LinkedIn --- the networking app that feels like a professional Facebook. I love this app and use it religiously, whether I’m sifting through internship postings, scrolling on my home page or reading the latest article posted. I’m always urging my friends to make an account or to get active on the platform, but I’m met with the same answer, “No, but I will when I’m looking for a job.” LinkedIn has so many benefits aside from being a resource when job hunting. People are missing out on the perks and tools that come with the site. Here are seven ways you can maximize your LinkedIn usage as a student.
1. LinkedIn Showcases What A Resume Cannot
CSULB’s Career Development Center urges students formulating their resumes to keep it to one page if they can help it. Plus, every opportunity has its own unique set of duties that require a tailored resume that fits those qualifications. It’s rare to keep using the same resume for every opening.
As someone who is always applying for internships, and scholarships, it’s impossible at times to condense my experiences and skills into one page. That’s where LinkedIn helps. I just put my customized link for my LinkedIn profile at the top of my resume so employers can access all of my information, instead of just seeing whatever I put on my resume.
2. Starting Now Will Help You Later
According to Journalism & Public Relations lecturer and advisor, Jennifer Newton, has tips to help students maximize their accounts way before they ever look for employment. She teaches the Digital Tools for Public Relations course and even instructs her students on how to efficiently get active on LinkedIn.
She states that adding sections to your profile now instead of later gives the algorithm more time to learn you and help when you’re eventually sifting through career options. You’re not optimizing when you create an account as you scramble for a job.
Building your professional rundown in college and keeping up with it gives employers in the future a bigger picture of what you bring to their company or organization.
3. Networking Is Essential
Even if you aren’t planning on entering the job market straight out of undergraduate study, graduate school could be on the radar. If so, LinkedIn can help! Jennifer Newton notes the platform’s networking feature as something that can help students get in touch with other students in the current graduate programs they're interested in.
“You're gonna find people who you are connected to or closely connected to that are gonna be at the places that you're interested in at the grad schools… and you can start to reach out to them,” she says. “And alumni love to help current students because we have been in your shoes. We understand it. We've been there. We know how scary it is. We know that in reality, it's not as scary as we perceive it at the time, so we like to be that voice of like ‘it's okay. I promise you it's okay.’ So go out there and all you have to do is ask and like most of them will be more than willing to have a zoom call with you, have a coffee with you, just talk to you about it.”
4. Think Of It As An Online Portfolio
Newton also states that unlike other social media, LinkedIn allows its users to write long form articles. You can take whatever niche topic you’re into whether it’s sports, astronomy, film, etc. and showcase that information in a long form article.
“You can position yourself as an expert before you even leave the university… You have to start conveying who you are digitally before they will ever see you in person,” she says.
5. LinkedIn Learning Courses
Another resource college students have been overlooking is LinkedIn Learning. It provides courses for different topics and software. For instance, if you want to begin editing video and audio, but are unfamiliar with Adobe Suite, LinkedIn Learning can give you step-by-step instructions to navigate the technology with ease. After a course is completed, it gives you a certificate you can add to your profile. CSULB students even get these courses for free, says Newton.
6. It Can Outweigh Your Other Social Media Presences
Jennifer Newton mentions how employers are increasingly checking the social media of candidates as they go deeper in the interview process. If you have been active on LinkedIn for a while, showcasing your skills and experiences, your profile could outweigh a social media presence that a potential employer may disapprove of. Another reason to start on the platform now!
7. LinkedIn Offers Internship Opportunities
Job hunting or not, the sooner you get on LinkedIn and the more the algorithm gets to know you, the more it will send you internship opportunities you could be interested in. College schedules can be especially tight, but imagine LinkedIn suggesting the perfect internship for you. My account has shown me a multitude of internships that I always knew I wanted to obtain, along with showing me new internships that also interest me. Odds are, you might just find a way to fit the internship into your schedule. After all, experience is crucial in college.
