How to add your resume to LinkedIn (3 ways), and the setting that turns on when you apply

How to add your resume to LinkedIn via Easy Apply, saved resumes or Featured: who sees each copy, and the recruiter setting LinkedIn turns on after you apply.

There are three places to put a resume on LinkedIn: inside an Easy Apply application, in your saved resumes for later applications, and in the Featured section of your profile. Each copy has a different audience, and only two of them can be used to apply.

Most guides stop at the clicks. They skip the part LinkedIn documents in its own help pages: after you apply, LinkedIn switches on a setting that makes your saved resumes searchable by recruiters, and it uses those files for more than applications. This guide covers the three methods, who sees each copy, and the settings to check before you upload anything. Everything below was checked against LinkedIn Help on October 2, 2026.

Three places, three different audiences

Where you upload	Who sees the file	Usable to apply?
Easy Apply application	The employer you apply to	Yes, for that job
Jobs > Preferences	You (plus resume data, see the next part)	Yes, picked per job
Featured section or post	Anyone who views your profile or the post	No

That last column surprises people. LinkedIn says it plainly: "You won't be able to use the resume uploaded to your profile for job applications" (LinkedIn Help, Upload your resume). A public copy in Featured does not save you an upload when you click Easy Apply.

Two numbers that the ranking guides get wrong or leave out:

Four saved files. LinkedIn stores "your four most recently uploaded resumes" and drops the older ones.
2 MB, not 5 MB. Several guides quote a 5 MB limit. LinkedIn's own page says: "We recommend a file size less than 2MB and the file format must be either Microsoft Word or PDF." A text resume exported to PDF is usually far below that, so if yours is larger, check for embedded images.

The setting that turns on when you apply

This is the part none of the ten guides we read for this article mention. One of them states the opposite, that recruiters cannot search the contents of the resumes you upload.

LinkedIn has a setting called Share resume data with recruiters. Its help page describes what it does: "Once enabled, your profile will appear in search results when recruiters search for skills, experiences, education, and accomplishments that match data found in resumes that you've saved over the past 2 years" (LinkedIn Help, Share and manage your resumes with recruiters).

And you do not have to enable it yourself: "After applying for a job on LinkedIn, you'll be presented with a prompt to share your resume data with all recruiters, and the Share resume data with recruiters toggle will be turned on."

What that means in practice:

Your saved resumes become search data. A skill that sits in your resume but not on your profile can still put you in a recruiter's results. That works in your favor if you are job hunting openly.
Recruiters get the data, not the file. "Recruiters will not have access to your full resume unless you provide it to them directly, including by applying for a job."
Hiding from your employer depends on one field. LinkedIn hides your resume information from Recruiter users at your company using "the current company on your LinkedIn profile marked as 'I am currently working here'", and adds: "we can't guarantee complete privacy." If your current job is not marked that way, the protection has nothing to work with.
Language. The page ends with "This feature is available only in English." LinkedIn does not say whether that refers to your interface language, your resume's language or the market. If your account runs in another language, don't count on the feature either way.

How to check it

Open the Jobs tab and click Preferences.
Click Resumes and application data.
Look at the Share resume data with recruiters toggle. Leave it on if you want recruiters to find you through your resumes. Turn it off if you are searching quietly.

Turning it off does not delete anything. To remove a file, use the ellipsis (...) next to it and select Delete. LinkedIn notes that "Previously submitted applications will not be affected": the employer you applied to keeps the copy you sent.

Method 1: upload it while you apply with Easy Apply

Open a job posting with an Easy Apply button. A plain Apply button sends you to the company's own site instead.
Fill in the contact fields.
Under Resume, pick a saved file or click Upload resume.
Review, then click Submit application.

Check the attachment before step 4. LinkedIn's help page is blunt about what happens if you forget: "If you've submitted your application without a resume attached, you can't reopen your application to attach your resume or reapply for the same job post." The only way out it offers is an InMail to the job poster, and only "if they've provided contact information in the job posting."

The file you attach may not stay on LinkedIn either. Through an integration called Apply Connect, LinkedIn lets applicant tracking system vendors "receive all job applications directly into your ATS system" (LinkedIn, Apply Connect overview). For employers that use it, your Easy Apply resume is parsed by the same software as an application sent through their careers page. A single-column layout with standard headings matters here as much as anywhere. Our guide to ATS resume filters covers what that software reads.

Method 2: save resumes for later in Preferences

Open Jobs, then Preferences.
Click Resumes and application data.
Click Upload resume and pick your file.

With four slots, a useful pattern is one resume per type of role you target, named so you can tell them apart in the Easy Apply list: Lastname-Firstname-Data-Analyst.pdf beats resume_final_v3.pdf.

Saved resumes are also the copy LinkedIn reads for its own purposes. Its page on visibility and usage of your uploaded resume lists "recommending and ranking jobs you might be interested in", suggesting profile updates, and AI features that "show you how well you match the qualifications of a particular role." It also says: "Your saved resume data may also contribute to improvements in our AI models," subject to a setting where you can opt out of your data being used to train content-generating AI.

Our view: that trade is acceptable for most job seekers, because better job matching is the point of uploading. But a resume holding details you would not put on your public profile (a home address, a client list under NDA) does not belong in these slots. Strip it first or keep that version off LinkedIn.

Method 3: put a public copy in Featured

On your profile, click Add profile section, then add Featured.
Click + and choose Add media.
Upload the PDF and give it a clear title, such as "Resume, Data Analyst".

Anyone who views your profile can open and download that file. LinkedIn goes further than most guides do: a resume posted as a media attachment on your profile or in a post "will be visible to anyone viewing your profile or that post and may be visible off LinkedIn."

So the Featured copy is a public document. Before uploading it:

Remove your phone number and street address. Your city and your email (or just your profile link) are enough.
Keep it general. It cannot be tailored to one posting, and it will not be used for applications anyway.
If your employer doesn't know you are looking, skip this method. A resume in Featured is visible to your colleagues too.

Sharing the resume in a post is the same file with a wider audience and a date stamp in your feed. It fits freelancers and people who announce their search openly. For everyone else, Featured or nothing.

PDF or Word?

PDF, unless a posting asks for Word. LinkedIn accepts both for applications, and a PDF looks the same on every screen. The one PDF to avoid is a design export where the text is an image or sits in two columns, because an employer's software can misread it.

Questions people ask

Can recruiters see my resume on LinkedIn? The employers you apply to get the file. Anyone sees a Featured copy. Saved resumes are not shown as files, but with Share resume data with recruiters on, the data in them helps recruiters find you in search.

Can I upload several resumes? Yes: up to four saved, and you choose one per application. Featured has no such use, so one public version is enough.

How do I get a resume out of LinkedIn instead? That is the reverse trip, from your profile to a document. Our guide to the LinkedIn resume builder options covers LinkedIn's Save to PDF button and its English-only limit.

Make the profile and the resume say the same thing

A recruiter who finds you through your resume data lands on your profile. If the job titles or dates differ between the two, that is the first thing they notice. Optimising your LinkedIn profile covers the profile side.

Going the other way is faster: the HiredFolio extension reads your open LinkedIn profile and fills a resume with your experience, education and skills, so both documents start from the same facts. Turn your LinkedIn profile into a resume, then tailor it before you upload it to any of the three places above.

Key takeaways before you upload a resume to LinkedIn

After your first Easy Apply, open Jobs > Preferences > Resumes and application data and decide whether Share resume data with recruiters stays on.

Check the attachment before you submit: an application sent without a resume cannot be reopened.

Remove your phone number and address from any copy you put in Featured, because it can be seen off LinkedIn.

Start from what your profile already says: turn your LinkedIn profile into a resume.