How to Download Your Resume from LinkedIn (3 Easy Ways with Steps)

Some companies include an option to import your LinkedIn profile for your job application. Aside from being sub-optimal for job seekers looking to position themselves as the ideal candidate for the job, this resume import feature along with the "easy apply" option (for jobs posted on LinkedIn) is not standard for job applications.

The majority of online applications still ask for a PDF upload of your resume, because it’s the format they're most familiar parsing within their ATS (Applicant Tracking System).

That's because in-house recruiters often use a tool to scan resumes for specific keywords that align with the job listing. Which means:

1. You need to customize your resume to line up with each job posting.
2. You need to have a PDF resume file. 

To use your existing resume, and not have to go through the hassle of creating one from scratch, you can use one of three methods to download your resume from LinkedIn:

How to Download Your Resume from LinkedIn

To clarify, LinkedIn isn’t a resume. 

Sure, it has your work history and the option to attach a resume, but it will not suffice for most applications without major edits. You can’t simply copy-paste your LinkedIn profile page URL and move on.

That said, there are a few easy ways to upload pre-existing work experience data from LinkedIn to save you time and energy.

Method 1 (easiest): Teal's LinkedIn to Resume feature

Downloading your LinkedIn profile from LinkedIn itself is easy too. More on that method later.

But what makes Teal the “easy method” is it requires only one click, and you get additional features you’ll need before sending out that resume—particularly, customization, ATS compatibility, and keyword matching.

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Here’s a step-by-step guide for converting your LinkedIn profile to a resume with Teal:

1. Sign up for a free account with Teal. 
2. On the first page, you’ll see a three-step process for getting started, including "Save a Job", "Import your Resume", and "Apply for Jobs."
3. Select "Import your Resume" and a pop-up window appears. 
4. Navigate to your LinkedIn profile and select "View Profile" in the top right corner and grab the URL. Copy and paste the URL into the input bar on the pop-up in Teal. Hit “Import your LinkedIn profile."

That’s it! It’s essentially just grabbing your LinkedIn profile URL and putting it in the right field. Once uploaded, Teal organizes the data into sections you can shift around, select and deselect, edit, and so on.

It doesn’t just create an ATS-friendly resume straight from LinkedIn by checking it against keywords you should use for a particular job title. Nor does Teal simply make a resume that looks professional.

Teal's Matching Mode feature checks the job listing you’re applying for, and makes it simple and easy to customize your resume to match that posting.

If you already have a Teal profile and need to reimport your LinkedIn profile, you can:

1. Click on the “Resume Builder” tab on the left sidebar.

2. Hit the “Menu” tab next to the “New Resume” button.
3. Tap “Import Resume or LinkedIn” from the drop down menu.

2. Append or overwrite your information.

How is Teal better than creating your own resume from scratch?

If you’ve ever created a resume from scratch—and if you’re here it’s likely because you’re avoiding doing that very thing—you know how long it takes.

You don’t know what keywords to use, unless you carefully comb the listing yourself. You have to painstakingly adjust your resume, research best formatting, and adjust for every single job listing.

And, don’t forget, you may not know if recruiters are even reading your resume correctly because you may not understand whether or not your resume is ATS compatible (tip: no images!).

Method 2 (fastest): Linkedin to PDF format

There are actually two processes for downloading your resume as a PDF file from LinkedIn. Both are simple and quick. The first is just two easy steps:

1. Click on your LinkedIn profile, and select “More” in your profile header.
2. Click “Save PDF”

This method is perhaps the easiest, and LinkedIn even adds a nice side bar of color for a little flair. 

While it is nice to have a resume automatically created with formatting and a summary, it doesn’t exactly read like a resume. 

The summary is too long, and being that it’s a PDF, it’s not easy to edit without doing a conversion first. And conversions of PDFs don’t always retain their formatting. You might end up doing more work in the long run than you would simply making a resume from scratch, or uploading it to Teal.

Method 3 (longest): LinkedIn to Resume Builder to PDF format

The second option LinkedIn offers is five steps.

1. Log in to LinkedIn and click the “Jobs” tab (suit case icon on mobile).
2. Select “Resume Builder" from the sidebar.

3. A pop-up will appear. Click “Create from profile."
4. The page will refresh and you’ll see another pop-up asking you to type in or select your desired position. Enter and click “Apply."

5. Hit "Download resume as PDF" to save it to your computer.

You should see the PDF file in the downloads folder of your computer. If you go back to the resume builder tab, you’ll also see recent resumes there, in case you need to easily download it again.

While this is designed to be as easy as possible, there are some downfalls to directly downloading or saving your resume from LinkedIn. 

Common issues when downloading your resume from LinkedIn (and how to avoid them)

The biggest downfall of downloading your resume directly from LinkedIn is the formatting.

How you input your information into LinkedIn matters as it will appear the exact same way on your resume file.

Note: If you want to optimize your LinkedIn profile to appear in more job searches by hiring managers for a particular job, Teal's Chrome extension includes a free LinkedIn Profile Reviewer. Learn more: LinkedIn Profile Review with a Chrome Extension).

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In fact, if you don’t create your LinkedIn profile exactly like you would a resume, you’re guaranteed to need changes to your PDF file for it to appear professional and be parsed correctly by the ATS.

Beyond that, there is the fact you’re downloading a PDF version of your resume. So, if you do want to make some changes, you’re going to have to convert it into a word processing file format first, or purchase the premium version of Adobe Acrobat. 

Companies will not reach out and ask for another resume. They will simply exclude you from the candidate pool. 

Here’s what a downloaded LinkedIn resume looks like using the five simple steps above: 

There are other downfalls, too.

If you don’t have a premium LinkedIn subscription (which starts at $29.99/ month for a LinkedIn Premium Career membership), you can’t choose which sections appear in your downloaded resume. 

Lastly, LinkedIn has only made downloading your resume possible if it’s in English. This makes it a very limited tool for a good chunk of LinkedIn users. 

How to customize your LinkedIn-downloaded resume for every application (and why)

If you’re looking at the example above, or you’ve already downloaded your resume from LinkedIn, you’ve probably noticed the formatting isn’t great.

That’s just one reason to customize your resume, but there’s a much larger and more important reason:

You need to tailor your resume to every job. It’s time consuming. It’s painstaking. It feels like a full-time job by itself. But customizing your resume to fit the job listing is the best way to improve your job search.

Why?

Because hiring managers are filtering resumes by specific keywords and qualifications in their application trackers to look for required skills and past experiences.

Now you’re thinking, “but if I just write down everything I did within that job, it should automatically work, right?"

Maybe. But you don’t want to bank on maybe. They may be looking for your skillset but looking for synonyms of the skills you listed. You want to increase your chances of outshining the competition for that role. One way to do that is to ensure you’re the best match.

How do you customize your resume for each job at scale?

There are several things you need to do to tailor your resume for each opportunity:

1. Scan the job descriptions for any keywords, phrases, or tasks that particularly jump out. Naturally incorporate these throughout your resume.
2. Research your potential employers for any language they commonly use, targets they want to hit, industries or customers they speak to that you may have experience working with, etc.
3. Adjust the language to be more action based, personalized, and of course, inclusive of keywords used in the job description.

It sounds like a lot, and it really can be if you don’t have the right tools in place.

Teal's Matching Mode feature speeds up the process by identifying the keywords to include for each job, then helping you naturally weave them into your resume.

When using Teal’s AI Resume Builder, each bullet point and section of your resume become moveable objects. You can select or deselect, and organize each sentence to your liking, to create your resume.

What makes this a time saver is that you can ask its AI to instantly write and rewrite several sentences or bullet points to summarize work you’ve done throughout your career, and simply select the ones you need to match the job listing.

For instance, you might be applying for a Content Director position at a company that requires some experience in content production and social media. The next application might also be for a Content Director position, but they may be looking for more reporting experience. 

You could have experience in all of the above, and create bullet points within both your LinkedIn profile and the Resume Builder. The latter allows you to shift those points around, and exclude or include only what’s relevant to recruiters.

Ready to use Teal’s LinkedIn to Resume feature and start customizing your resume with Teal’s AI Resume Builder? Sign up for Teal for free.