LinkedIn and Your CV: How to Download a CV From LinkedIn, Turn It Into a Real One, and Add Your CV to LinkedIn

How to download CV from LinkedIn (Save to PDF)

LinkedIn's built-in way to download a CV from LinkedIn is called Save to PDF. According to LinkedIn's help centre (checked 10 October 2026), it works like this:

• On a desktop browser, click Me at the top of LinkedIn and choose View profile
• In the introduction section under your name, click More (on some profiles the button is labelled Resources)
• Choose Save to PDF from the menu; the file downloads to your computer
• It is not available in the LinkedIn mobile app; on a phone, use a desktop browser instead
• LinkedIn says the PDF renders correctly only for English-language profiles
• There is a cap of 200 PDFs a month, counting your own profile and anyone else's you save

Why a LinkedIn PDF is not yet a CV

The LinkedIn CV export is a printout of your profile, and a profile is written for a different reader. It includes everything you added over the years, in LinkedIn's layout, with LinkedIn's section names. A recruiter or hiring manager opening it can tell immediately that it came from LinkedIn, which reads as low effort for a job application.

The specific problems are predictable. The headline is written for search rather than for one role. Skills are a long list with endorsement-era leftovers. Older roles carry as much space as recent ones. Achievements are often missing because profiles tend to describe responsibilities. And contact details only include what you chose to show on your profile, which may be nothing more than a LinkedIn URL.

None of that makes the export useless. It gives you every employer, title and date in one place, which is the tedious part of building a CV. The job is to restructure it, not to retype it.

• Keep: employers, job titles, dates, education and certifications
• Rewrite: the headline into a short profile aimed at the role you want
• Add: two or three achievements per recent role, with figures you can defend
• Cut: skills you would not want to be tested on, and the detail in roles over ten years old
• Add: a phone number and email, and your town rather than a full address

How to create CV from LinkedIn profile data in five steps

This is the process we would follow with a candidate who arrives with nothing but a profile.

• Save your profile to PDF as above, then check the dates on LinkedIn are correct before you trust them; this is where CVs and profiles most often disagree
• Choose a layout first: a clean single-column or simple two-column template, so the content goes into a structure rather than the structure being improvised around it (our UK CV layout examples compare the options)
• Write a three-line profile for the role you want, replacing the LinkedIn headline
• Under each recent role, turn responsibilities into achievements, keeping every figure true and in the right job
• Export to PDF, then compare employers, titles and dates against your LinkedIn profile one last time; the two must agree, because a reader who checks will notice

LinkedIn CV creators and resume builders

There are plenty of third-party LinkedIn CV creator and LinkedIn resume builder tools that take a profile URL or the Save to PDF file and pour it into a template. LinkedIn has also offered its own resume builder feature over the years, though its location in the menus has changed and we could not confirm where it sits today, so we have not described it.

Whichever tool you use, the same caution applies as with any automated CV generation: the output is only as accurate as the reading of your profile. Check that each role kept its own dates and that nothing has been merged or invented. If the tool uses AI to 'improve' your wording, check every number and job title against your profile, because a rewrite that sounds better can also say something you did not do. Our guide on using AI on your CV without getting caught covers what to look for.

How to add CV to LinkedIn: two places, two audiences

People search for this as how to add CV to LinkedIn, how to upload CV on LinkedIn or how to add CV to LinkedIn profile, and the honest answer is that there are two different places to upload a CV to LinkedIn. They have very different audiences, so decide which you mean before you upload anything.

For job applications. When you apply through LinkedIn's Easy Apply, you can upload a CV in the application form, and LinkedIn keeps recent uploads so you can reuse them on later applications. That copy goes to the employer you apply to, not to your public profile. This is the right way to upload a CV on LinkedIn for most people.

On your public profile. The Featured section on your profile lets you add a document, including a CV, for anyone who views your profile to open. That is public in a way a CV normally is not. If you add your CV to your LinkedIn profile this way, make a separate version first with your phone number, home address and anything else personal removed.

• Applying for jobs: upload your CV inside the Easy Apply form
• Showing a portfolio-style CV publicly: the Featured section, with personal details removed
• Never: a CV with your full address and date of birth on a public profile

How to update CV in LinkedIn, or remove it

If you are wondering how to update CV in LinkedIn job applications, upload the new version the next time you apply; the most recent file is the one to select. Previous uploads can be deleted from the same place they are offered for reuse. To update the CV in your Featured section, remove the old document from Featured and add the new one, because an outdated CV on a public profile contradicts the CV you are sending today.

For how to remove CV from LinkedIn (or how to delete CV from LinkedIn entirely), delete it from Featured and remove any saved application uploads you no longer want stored. LinkedIn changes these settings screens often, so search its help centre for 'resume' if the option is not where you expect.

How to add LinkedIn to your CV

How to add LinkedIn to CV is the simpler question. Put your LinkedIn URL in the contact line at the top of your CV, after email and phone. Customise the URL in your profile settings first so it reads as your name rather than a string of characters, and make sure the profile agrees with the CV on employers, titles and dates, because a recruiter will look.

Do not paste your whole LinkedIn summary into the CV. The profile is for discovery; the CV is for one application.

For recruiters: when a candidate only has a LinkedIn profile

Agencies meet this weekly: a strong candidate with no current CV, only a profile. The cleanest route is to ask the candidate to send their own Save to PDF export, which also gives you a clear record that they supplied it and agreed to it being used. Check the dates with them on the phone, because profiles go stale, and confirm consent before submitting them to any specific client.

From there it is a normal formatting job. ConnectIQ reads a LinkedIn Save to PDF export like any other CV PDF; there is no special LinkedIn import, so treat the result as you would any parse. Each extracted field is linked back to the page it came from, uncertain values are left blank rather than guessed, and you can draw a box on the original page to correct anything misread. The candidate then goes out in your branded agency template rather than in LinkedIn's layout.

Job seekers can do the same with the free conversion: upload your LinkedIn PDF, check the extracted record against it, choose one of 57 templates, and export a proper CV as PDF and Word.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get my CV from LinkedIn?

On a computer, open your profile, click More (or Resources) in the introduction section and choose Save to PDF. LinkedIn downloads a PDF of your profile. It does not work in the mobile app, and LinkedIn says it renders correctly only for English-language profiles (checked 10 October 2026).

Is a LinkedIn PDF good enough to send as a CV?

Rarely. It is a printout of your profile in LinkedIn's layout, usually without achievements and with every skill and old role given equal space. Use it as the raw material: keep the employers, titles and dates, then restructure it into a proper CV aimed at the role.

How do I upload my CV to LinkedIn?

For job applications, upload it in the Easy Apply form, where LinkedIn keeps recent uploads for reuse. To show it publicly, add it as a document in your profile's Featured section, but remove your phone number, home address and other personal details first.

Can you add your CV to LinkedIn?

Yes. Where to upload a CV on LinkedIn depends on who should see it: inside the Easy Apply form for job applications (it goes only to that employer), or as a document in your profile's Featured section, where anyone viewing your profile can open it. Remove personal contact details from any public version.

Can employers see the CV I upload on LinkedIn?

A CV uploaded in an Easy Apply application goes to the employer you apply to. A CV added to your Featured section can be opened by anyone who views your profile. Those are very different audiences, so use the Featured section only with a version that has personal details removed.

Should I put my LinkedIn URL on my CV?

Yes, in the contact line, using a customised URL. Make sure the profile matches the CV on employers, titles and dates first, because recruiters compare the two and inconsistencies make every other claim look less reliable.

Can employers tell if your CV was written by AI?

Detection tools are unreliable, but readers notice generic phrasing and, at interview, claims you cannot explain. If an AI tool helped turn your LinkedIn profile into a CV, check that every figure, title and date is still true and still attached to the right job.

Try it on a real CV

Put your own CV through it: see the record a parser pulls out, fix what is wrong, and pick a layout that survives the machine. No card required, and every AI change is shown as a before-and-after you approve.

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Related guides

• CV Formatting in the UK: The Rules Recruiters Actually Apply, With Examples
• UK CV Layout Examples: Eight Layouts Compared on the Same CV, and Which Ones Software Can Read
• 6 Ways AI Ruins a CV — and How to Use It Without Getting Caught