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LinkedIn is using artificial intelligence and data from its massive professional network to address one of the stressful parts of applying for a new job: writing a resume.
The new Resume Assistant tool combines LinkedIn job listings with intelligent recommendations to help Microsoft Word users write resumes that resonate with hiring managers and recruiters. And according to LinkedIn, today’s job seekers could use some help in that department.
For nearly 70 percent of U.S. professionals, the most challenging part of putting together a resume is dealing with the uncertainty over how well they are portraying themselves, estimates LinkedIn. More than half said customizing a resume to fit a desired role is a roadblock to success.
LinkedIn wants to remove those roadblocks with some AI-assisted guidance.
“After you select your desired role and industry, Resume Assistant will pull LinkedIn insights from millions of member profiles so you can see diverse examples of how professionals in that role describe their work,” explained Kylan Nieh, senior product manager at LinkedIn, in a Nov. 8 announcement. Helping users further refine their resumes, the software displays suggested skills and allows users to “explore helpful content and tips from LinkedIn on how to write a resume that shines, and even connect with a professional Resume Writer via LinkedIn’s freelance hiring marketplace, ProFinder.”
Resume Assistant also doubles as a job search tool, showing relevant job listings from among the 11 million-plus openings on LinkedIn. In addition, the tool enables users to turn on Open Candidates, an option within LinkedIn that “quietly signals” to recruiters that users are open to new career opportunities. According to LinkedIn, enabling Open Candidates doubles the chances that a recruiter will come calling.
Office Insider participants using Windows get first crack at Resume Assistant. The tool is currently being rolled to the early-access program, followed in the coming months by the broader Office 365 subscriber base.
Resume Assistant is one of several integrations since Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016.
In February, a couple of months after the $26 billion transaction was finalized, Microsoft announced a new skill development platform called Project Sangam that uses LinkedIn job search data to help job seekers in India get the training they need to boost their employment prospects. During its Inspire conference in July, the technology giant announced the general availability of Microsoft Relationship Sales, a bundle that combines LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales to help users find new revenue-generating opportunities across their LinkedIn, Office 365 and CRM data.
Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar bet on LinkedIn appears to be paying off.
According to a recent Synergy Research Group market survey, LinkedIn is helping the Redmond, Wash., software maker pull ahead of its SaaS (software-as-a-service) rivals. Microsoft is now comfortably ahead of big names like Salesforce.com and Adobe in the cutthroat cloud software market.