Learn to Shine with This Top Professional Advice

As the Digital Age looms, it has become increasingly challenging to stand out to employers with the constant innovative efforts among peers to climb the rungs of the career ladder. Because of this, staying relevant in the growing pool of applicants is more necessary than ever. For your professional success, I asked a series of experts and professionals who are exceedingly knowledgeable in their fields for some ideas on how to hit it off with your LinkedIn profile, polish your resume, and learn to shine professionally.

Meet the Professionals

Clarissa Ceglio, Associate Professor of Digital Culture

Silvia Chan, Senior Associate Director— UConn Recreation

Frank Costigliola, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History

Heather Elliott-Famularo, UConn Digital Media and Design Department Head

Miao Guo, Associate Professor of Digital Media Business Strategies

John Murphy, Associate Professor In-Residence of Digital Media Business Strategies

Jonathan Trump, Associate Professor of Physics, Specialty in Astronomy

Guidance was shared. The advice is in. Here’s what you need to know:

The Passionate Pursuit

For the pursuit of passion from pastimes to future careers, Professor Frank Costigliola advises you to consider a task that you feel you would love to do even if you weren’t getting paid. Make sure you try different things and “try to be honest with yourself” about it. Time is of the essence since college is a temporary opportunity. Further, “the exploratory cost is less now than later.” As a college student, you are NOT supposed to know yourself yet. You’re young and met to try different things. Self-discovery comes with time and experience. Keep this in mind as you navigate your college journey!

For another take on the topic of discovering your passion in life, I asked UConn Recreation’s Silvia Chan. She stated, “​I love what I do at my job… Human Resources and Recreational Services is my career, but I wouldn’t call it my passion. I don’t think that you need passion to make your career successful. Good work ethics, drive and dedication will make you successful, and I still think that you don’t need passion for that. I think to be passionate about something there must be something deep in oneself to make it so emotional and intense.”

There seems to be a mixed consensus on whether passion belongs in a career or not, but it is evident that passion gets you far, as it is vital to a happy life. It should fit somewhere in your dynamic life to create a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

What Defines You?

Have you ever asked yourself “what defines you?”. Professor John Murphy had me questioning myself in a constructive and helpful light after our conversation. He pointed out that “every job is valuable and every job translates. Don’t be shy about it.” Show your interesting side on your LinkedIn profile. This can be best achieved by examining and reexamining your qualities, skills, and personality so you can present yourself accurately on any and all professional platforms.

Professor Murphy continued by highlighting a common LinkedIn mistake: not including all your work history. “People like to see who you are as a human. It isn’t about your work history; it’s about who you are.” However, if a work experience is exceedingly unfavorable and is a month or less, you don’t have to include it, according to Professor Murphy. Employers essentially are asking themselves ‘Do we really want to hang out with these employees 40 weeks a year?’, so showcase YOU!

PRO TIP: To present a hobby, make talking points on your resume with a few sentences or so per hobby.

Hire How?

Upon being prompted with the question, “What do you look for in candidates for hire?”, Ms. Chan confessed, “I look for authenticity and interest in working with us when interviewing candidates. Values are important, as are work ethics, and they can be taught. There isn’t much that can’t be taught, the person just needs to believe in it to embrace it.”

First Impressions Matter

It’s true; first impressions are lasting impressions. Ms. Chan supported this notion with her statement, “If you want to stand out in a good way, your friendliness and great attitude make lasting impressions.” That equates to a genuine smile, always following an interview with a ‘thank you’, practicing proper posture, and making solid eye contact.

Professor Trump added, “Have an appetite for learning. Be eager to learn and improve.” Recognize that there is always room for improvement. What’s there to life if you are perfect at everything already?

Social Media Spring Cleaning

Spring may be only a quarter of the year, but you can always find some time to tidy up your social media. Professor Miao Guo revealed that “Some students and young professionals post inappropriate pictures or language on social media. They do not set their privacy settings correctly.” Don’t let your chances for a phenomenal job be dashed because of a foolish post on Instagram. Professor Guo reaffirmed this: “Social media is a double-edged sword. It can promote your personal brands and good causes, but it can also bring unfavorable consequences. Remember that every digital footprint you have left online or on social media is traceable and will be forever!”

Let Yourself Shine Through

Another BIG social media mistake according to Professor Murphy: when people don’t allow themselves to shine. Make sure your personality comes through. Use each social media platform the way it is intended. While you should not do anything threatening or unethical, at the same time, be yourself. Bottomline? Be authentic and appropriate.

PRO TIP: Who you are is what they see first, so your bio should demonstrate your character at a single glance. Keep that at the forefront of your mind.

Professor Clarissa Ceglio also spoke on this topic, making an excellent point about expressing our individuality: “We all have many sides to our identity, like a multifaceted gem, each of them authentic. But, we express ourselves differently in different settings, situations, and contexts.” Think about LinkedIn as “an online job fair” for you to showcase your professional persona.

PRO TIP: Here’s an exercise to try. Pick three people online and then look at their LinkedIn profiles. How did they retain their sense of individuality? Be sure to look at how others communicate the person behind the profession.

The Big Picture

Be sure to look at the big picture with this next piece of advice. Professor Ceglio recommended upping your LinkedIn and resume game by also listing outcomes along with tasks under specific work experiences. To rephrase, explain why. “Was this task contributing to some larger goal or outcome for the company or organization that you did the work for? Link it to the bigger effort by prioritizing the goal or outcome whenever possible.”

Flex and Flexibility

Professor Jonathan Trump regards a resume as a means of opportunity, so use your resume to your advantage. They are not rigid, but flexible documents, meaning that there is no one right way to present your resume. Your resume does not and should not look like the next person’s so instead, make it your own! Further, resumes are what you make of them. Resumes can strongly and successfully reflect who you are if you put the time, effort, and work into the presentation and informational aspects of it.

PRO TIP: You should emphasize (aka flex) your strengths by putting them early on the document.

Tailor It To Fit

There is a key difference between your Curriculum Vitae (or CV for short) and the resume you typically submit to employers unless otherwise specially specified. Usually, a resume is a one to two-page document that employers request during your job search, while a CV is a much more extensive document. Your CV consists of not only your background, some experience, and top skills, but everything you ever did in terms of professional history including but not limited to projects, key courses, and hobbies too!

With that in mind, when applying to a specific career role or job position, many experts recommend tailoring your resume to fit the job description by identifying key skills that you have that are also listed in their job description and highlighting those in your document.

Moreover, be certain to “step back and reevaluate your priorities by stating to yourself that: ‘I’m writing for my audience as much as I am writing for my purpose. Think about my reader. Who am I writing this for?’” according to Professor Ceglio.

Meanwhile, Professor Trump advises customizing your resume to the job position and the field with industry-specific vocabulary and language.

PRO TIP: Have a professional website no matter what your industry or career focus is.

Resume Research 101

Ms. Chan suggested “always research the company that you are applying for. You want to demonstrate that you are interested in working for them and are willing to put in the work to make the company successful.”

Yes, you heard that right. Research, research, research! Put yourself in the employer’s shoes. Would you want an employee that shows zero interest or eagerness in learning about the company or brand? Of course not! Thus, put in the extra effort and Google the company a bit.

PRO TIP: Take the time to understand the company mission and vision statements. Test your comprehension of these critical statements by summarizing them into as few words as possible. At the very least, what are three words that would describe that business?

Spell It Right

In terms of spelling and grammar mistakes, they are big no-no’s according to the experts. Professor Ceglio explained that, “it is like walking into an interview with spinach in your teeth. Autocorrect, for example, can introduce typos when rushing, so my first advice is to enter your material, print it out, then read it over with a pen in hand. Have a couple trusted friends read through it.”

PRO TIP: Lean towards utilizing Microsoft Word’s spell check over other word-processing software applications’ spell check capabilities.

Similarly, Ms. Chan agreed, “Grammatical errors and verb tenses are still the prevalent mistakes that we see.” Watch those verb tenses! Previous work history experiences should be past tense, while current experiences must remain present tense.

To prevent mistakes, “​Let trusted colleagues review your resume before sending it out but keep it to two colleagues. More than two people, and you will get conflicting advice, and it can get confusing. Always dress formally for interviews, as you cannot make a first impression twice.”

Don’t Get Behind the Times

This piece of advice is mainly about LinkedIn, but can be applied to all presentations of work history and experience such as other professional platforms, your CV, and your resume. Professor Ceglio elaborated on this front, stating that a common mistake is that students and young professionals don’t keep their LinkedIn profiles up-to-date when making transitions. “Think of your LinkedIn account as your vibrant shadow. When you move, your shadow moves with you.”

PRO TIP: “Word your LinkedIn job title so it doesn’t date easily.” For example, avoid saying “UConn freshman” because you will be changing it in less than a year.

Next Up, A Networking Mindset

No matter the field or whether you are pursuing an academic or industry career, it is critical to network. Networking can be accomplished in various methods based on which career path you take. However, the mindset is the same.

Professor Trump recommended, “Cultivate your letter writers.” LinkedIn is a network for more non-academic fields and industry, but similarly, networking and “references matter a ton”.

Professor Heather Elliott-Famularo regarded the professional atmosphere online as something to be thought “less of as a just job opportunity and more as a professional relationship”, alluding to the notion that LinkedIn is about the networking of relationships you forge with other professionals. The focus should be the long-term, not the short-term. In order to achieve healthy networking success, maintaining this mindset is imperative.

Plant the Seed, Grow the Garden

Wondering how to start networking on LinkedIn? Professor Murphy suggested connecting with your professors, alumni, and fellow students. Following this, set an attainable goal to grow your network and increase activity such as “shoot for 50 connections by senior year, two groups you will belong to, and engage once per week.”

Life is about the give-and-take, so strike a balance by mothering your LinkedIn garden every so often.

Secrets to Appearing Self-Confident

According to Professor Trump, sometimes you need to “fake it until you make it.” This applies to more than just job interviews and career fairs. This goes for all aspects of life. Often, some projected confidence morphs into a genuine sense of self-assurance down the road.

PRO TIP: “Ask yourself: How do you answer questions in professional settings? Pretend to know the answer by reframing the question.” Sharing the ideas you have is far better than saying you don’t know. Do this by talking around the question and having the self-confidence to back it up.

Final Words of Wisdom

Professor Costigliola additionally offered several words of wisdom I wanted to share with you.

1. Don’t be foolish: Take risks but first think through the consequences. These are called calculated risks, not impulsive ones.
2. I am what I am, and I do what I do: Be your sincere, authentic self and own it. Don’t let what other people think influence who you are at your core. To heck with them if they give you a hard time. You can’t please everyone. Be the person you are proud to be instead.
3. Keep things in perspective: Deal with those problems one at a time to avoid becoming overwhelmed. You are going to get through this.
4. Get in touch with nature: Practice nature photography, go for a hike, or even just take a walk outside.

PRO TIP: “Be able to articulate the alternative avenues” in any choice you are contemplating making. Do this by “putting your feelings into words” which can be accomplished through activities like journaling or creative writing!

Conclusion

The Digital Age might be upon us, but don’t let that stop you from shining professionally and personally. Let your authenticity shine through and hopefully, these pieces of advice and pro tips will aid you in your future career search!

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