Almost all of us Internet-dwellers have LinkedIn profiles. Even if we don't really use them very well for networking purposes or taking in job search advice, it still serves as an online resume and publishing platform that might get a few eyeballs from time to time.

But there's another great reason to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date, and that's the following tools you're going to love. You'll be whipping up resumes on the fly in no time.

As most of these tools use your LinkedIn data, it makes perfect sense to edit your LinkedIn profile thoroughly before you start testing them. It's a good idea to keep it up-to-date anyway, as you never know who will actively seek someone with your skills.

With that said though, the final recommendation on this list doesn't use LinkedIn data, as they feel it's not the best for a traditional resume. But even without that original data they'll have a resume ready for you in 15 minutes, which isn't bad at all. It's definitely worth checking out!

Resume.LinkedInLabs.com

The whole point of this Resume LinkedIn Labs tool is to make it super-easy to get the information from your LinkedIn profile straight into a PDF ready for emailing to your next prospective boss. And since each job you apply for is ever so slightly different, this tool makes it easy to pick and choose what to display and what to ignore.

Resume LinkedIn Labs Overview

Plus, it has a bunch of great formatting options to choose from. So, rather than using the simple PDF export option of LinkedIn (seen on your profile), this tool will actually make your resume look good.

All you do is log in to your LinkedIn account and all your details will be ready for use in the resume builder. It's so simple to use.

Resume LinkedIn Labs PDF Template

Once you've settled on a template style and tweaked the content you can save this version of your resume for future use. Then you can reformat and edit for different purposes and save new versions for later.

Resumonk

With Resumonk, you can use the simple PDF export from your Linkedin profile, then easily import that into their system. They have their own collection of beautiful resume templates to work with, and you can choose from four free templates (with Resumonk branding) or pay for a premium membership (only $19 for the year) and get more styling options.

Resumonk Resume PDF Templates

The beauty of premium membership is that you can download the resume in formats other than PDF, meaning you can keep a working, editable version of your resume on your own computer. But that's not necessary for everyone, so the free membership will often do just fine.

Visual CV

Visual CV is basically a site for creating a beautiful digital version of your LinkedIn resume. However, it also has a PDF export function for most templates, so once you're done you can print a copy or email it to your next employer.

Visual CV

To use Visual CV, it's a simple matter of logging in to LinkedIn, choosing a template and editing until you love it. Note that Visual CV has a premium membership for $12/month which offers perks like premium templates and personal domain names.

Visualize Me

Visualize Me is not just about making beautiful PDF versions of your LinkedIn data. It's about manipulating that data into beautiful visual representations of your work history. For instance, you can show a neat timeline of where you worked and for how long, including any overlaps in your work history along the way. This can really help to show your prospective employers how long you stayed in a certain role and how you advanced through the ranks over the years.

It also has features like language maps, showing all of the countries where your primary and secondary languages are spoken (or more languages). This could really help you to highlight that skill, especially in a role that would involve international business.

Visualize Me uses a simple LinkedIn login (or you can set it up directly), then talks you through the various visualizations and templates. Then it's simple to download as a PDF or PNG for your resume needs.

Strikingly

Strikingly use the ever-so-simple LinkedIn login to grab your data, then show you a selection of mock-ups to choose from. They're all designed to be viewed online, and use clean formatting to display your data beautifully.

Strikingly add elements to your resume such as a contact form and a motto, plus you're given a personal URL for your resume. You can edit the resume to your liking, including using elements from the other templates for certain sections and changing the imagery used, then you're done.

Strikingly portfolio

These are incredibly beautiful sites, and it's worth setting one of these up just to have a beautiful resume people can find. If you're desperately in need of a PDF version, you can use a browser extension like PrintFriendly to create a PDF from this template.

There are paid plans available for Strikingly, but they are aimed more at businesses and special events that also use this service to showcase their wares.

Resume Builder

Now, Resume Builder is a site that disagrees with using LinkedIn data to build a resume, as they believe the information people put into LinkedIn isn't phrased correctly for resumes. However, they do offer a neat alternative that's worth checking out, as it only takes 15 minutes.

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7251228/type/dlg/sid/UUmuoUeUpU50123/https://vimeo.com/114529272

What they do is let you choose a template, then guide you through the process of adding the correct information for a professional resume. This results in the right information being displayed prominently, with no messy formatting.

When it comes to adding responsibilities, they offer a keyword search to find the best matches for your experience. From there, the job description details can be pre-populated with a few clicks, using the best wording as determined by Resume Builder's experts. But don't worry, you can edit and add your own details as you wish.

When it comes to the additional skills section, they suggest you make the dot points as relevant as possible, and completely unlike LinkedIn's skills section. From there you can download as a PDF for printing or a Word document and do whatever you like with it. You can always tweak it later and download it again quite easily whenever you like.

The basic service is free, and you can access premium features from $1.95 for two weeks. They also have a 6-second resume challenge game you can play to see how your resume will fare in the application pile, which is a neat way to check if you've filled things out correctly and made yourself stand out.

How Do You Create Your Resumes?

Are you still creating your resume with Word templates or do you prefer to use web tools? Have you even used a resume recently? Or is LinkedIn good enough for you? Let us know in the comments what essential elements need to be present for you to use any given resume template or tool.