How to Add Resume to LinkedIn and Who Gets to See It

You add your resume to your LinkedIn profile, start an Easy Apply application, and expect LinkedIn to attach that file. It won’t: LinkedIn’s Upload your resume to LinkedIn page says “You won’t be able to use the resume uploaded to your profile for job applications.” The reverse surprises people too. A resume saved for applications goes to the hirer of each job you apply to, and recruiters searching resume data “will not have access to your full resume unless you provide it to them directly”, per LinkedIn’s resume sharing page. So how to add resume to LinkedIn depends first on who should be able to open the file. Where you upload it decides who sees it, and I would pick the route by its audience before worrying about the file.

How to Add Resume to LinkedIn in Five Steps

This is the route for job applications: the resume is stored in your job settings and reusable at every Easy Apply. LinkedIn’s steps, from the upload page (a510363) and the resume sharing page (a1327213):

1. Click the Jobs tab, then click Preferences.
2. Click Resumes and application data. The Job Application Settings page, with its Upload button under the Resume section, is the other way in.
3. Click Upload resume and pick a Word or PDF file. LinkedIn recommends less than 2MB.
4. Decide whether to leave Share resume data with recruiters on (the recruiters section below explains it).
5. On any Easy Apply job, pick that resume under the Resume section and click Submit application.

To show the resume to people who visit your profile instead, use the Featured section steps further down. Each route reaches a different audience, which the next table sets out.

Four Places to Add a Resume on LinkedIn, and Who Sees Each

LinkedIn’s Visibility and usage of your uploaded resume page and the upload page together describe four places a resume can live:

The warning that separates routes 3 and 4 from the first two is one sentence on a506429: a resume posted “as a media attachment to your LinkedIn profile or in a LinkedIn post, it will be visible to anyone viewing your profile or that post and may be visible off LinkedIn.”

Pick a Resume Route by Your Goal

Pick by what you want the file to do. Each row applies a rule from the Help page in its last column:

Upload Your Resume During an Easy Apply Application

LinkedIn’s steps (a510363) work “from your computer or mobile device”:

1. Search for a job.
2. Click or tap a job title to view details.
3. Click or tap the Easy Apply button. If you see Apply instead, LinkedIn says “you’ll be routed to that company’s website or job board to continue the application process.”
4. Complete the required fields.
5. Under Resume (optional), select Upload resume.
6. Click or tap Submit application.

Read these rules before step 6, because one of them cannot be undone:

• If you aren’t logged in to LinkedIn, “uploading a resume is mandatory”.
• If you submit without a resume, “you can’t reopen your application to attach your resume or reapply for the same job post.” LinkedIn’s fallback is an InMail to the job poster, if they provided contact information in the posting.
• If the file won’t attach, LinkedIn’s advice is to try a different browser.
• To reuse a stored resume, the same Resume section lets you “select a recent resume or upload one” (a512405), on LinkedIn.com and the mobile app.

Easy Apply has rules of its own beyond the resume, including a daily limit LinkedIn gives no number for, and my guide to LinkedIn Easy Apply sets them out.

What LinkedIn Premium adds to job search, and what each plan costs in India, is in my LinkedIn Premium price breakdown.

How to Add Resume to LinkedIn Profile Through the Featured Section

The upload page says you can “showcase your resume on your profile” by uploading the document, without naming a section, and lists LinkedIn’s Featured samples page among its related tasks. That page lists media you can upload, “for example your images, documents, presentations, and videos.”

On desktop (a550399):

1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then View Profile.
2. Click the Add profile section button in your introduction section.
3. Click the Recommended dropdown, then Add Featured.
4. Click the Add icon on the upper right of the Featured page.
5. Select the type of work sample (uploaded media covers documents) and follow the prompts.
6. Click Save or Done.

In the LinkedIn app: tap your profile photo, then View profile, tap Add section, tap Recommended and select Add featured, select the type of work sample, then tap Save or Done.

LinkedIn’s Featured section FAQs add the visibility rules for anything you put there:

The logged-in rule and a506429’s “may be visible off LinkedIn” warning read like a conflict. My reading of the two pages together: the FAQ governs who can view the section, while a510363 lets every viewer download the file, and a downloaded copy is no longer under LinkedIn’s settings. The Featured section also holds portfolio samples, and my product marketing portfolio guide covers what to show if a resume alone undersells your work.

A certificate PDF can sit in Featured the same way, while its details belong in Licenses & certifications, as my guide to adding a certificate on LinkedIn sets out.

Sharing Your Resume in a LinkedIn Post

A post reaches anyone who opens it: a506429 says the file “will be visible to anyone viewing your profile or that post”. LinkedIn’s document posts page adds two rules that matter for a resume:

• “Members who can view your post will be able to download your document as a PDF.”
• “You can edit the description of your document or remove the post after it’s uploaded, but you can’t change or edit the document in the post.”

A typo in a posted resume therefore means removing the post and posting again. File types and page limits for document posts are in my LinkedIn post size guide. To add the post to your Featured section as well, the Featured FAQ says to click the More icon at the top right of the post.

Add Resume to LinkedIn for Recruiters: The Resume Sharing Setting

Recruiter visibility comes from a setting rather than from a public upload. LinkedIn’s Share and manage your resumes with recruiters page (a1327213, linked in the intro) describes it:

Two labels differ across LinkedIn’s own pages: a1327213 calls the toggle “Share resume data with recruiters”, while a506429 calls it “Share resume data with hirers”. Look for either on your settings page.

The page also says LinkedIn takes steps to hide shared resume data from LinkedIn Recruiter users at your current company, keyed on the job marked “I am currently working here”, “however, we can’t guarantee complete privacy.” Open to Work’s Recruiters only option uses the same current-company rule, and my Open to Work visibility guide explains how that match works and where it misses.

What LinkedIn Does With a Saved Resume

Saving a resume for applications also gives LinkedIn data to use. From a506429, last updated a year before I read it:

The page names two opt-outs: you “can opt-out of saving resumes in your resume settings”, and a data-for-AI-improvement setting (linked from a506429) where you can opt out of your information being used to improve content-generating AI models.

Before any upload, this checklist covers what those pages leave to you:

• Remove your phone number and home address from any copy you put in Featured or in a post, because anyone who views it can download it.
• Check the recruiter-sharing toggle after each Easy Apply, since applying turns it on.
• Delete resumes you no longer use, so the four stored files are the ones you want reused.
• Decide on the AI improvement setting before your first save rather than after.

File Format, Size and the Other Rules

The size line is where third-party guides drift. HireQuotient’s guide, published in 2024, tells readers to keep the file “under 5MB”; LinkedIn’s own page recommends less than 2MB.

How to Delete a Resume From LinkedIn

For a resume saved for applications (a510363):

1. Go to the Job Application Settings page or the Resumes and application data page.
2. Click the ellipsis (…) to the right of the resume.
3. Select Delete.

LinkedIn adds: “Previously submitted applications will not be affected.” The section on a510363 is headed “Delete a resume from your profile”, yet its steps point to those two settings pages, so for a file in Featured use the Featured steps instead.

For a resume in your Featured section (a550399): click the Me icon, then View profile, scroll to Featured, click the Edit icon, then pick one of these:

• Remove from featured unpins it, and the FAQ says you’ll still find the content in your Activity section.
• Delete removes it from the Featured section and your profile. LinkedIn warns that a removed work sample “can’t be restored”.

For a resume in a post, remove the post itself; the document page’s rule above means there is no way to swap the file in place.

No Resume Yet? Two Ways LinkedIn Builds One

a510363 offers two ways to create a resume from your profile:

To save the PDF on desktop (a541960): click the Me icon, click your Profile card, click the More or Resources button in the introduction section, and select Save to PDF. The page was updated a week before I read it and adds that the feature “may not be accessible to all members”.

LinkedIn’s standalone Resume Builder Help page (answer a551182) returned a 404 Not Found when I requested it on 4 November 2026, while a510363 still describes the feature. If your account does not show it, the PDF route is the one LinkedIn documents in full. The PDF is built from your profile, so update the profile first, starting with the headline, which has its own 220-character limit.

LinkedIn Help Sources and Last-Updated Dates

Every LinkedIn step and quote in this guide comes from LinkedIn Help pages read logged out on 4 November 2026. I describe no signed-in screen, and button labels can change, so check each label against what your account shows. Each page’s own “Last updated” note, as shown that day:

Choose the Audience Before You Add Your Resume to LinkedIn

How to add resume to LinkedIn comes down to the audience you pick: hirers you apply to, recruiters who search, or anyone who opens your profile or post. If you only want faster applications, save the file under Resumes and application data and keep the public copies off. If you want your network to read it, strip your phone number and address first, then add it to Featured.