We’re all back in Aberdeen, the temperature is dropping, and the leaves are falling – the academic year has truly, undeniably begun. With lectures and tutorials underway (and the prospect of writing a dissertation and graduating within the year looming above some of us) one might shift their thoughts from carefree summer vacations to graduate jobs, CVs, and professional development.
If you, like me, are trying to perfect your resumé and starting to look at “real life jobs”, you have probably come across LinkedIn. You may have even hastily registered to never look at your profile again or started filling out your details only to be put off by your lack of professional experience (we are students at the end of the day!). Today I am here to tell you: you need to give LinkedIn another chance!
It may seem like it’s useless to be on LinkedIn as a student, but actually, the platform can help you advance your future career prospects:
- It helps you establish an online presence without having to set up a personal website. Any potential employer will likely Google you. You want them to find LinkedIn, which you specifically put together to show off your skills and achievements.
- It complements and even replaces your resumé. To most listings you’ll likely have to submit a CV, but more and more jobs are listed on LinkedIn where you can apply using only your profile. Moreover, employers who want a traditional resumé will be happy to look at your online profile on top of that, with which you can showcase a broader picture of your experience and skills.
- It lets you research companies. You can look up information on the companies and people you want to work for, giving you a competitive advantage with your application (press releases posted by the company are great conversation starters and credibility boosters!). With some luck, you can even find and learn about the hiring manager who will be interviewing for your dream position.
- You can find and connect with alumni from your university. LinkedIn lets you grow your network by connecting with alumni from your university who may be hiring managers, know of job openings, or have their own businesses themselves, and who would love to give career advice to a student like you.
Hopefully at this point you are all convinced that you need a LinkedIn profile – now let’s have a look at the Dos and Don’ts of setting one up!
#1 Your photo. It is imperative that you have a photo, and it matters what type of picture you choose! It should be a shot of your head and shoulders, in front of a neutral background, with you wearing professional attire – think business casual, but this may depend on your industry. Don’t use a selfie, a group photo cropped to only feature you, or a photo so out of date you are barely recognizable.
#2 Your intro. Your intro is what people see first when they click on your profile, this is your basic profile information “at a glance”. The intro includes your full name, headline, current position, education, country and industry. You may use your job title as a headline; however, it is recommended to get creative with this space to better communicate what it is that you do. (Click for more info on headlines and some tips for students!) As for your industry, just try to find the best match for what you study or what you are interested in.
#3 Your summary. Even though the summary part of the profile is optional, and that big, white space can be incredibly intimidating at first, I highly suggest you fill it out! Use that space to tell a career story, or one you aspire to have as a student. Think of the summary as a cover letter to your dream job. And don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be too long, keep it under a couple paragraphs.
#4 The rest of your profile. With your photo, intro and summary all done, the rest will be a breeze. LinkedIn allows you to personalize the sections of your profile, so you can add as much or as little as you see fit. You’ll want to fill out the Experience part with any jobs you have – don’t fret, internships, freelance work and part time jobs can go here, too – but you can also add accomplishments such as awards or publications (your Her Campus articles, for example?), volunteer positions (such as your committee roles, society memberships, or that one time you were Class Representative!), languages, or skills.
And with all of the above, you are done – pretty much. Your profile will never feel completely finished, but that’s okay. You can polish and alter it as your experience grows and as you are acquiring new skills. Now you are ready to make connections and grow your network. LinkedIn is not like Facebook in the sense that you are only supposed to add people you know in real life. You are more than welcome to connect with people who you look up to in the industry but never actually met. You can also add people you see speak at a conference or meet at networking events, if those are something you attend. As I mentioned above, you can also search for alumni, and add people that went to the same university, or search for the company you want to work for and connect with their employees. Don’t forget to add a personal note to the connection request, though!
Finally, don’t forget to actually use LinkedIn. Follow companies you are interested in, share articles you find interesting, engage with your connections’ posts. You don’t have to be posting every day, but it is a good idea to keep your profile active and update your network from time to time. Things you may want to post about are job or internship updates, accomplishments such as taking part in the STAR Awards, getting on the committee of your society, or getting your degree – but it is entirely up to you how much you share.
Photo source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ah…