In a blog post this week, Microsoft claimed over 80 percent of resumes are written and updated using Word. It’s now making the software more useful to people writing resumes by adding a dedicated Resume Assistant. The company argued that most people have difficulty in writing their resume, noting that the demands are changing as business pivots towards the digital economy.
Resume Assistant is based on artificial intelligence that extracts insights from the resumes already available on LinkedIn. You can access the information from within Word, letting you find examples and include them in your document using a side-panel in the software. The assistant will automatically pull in resumes that are relevant to your profession.
Data available from LinkedIn will include examples from industry leaders of how they present their work experience, details of top skills required in your field and the option of customising a resume to match one of LinkedIn’s 11 million open job postings. You can then craft your submission to appeal to individual recruiters, based on the specific job you’re applying for.
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Resume Assistant demonstrates how LinkedIn data can be useful to Microsoft’s products. Microsoft and LinkedIn have publicly committed to cross-integrating their services, letting Office 365 interface with LinkedIn and vice versa. However, aside from a few Outlook enhancements and statements of intent, Microsoft’s yet to do anything major with LinkedIn’s data since acquiring the company.
In its announcement of Resume Assistant, Microsoft said new capabilities will be launched “in the coming months.” These are expected to offer greater data sharing between Office 365 and LinkedIn, enabling information stored in one to be accessible in the other. The integrations will benefit professionals and recruiters as they collaborate in the cloud.
“Microsoft and LinkedIn are committed to empowering professionals – both in their current jobs and over the course of their career – with innovative new tools that bring together the world’s largest professional cloud with the world’s largest professional network,” said Microsoft. “Look out for more updates in the coming months.”
Resume Assistant will be rolled out to Office 365 users in the Office Insiders program this week. It’s initially available to regions including the U.S., U.K., Australia, China, Germany, India and Japan. More regions and platforms will be added over time. Microsoft hasn’t said when the feature will leave the Insiders program and reach general availability.
