Upload first if you have a résumé, then fill in the rest with help or by hand. The three ways are not exclusive.
An upload fills your basics, roles and skills; the depth that makes your profile answer questions well still has to come from you.
Nothing is written to your profile until you review every item and choose Apply to profile.
Detail
Three ways to start. On its first step, the Profile Setup panel on your dashboard offers two of them: "Upload a résumé or profile document" and "Build by hand". Profile Setup: the dashboard panel that gets you to publish describes the panel. You can mix all three.
| Way | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Upload and review | "Import from résumé" on the Basics tab, always there, or "Upload a résumé or profile document" on the Profile Setup panel’s first step | Reads your file and lists every item for you to tick before anything is saved |
| Fill it with help | "Fill it with help" above the tabs on the Profile page, or "Continue with help" once your profile can be published | The profile assistant asks questions and drafts answers for you to review |
| By hand | "Build by hand" on the Profile Setup panel’s first step, or any tab of the Profile Builder | You type each field yourself |
What an upload does well. It takes a PDF, Word, Markdown or plain-text file, and you can import at any time from the Basics tab. Importing again proposes only what has changed, and anything that would replace your own words starts unticked; answer its "Same role, or a new one?" question carefully so that a role you already have is not added twice. Education and certifications are listed under "Not saved" and are not added to your profile. Importing a résumé or profile document: upload, review, apply covers the review step by step; the limits are on the Limits page.
What a résumé cannot do. A résumé holds no private context, so it fills none of the private fields that publishing needs. The profile document template has room for them, or you can add them with help or by hand.
What it deliberately does not do. The import is conservative by design: unsure skills arrive as "Moderate", and it leaves years blank rather than guess. A role without a start date, a company or a title is never added as a new role: if it matches a role you already have, the review offers its bullets and private notes for that role, and otherwise it is listed under "Add these roles by hand".
Your main cleanup after an import is usually to promote the skills you genuinely are strong in up to the Strong column. Publishing needs at least three Strong skills, and a conservative import can start you below that line.
Fill it with help suits the parts a file cannot cover. The profile assistant asks questions and drafts answers; nothing reaches your profile until you press Save, and only ticked drafts are saved. Getting publish-ready is included on every plan; the full interview is part of Pro. Filling your profile with help: the profile assistant describes it.
Building by hand is the right choice if your résumé is badly out of date, or if the roles you want to talk about are not the ones on it. It is full control and it is slower.
💡Follow our step-by-step Quick-Start User Guide to learn how to set up your profile quickly and easily.
Related
- The résumé import created too many or wrong skills… what do I do?
- What should I do first after logging in?
- How long until I can publish?
Last verified: 2026-10-21