LinkedIn is a professional networking site that can help us college students make connections, display our experiences and find employment opportunities. If you’re already on LinkedIn, these tips will help you develop and improve your profile. If you aren’t on LinkedIn, you can use these suggestions to build your profile from scratch. It’s quick and easy, so let’s get started!
Take a Professional Photo
To make a good impression on those who visit your profile, you’ll need a professional headshot. Most colleges offer free headshots through their career and professional development departments, so keep a look out for events and offers on your campus. If you don’t have an opportunity like this near you, make the most of your own cell phone or camera. Dress up, find a flattering background and snap a photo!
Add Descriptions
One feature that seems to be vastly underutilized is the ability to describe each job you’ve had and position you’ve held. Use the description box to detail your responsibilities. Include your most impressive accomplishments, and quantify your results. Be concise! You want to first capture a recruiter’s attention, and then quickly get to the point. They won’t have time to read paragraphs upon paragraphs of information.
Feature Projects
Whether you’ve written a research paper or photographed a fashion show, you’re bound to have completed some sort of project during your college career. Most people don’t think about this LinkedIn feature enough, but it can be a powerful tool. You can show recruiters exactly what you’re capable of directly from your profile. You’re able to link these projects to websites and connect them to a specific position or experience on your profile, too.
Narrow Your Skills
You’ll want to be very specific when listing skills on your profile. A skill like “marketing” is very general; however, professional writing, graphic design, email marketing, social media advertising and data visualization would be more descriptive. That being said, only list skills you are confident using. If you are learning how to use Adobe Photoshop but are not yet proficient in it, it wouldn’t be honest to feature it on your profile.
Add Relevant Courses
The classes you take in college will make great additions to your LinkedIn profile. This gives recruiters an idea of what you are actually studying and becoming familiar with. Try to stick to major and minor-specific courses in this section. If you’re a Fashion Design major but took “Introduction to Astronomy” to fulfill a general requirement, you don’t need to include it on your profile.
Build Connections
This is a fairly obvious one, but connect with people: classmates, professors, supervisors, co-workers, etc. You’ll need connections if you want endorsements, which are an important part of showcasing your skills and accomplishments.
Both photos sourced from Pixabay.