The short version: put a custom LinkedIn URL in your resume header next to your email and phone number, shorten it first so it doesn’t look like a wall of numbers, and only include it if your profile is up to date. A messy or stale LinkedIn link does more damage than leaving it off completely.
Where it goes on the page
Your LinkedIn link lives in the header, full stop. Same line or the line directly under your name, sitting alongside your email address and phone number. I see people tuck it into a “References available on request” style footer at the bottom of page two, which nobody reads, or bury it inside the summary paragraph where it gets lost in a sentence. Neither works.
The header order I use with clients is: name, phone, email, LinkedIn, location (or just city and country if you’re worried about privacy, which I cover in my piece on how to write your address on a resume). Five pieces of contact information, one line, done. If you’re building the resume from scratch in Word, this is the exact spot I walk through in my guide on how to customise a professional resume template so the header doesn’t fall apart when you edit it later.
Fix your URL before you touch the resume
LinkedIn gives everyone a default URL that looks like linkedin.com/in/john-smith-8492831b7. That string of numbers on the end is ugly, it takes up half your header, and it quietly tells a recruiter you’ve never bothered to look at your own profile settings. Fix it first, resume second. Here’s the exact process:
- Log into LinkedIn and click your profile photo, then “View Profile”
- Click “Edit public profile & URL” on the right hand side
- Under “Edit your custom URL” click the pencil icon
- Type your name (linkedin.com/in/firstname-lastname), or add a middle initial or short word if that’s taken
- Save it
That takes about ninety seconds and it’s the single most overlooked step in this whole process. A clean URL like linkedin.com/in/lilach-bullock is roughly 27 characters. The default version most people never change is closer to 45. On a one-line header where space is tight, that difference matters more than people think.
Strip the “https://www.” before you paste it
Once your URL is clean, don’t paste the full web address into your resume. You don’t need “https://www.” in front of it. Write it as linkedin.com/in/yourname and nothing else. It’s shorter, it reads better on a printed page, and any recruiter opening a PDF on their phone can still tap it just fine if it’s set as a hyperlink underneath.
Which brings up the formatting question people always ask me: should it be a clickable hyperlink or plain text? Both, sort of. Format it as a hyperlink in the document (highlight the text, insert hyperlink, paste the full URL behind it) but display the shortened text on the surface. That way it’s clickable in a PDF or Word doc, and if it gets copied into an applicant tracking system as plain text, it still reads cleanly rather than showing a broken link code.
A real example from a client
I worked with a marketing manager last year, mid-40s, applying for director-level roles after a redundancy. Her resume had linkedin.com/in/sarah-thompson-marketing-professional-15-years-experience as the URL. It wasn’t just long, it was a custom URL she’d deliberately built to be “keyword rich,” because a course she’d taken years earlier told her stuffing keywords into every field would help her get found.
It didn’t help. It made her look like she was trying too hard, and worse, it broke across two lines in her resume header, which pushed her entire contact block down and left an ugly gap above her name. We shortened it to linkedin.com/in/sarah-thompson, tidied the header, and she told me two weeks later that a recruiter had commented on the phone screen that her resume “looked put together.” Small detail, real reaction.
The part most people get uncomfortable hearing
Here’s the bit that doesn’t get said enough: adding your LinkedIn profile to your resume only helps you if the profile itself is worth clicking on. If your headline still says your job title from three companies ago, if your last post is from 2021, or if your experience section on LinkedIn doesn’t match the dates on your resume, you are actively handing the recruiter a second document that contradicts the first one.
I’ve reviewed resumes where the candidate’s LinkedIn showed them “Open to Work” in a bright green banner while their cover letter claimed they were happily employed and exploring options. That inconsistency gets noticed within seconds. If your profile is thin, outdated, or messy, leaving the link off your resume entirely is the better move until you’ve fixed it. A link that raises more questions than it answers isn’t a bonus, it’s a liability. This matters even more now that plenty of recruiters check whether a profile is actively maintained before they even pick up the phone, because a dormant-looking profile signals disengagement whether that’s fair or not.
Should you customise how you share it depending on the job?
Yes, and this is where most advice online stops short. If you’re applying to a corporate role, the plain linkedin.com/in/yourname format in the header is enough. But if you’re applying somewhere that’s clearly going to look you up before a phone call (agencies, startups, anything client-facing), it’s worth thinking about how the link is framed in context, not just where it sits. I’ve written a longer piece on how to share a LinkedIn profile link effectively without it coming across as desperate or salesy, and the same principles apply to a resume header: the link should feel like a natural extension of your professional footprint, not a plea for attention.
What to do if you’re job hunting for remote work specifically
If remote roles are your target, your LinkedIn link carries more weight than usual, because remote hiring managers often screen candidates almost entirely through LinkedIn before a single interview happens. In that case, make sure your profile’s location settings, open-to-work preferences, and skills section are aligned with what you’re chasing before you send a single resume out. I go through the specifics of this in my guide on finding remote jobs on LinkedIn as a solo operator, and the short version is: your resume link is only doing half the job if your profile behind it isn’t set up to match remote search filters.
A quick numbers check before you send anything
Before your resume goes anywhere, run this five-point check:
- Custom URL under 30 characters, no random numbers
- Displayed as linkedin.com/in/yourname, not the full https address
- Hyperlinked in the document so it’s clickable in PDF form
- Job titles and dates on LinkedIn match the resume, not roughly, exactly
- Profile photo is current, meaning taken in the last two years, not from a decade-old wedding
If you’re building or rebuilding the resume itself and don’t want to fight with formatting software, a solid free resume builder without hidden costs will usually have a header field built specifically for LinkedIn links, which saves you from manually fighting Word’s autoformat trying to turn your link into a giant blue underlined mess.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to include LinkedIn on my resume at all?
Not always. If your profile is thin, outdated, or contradicts your resume dates, skip it until it’s fixed. A well-maintained profile adds credibility, a neglected one raises questions you don’t want asked in an interview.
Where exactly should the LinkedIn link sit on the page?
In the header, on the same line or directly under your name, next to your phone number and email. Never in a footer or buried inside a paragraph where it will be missed.
Should the link be the full web address or shortened?
Shorten it to linkedin.com/in/yourname on the visible text, but hyperlink the full address underneath so it’s still clickable in a digital copy.
Will applicant tracking systems break my LinkedIn link?
Some do strip hyperlinks entirely, turning your link into plain unclickable text. That’s exactly why the visible text needs to read cleanly on its own, linkedin.com/in/yourname, rather than relying on someone being able to click it.
