Whether you’re a freshman just getting settled into ODU or a senior getting ready to go out into the real world, it’s important to start marketing yourself now. You want to be as presentable as possible to future employers so that when you do go look for a job, you can have your best shot at getting it. Here are some tips to help market yourself while you’re still in college.
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Use social media.
This is probably an obvious one, but it’s also pretty important. It’s also worth noting that you shouldn’t post anything on social media that you wouldn’t want your future employers to see. Those pictures of you getting lit at a party last weekend probably aren’t what your future employer wants to see. Make sure your accounts are professional and that you delete anything you wouldn’t want anyone to see. A good rule of thumb for this is that if you wouldn’t want your parents or your grandparents to see it, it probably doesn’t belong on social media.
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Make a LinkedIn account.
It takes less than 5 minutes to do this. A LinkedIn account can help you connect with others who are in your field. Connections are everything these days, so if you can make connections now through LinkedIn, it could help you later on down the line when you graduate. It can also help you find jobs that are in your field or area of interest. Though there’s a premium option, it’s free to use and make an account.
Create a digital portfolio.
A digital portfolio can allow anyone to see the work you’ve done through your college years. It can be a nice way to organize your work and show off all of your skills and interests. You may have a major in history, but maybe you also enjoy doing photography and have built up an extensive portfolio over the years in that. You can share your history work and your photography work all in one place, and maybe it can help lead you to a job. There are free sites you can do this on, like WordPress, but if you want your own domain name, you’ll have to pay for that yourself.
Regardless of where you’re at in your college career, it’s important to start marketing yourself now. The bigger your portfolio is when you graduate from ODU, the better it’ll look to future employers. If you have nothing to show for your college career, then it’ll be a lot more difficult to find a job after graduation.