recruiters that they’re open to new opportunities.

Job-seekers will also find helpful resume-writing tips and content from LinkedIn, as well as connect with a professional Resume Writer via LinkedIn’s freelance professional hiring platform, ProFinder, all directly within Microsoft Word.

Resume Assistant in Microsoft Word begins rolling out this week to Office 365 subscribers that are enrolled in the Office Insiders program on Windows Desktop using English display language. It will be available first in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, New Zealand, United, Kingdom, and United States of America. It will be generally available on more platforms and markets over the coming months.

We’re always looking for ways to make you more productive and successful, and this is only the beginning. We’re working with the Microsoft Office 365 team on a number of exciting features to make this even more useful, so stay tuned.