For college students, LinkedIn is a great way to connect with potential employers and build a professional network. It’s important to put your best foot forward on this social media platform so here are some tips to make your profile standout.
Profile Picture
The picture you choose for your profile is the only one professionals will see on your LinkedIn so make sure it’s good. Common mistakes to avoid are pictures with more than one person in it or ones taken on a night out. Your picture should be professional and of you alone.
Headline
When scrolling through recommended people to add on LinkedIn, you first see a persons picture and their headline. The headline should be a short sentence about what you’re doing now and what you want to do in your future career. Some profiles may just have “Student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison”, but you can take it a step further to really let employers know what you’re about. Try for something more personalized like “Economics major and aspiring financial analyst.”
Summary
In the summary section of your LinkedIn you shouldn’t stop at your current year in school and your major. Instead, describe what you’re skilled at, what motivates you and what’s next. There’s more leeway in this section so show your individual voice.
Experience
For the experience section, don’t just list the jobs you’ve held but provide some information on the specifics of the job or internship and the tasks you performed. This can resemble the bullet points on your resume regarding your specific responsibilities.
Recommendations
One final area that can really make you standout is in the recommendations section. Here, former employers or professors can write a recommendation that gives credibility to your skills and strengths that you portray throughout the rest of your profile. Just a few strong recommendations can go a long way to show you’re a desirable employee.
As summer nears and final applications to jobs and internships go out, take some time away from updating your Twitter and Instagram to focus on perfecting your LinkedIn.