Sherry Finkel Murphy, MS, RICP ⋅ Saratoga Springs, NY Northwestern Mutual ⋅ 25 years experience

The most important area of your LinkedIn profile is the summary area. This includes the free-text summary as well as your skills. The skills are important because they are search fields for recruiters. The summary is an ESSENTIAL statement, not of what you have done, but what you can do for your next employer. So that's something you should put some thought into. It needs to be clear to an employer how your business experience from the Air Force will make you superbly qualified to help them achieve x, y, and z.

The jobs themselves can be extracted (with a summary sentence and far less detail) from the resume.

Susan Jischke ⋅ West Lafayette, IN ⋅ 5 years experience

Hi Fredrick,

As for the resume, its not as much about the format but more about making sure the right content is in there and that it showcases transferable skills that are applicable to the type of role you are applying for. It needs to be easy for a recruiter to see why you'd be a good fit for the position. The functional format of resume is often used for this because it highlights skills and not previous work history as much. There are good examples if you search Google for "functional resume examples" but if you'd like help directly with your resume, feel free to message me.

David Mahar ⋅ New York, NY FDM Group ⋅ 30 years experience

I agree that your summary should be what can you do for your new employer, you can use examples of what you have done in your past to to exemplify your strengths.

I was also told by several hiring managers while putting my linked in together that your summary should be written as if someone else wrote it for you, or in a third person format.

Good luck in all your future endeavors and thank you for your service :)

David

Fredrick Watson ⋅ Bellevue, NE U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman ⋅ 6 years served

Thank you everyone for your responses. I have finally found a way forward on this.

John Stevens ⋅ Middletown, MD ⋅ 20 years experience

This is a great how to reference book: How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ 2/E by Brad and Debra Schepp. I highly recommended it.

michael convey ⋅ Camp Hill, PA jh williams Oil company ⋅ 45 years experience

Your resume is not an autobiography. Most Human Resource people or managers looking for employees go through a screening process to eliminate those they do not believe are qualified to handle the position. The key is to avoid mistakes, inconsistencies and highlight your accomplishments along with anything else that distinguishes you from other potential candidates. Obviously, it is important that you avoid pitfalls that place you in the category of those who have obvious mistakes or inconsistency. Spelling and grammatical errors disqualify applicants, so make sure words are spelled properly and sentences are grammatically correct. It is imperative that you sell yourself. Education, experience and family circumstances are all key areas that should be addressed. To sell and distinguish yourself, after your personal information, start selling by listing the qualities, characteristics, education, accomplishments or experience that you feel is your primary asset. Most importantly tell prospective employers and those reading your information on LinkedIn on what your education and experience can do for them. Increased sales, reduced expenses, bring business into the firm from existing contacts are all excellent ways of demonstrating your potential value. Cut down on job duties, avoid repeating yourself, edit unnecessary words and customize your resume for the job you are applying for, and illustrate how your employment could be mutually benefical.

Judy Tomlinson ⋅ Dallas, TX Energy Future Holdings ⋅ 25 years experience

I'd be happy to help.... send your resume to tomlinsonjk@aol.com
Judy Tomlinson

Angelo Markakis ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Allstate Insurance ⋅ 34 years experience

Frederick, If you send me a copy of your resume, I will gladly review and provide feedback.