Create a LinkedIn Profile
“LinkedIn is a powerful tool for students who are preparing to graduate and start the next exciting chapter of their lives. It can help you define your career path, build a professional network, and even find your first job” (Schinkten, O. 2018). Do you ever feel qualified for a job, but are anxious and can’t seem to figure how to go about getting it? Well, LinkedIn can help. LinkedIn is a networking site that can help you achieve your goal when trying to score that dream job. Creating a profile on LinkedIn is secure and feels mandatory when trying to build a career. The mainstream ease of access between you, and the networks provided is more than enough to entice any individual to create a profile. Creating a profile gives you the competitive advantage you may need to boost your career, which can help when creating your own professional network, searching for employment, conducting industry research, and more.
To create a more alluring profile for employers, you will want to make a LinkedIn page showing all your strengths providing why you need to be hired. Once you have completed the sign-up process and figured out all the small details try adding a background image and a profile photo that makes you look sophisticated; try not to use pictures you would typically put on Facebook or Instagram. The picture attached to your profile will be the first thing anyone will see when viewing your account. From there you can personalize a headline and a summary that will attach viewers to your profile, reeling them in to not only learn more about you, but to also take an interest in hiring you. A summary should be dedicated to providing your mission statement, achievements, career goals, skills, and personality. From there you can add your work or volunteering experience, as well as education. Creating a profile that manages to hook users into wanting you for their company is not a hard task if you take the simple steps provided to make the best profile possible.
Build Your LinkedIn Network
Once you have created your profile, it is time to start thinking about whom you want to contact and what kind of network you see yourself in. LinkedIn is not your typical social media site, instead of talking to friends or relatives, you will be talking to professionals whom you see yourself gaining knowledge or a job opportunity from. “A strong professional network can help to provide insight, and advice, knowledge and the exchange of ideas, collaboration, opportunities, access to resources, and often will open the door to job opportunities” (Schinkten, O. 2018). Your profile may be viewed by tons of different companies looking to find their next hotshot, so try to connect and surround yourself with a network that can help further your career. Searching for careers or conducting research about schools is easy on LinkedIn, you have filters to specify any search that you want narrowed down. Are you looking to find relationships with users who attended the same school as you? Or maybe want to look up jobs or companies? The search option is perfect for that as it has tons of filters to find the result you want.
Using LinkedIn Day-to-Day
LinkedIn is a powerful resource; you will want to use it just as much as any other social media platform; that way, you can keep current with potential job offers and access to useful resources. LinkedIn has a built-in news feed page where you can check whenever or wherever you are. This news feed is specialized towards you, making sure you see the information that is relevant to you, like the companies or influencers you follow. You can also post messages and statuses other users are able to see on their homepage too. Remember, everything you do online is creating a footprint others can see, you are technically building a personal brand even if you don’t realize it, so when you are sharing updates, publishing articles or content be careful about what you post; it may not offend you, but others may not take it the same way.
Job Search and Company Research
We know LinkedIn has a variety of filters to find the search results you desire, but it also can explore potential careers, and learn more about companies. With nine million companies on LinkedIn, finding information about a company is easier than ever. You can visit any webpage and either follow or see potential jobs. Following a company is a great way to see insights about how they work and what they care more about, such as their corporate social responsibility, customer relationship management, and tons more. LinkedIn is more than a social media site; it is a platform to help all kinds of people search and apply for jobs, you can even set up alerts about potential offers to stay up to date with any relevancy about the job.
Manage Your LinkedIn Account
LinkedIn has two different types of accounts; one is premium, and the other is free and available to anyone. The premium account has more features and is less restricted, so if you feel the need to upgrade as it is a viable option when trying to pursue a career, do it. Besides the two account types, LinkedIn also has privacy settings where you can block others, and set specific permissions on a bunch of different categories; you may also choose your account type there too. If you found you have had enough of LinkedIn, you can also delete your account in the settings options, which will permanently delete all your data, so if you think this is a necessary action, you may want to download your data beforehand, if you care to keep it.
References
Schinkten, O. 2018. Linkedin.Com. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-linkedin-for-students/why-use-linkedin?autoplay=true&u=2109516
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