Why You Need Both a Strong LinkedIn Profile and a Tailored CV

Ready to stop losing opportunities? Paste your LinkedIn profile link and build an ATS-optimized CV in 5 minutes with Linked CV Builder.

Look, I'm gonna be straight with you.

If you think having an amazing LinkedIn profile is enough to land jobs in 2025, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. And if you're sending the same CV to every application... honestly, that's even worse.

Here's the thing nobody tells you: LinkedIn and your CV aren't competitors. They're teammates. Different positions on the field.

LinkedIn Gets Eyes on You (But That's Where It Stops)

Your LinkedIn profile is basically your professional storefront. It's where recruiters are scrolling at 11 PM looking for candidates, where your network sees what you're up to, where random opportunities find you because someone searched "UX designer Boston" and boom – there you are.

67 million companies are on LinkedIn. That's not a typo. Nine thousand people apply for jobs every single minute on that platform. It's chaos out there.

But here's what LinkedIn does really well: it makes you discoverable. Your profile sits there working while you sleep, accumulating views, building your brand, showing that you exist and you're competent and maybe someone should reach out.

What LinkedIn doesn't do? Close the deal.

When a recruiter finds you on LinkedIn and thinks "hmm, interesting," what happens next? They ask for your resume. Every single time. Because LinkedIn profiles are... they're too broad, too social, too everything-for-everyone. Hiring managers don't make decisions based on LinkedIn profiles. They make decisions based on resumes that prove you can do the job they're hiring for.

Your CV Is Your Closer

Think of your CV as a sales pitch. Not for your entire career – for one specific role.

When you apply to a job posting, your resume gets maybe 5-10 seconds of attention. Sometimes less if the ATS (applicant tracking system) tosses it first. The hiring manager isn't reading your life story. They're scanning for proof that you match what they need right now.

This is where most people screw up. They take their LinkedIn profile, paste it into a document, call it a resume, and wonder why they never hear back.

Your LinkedIn says "I'm a versatile marketing professional with experience in content creation, social media, analytics, and brand strategy." Cool story. Your CV for a specific Content Marketing Manager role should say "I increased blog traffic by 340% through SEO optimization and managed a content calendar that generated 50+ leads monthly." See the difference?

One is a billboard. The other is a proposal.

Why You Can't Just Pick One

I've seen people with incredible LinkedIn profiles – thousands of connections, regular posts, endorsements everywhere – who can't land interviews because their CV is a mess. Generic. Unfocused. Not tailored to anything.

And I've seen people with perfectly crafted resumes who get zero traction because their LinkedIn looks like it hasn't been updated since 2017. No one can find them. No recruiter is sliding into those DMs.

You need both because the job search process has two distinct phases:

Phase 1: Being Found

LinkedIn does this. Your profile needs keywords, a solid headline, detailed experience. It's your passive job search engine working 24/7.

Phase 2: Being Chosen

Your CV does this. When someone's actually evaluating you against other candidates, your tailored resume needs to prove you're the exact fit they're looking for.

Missing either one? You're fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

The Tailoring Problem (And Why Most People Don't Do It)

Here's where it gets brutal.

You can't send the same CV to every job. I know you want to. I know it's exhausting. But generic resumes get rejected by ATS systems before a human even sees them, and even if they make it through, hiring managers can smell a generic resume from a mile away.

Each job posting is different. Different keywords, different priorities, different pain points they're trying to solve. Your CV needs to speak directly to each one... which means customizing it every single time.

And this is exactly why most people don't do it. Who has time to rewrite their resume for every application? I've talked to job seekers who apply to 3-5 jobs daily. That's potentially 3-5 custom resumes. Every. Single. Day.

It's unsustainable without help.

The Smart Move: Syncing LinkedIn and Your CV

This is where tools like Linked CV Builder actually make sense. You keep your LinkedIn profile strong and updated (because that's your discovery engine), then you convert that profile into a master CV, then you let AI customize it for each specific job you're applying to.

Takes about 5 minutes per application instead of 30-60 minutes of manual rewriting.

The tool pulls from your LinkedIn profile, analyzes the job posting, matches keywords, restructures your experience to highlight relevant stuff, and generates an ATS-friendly resume. Plus a cover letter. Because why wouldn't you want that too?

I'm not saying you can't do this manually. You absolutely can. But if you're applying to multiple jobs a week? The time savings alone are worth it. Not to mention the reduction in mistakes – because let's be real, when you're manually customizing your 47th resume this month, you're gonna miss something.

What Actually Matters

Strong LinkedIn profile = discoverability, networking, passive opportunities, professional brand.

Tailored CV = proof of fit, ATS optimization, hiring manager decision-making, closing the deal.

You need both. Not one or the other. Both.

Your LinkedIn shows who you are across your career. Your CV shows why you're perfect for this specific role, at this specific company, solving these specific problems.

Stop treating them like they're the same thing. Stop sending generic resumes. Stop neglecting your LinkedIn profile.

And if you're serious about actually landing interviews instead of just applying into the void, start treating your job search like the strategic project it is. Build your LinkedIn properly. Then customize your CV for every job that matters.

Or keep doing what you're doing and wonder why you're not hearing back.

Your call.

Written by Di Reshtei