Today we will discuss LinkedIn for Students. Nowadays, social media presence plays a huge role in various sectors of our life. We need to show ourselves and share our work to reach a certain destination in education and professional life. LinkedIn is an amazing place to do this.
Benefits to be on LinkedIn
Online Presence: LinkedIn is an ideal place to build an online presence. LinkedIn can be one place to find you with all your previous work. People, especially recruiters, can find you and connect with you. It is also a way of showing how professional you are.
Online Resume: LinkedIn can be your online resume. You can apply directly with your LinkedIn profile. Many companies even want only your LinkedIn profiles for job applications. Even if you provide a pdf copy, they would still evaluate your LinkedIn profile.
Find and Apply for Jobs: LinkedIn is the best place to find jobs. Though there are plenty of job portals, LinkedIn still stands first. You can search for a job by location, position, etc. Also, you can connect or research the companies and recruiters to get the desired job.
Build a Network: You can connect with your college, and university alumni, respected people from the industry you want to work with, potential recruiters, etc. You can reach out to them via a professional message showing your interest to work with them.
Get a Job Offer: If you create a professional LinkedIn profile, keep sharing your work, and engage with people, there are high chances to get a job offer from your dream company. Often companies reach out to people by themselves and offer them to work with the company.
Setting Up a LinkedIn Profile
Professional Picture: It will be your first impression to anyone who will visit your profile. Remember it is not like other social media platforms. Use a clear, straight, and friendly picture. Don’t use selfies, cropped, or low-quality pictures. Make sure to wear formal dress depending on your industry, semi-formal or at least business casual will be fine.
Introduction: Complete the information section of the introduction part. Add your name. Use the headline part wisely as it will give people an idea about what you do. Also, people will search by the keyword you use on the headline.
Add your education information, and current job even if it is unpaid or volunteer work; add them with a short description of what you do. Add your contact info and any website or other platform information where you have shared your work.
Summary: This part is crucial. It needs to be short, crisp, and to the point. You need to tell your story, about what you are an expert in and can offer to others. Don’t use the LinkedIn-generated summary and write in the first person. Proofread and edit to make a readable and efficient summary.
Add Experience and Skills: Add your experiences, volunteering work, paid and unpaid internships, freelancing whatever you could do as a student. Find out the skills that you used in those projects and add them to the skill section. Add skills that can be useful for the job.
Accomplishments: In the accomplishment section you can add projects, courses, awards, test scores, and any publication or patent you have.
Make sure to update your account regularly. LinkedIn is a social media platform but it is for professionals, job, and career purposes. However, it can be a great platform for students to start their journey to be a professional from here. Hope our guide on LinkedIn for Students will help you.