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Microsoft Office 365 users to get LinkedIn-powered Resume Assistant

Microsoft is tying together LinkedIn Insights and Word to create a new Resume Assistant feature for Office 365 users.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft is making available another integration between Office and LinkedIn with a new Resume Assistant feature.

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Credit: Microsoft

The new Resume Assistant uses LinkedIn insights on the back end to connect to Microsoft Word on the front end. The Assistant pulls insights from millions of member profiles that are similar to a user's desired role and industry. That way, people crafting resumes can see how similar people describe their work. There's also an option in Resume Assistant to turn on Open Candidates to quietly signal to recruiters that a user is open to a new job.

When Microsoft's $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn officially closed at the end of last year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella outlined a handful of immediate-term priorities for integrating the companies' technologies. Enabling members drafting resumes in Word to update their profiles, and discover and apply to jobs on LinkedIn was on that list.

Microsoft also is touting other LinkedIn integrations related to Resume Assistant. If users see a job posting or suggested skill in Resume Assistant that they're lacking, they can take an online LinkedIn Learning class to flesh out their resume. And users have an option to connect with professional resume writers via LinkedIn's freelance hiring place.

Resume Assistant is available today to Office 365 subscribers as part of the Insiders program and those subscribers must have the latest version of Word on Windows. It will be generally available to Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscribers "in the coming months." Resume Assistant will be available in all Office 365 commercial and consumer plans, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed.

Microsoft officials said they are working on other unspecified integrations between Office 365 and Resume Assistant for future delivery.

Last year, Microsoft integrated new research and editing tools into Microsoft Word.

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