Learning LinkedIn For Students

Create a LinkedIn Profile

In his video “Learning LinkedIn for Students”, Oliver Schinkten (2018) explains how to utilize a LinkedIn account. With over 500 million members and over 1 million company accounts, LinkedIn offers many benefits to users that help with:

Finding and applying for jobs
Researching companies and industries
Building professional networks
Creating a strong digital footprint

When setting up an account, Schinkten (2018) recommends creating a quality password since personal information will be shared on the account. Ten or more characters should be used with the inclusion of uppercase letters, numbers and special characters.

Adding a photo and background image can liven up a profile. When choosing a profile picture, a recent, professional photo should be used as staying recognizable to the picture is important. To add a background image, simply click the pencil icon in the top right corner of the profile page. These photos should help the profile stand out.

The first thing seen on other users’ profiles is their headline. This should state what defines that person and what their career objective is. Changing a headline is easy as Schinkten (2018) directs the viewer to simply click the pencil icon on the top of their profile and click headline. Before posting, ask for feedback from a friend or family member, as they can add insight into the new headline.

While a headline is short and brief, the summary should have much more depth with lots of time and effort going into it. This is an opportunity to share mission statements, goals, aspirations and personality. The first part of the summary should draw the viewer in to convince them to read on. This is an “opportunity to show passion”; something a resume cannot do, says Schinkten (2018). He continues to explain that many students do not have a summary, which is a big mistake.

More options when creating a profile include:

Work experience or Volunteering – list experience, jobs and internships. Can enter title, company, and location.
Education – add school, awards, GPA.
Skills – list what specific skills are in your skillset (ex leadership, excel, public speaking).

These skills can be endorsed or recommended by other LinkedIn accounts.

To configure a public profile, click the tab “edit public profile and URL’s”. Three options will appear:

Edit URL – this allows personalization of the URL for a profile. Can make it easier to share/remember the profile.
Edit Content – this allows editing of the public profile.
Edit Visibility – this controls profile appearance for certain viewers. Can make a private account which will not show information in the profile.

Build your Network

Schinkten (2018) says “connecting with other professionals and creating a solid network is one of the most empowering things you can do.” Providing value to your network and creating win-win relationships is important in building a valuable connection with others. A strong professional network can bring:

Insight and advice
Knowledge and ideas
Collaboration
Resources
Opportunities

There are three main types of people targeted when building a personal professional network. The first type is “the advocate”. This person should be known at a personal level, such as a classmate or family member. Their role is to act as a soundboard for advice and ideas. The second type is “the strategic in”. They are well connected and willing to make connections on your own behalf. They are usually known on a professional level such as a professor or alumni. The last type is “the subject matter expert”. They have insight in the industry and can give their unbiased opinion. They are usually people in a similar industry or job.

It is easy to connect with others on LinkedIn. Users can connect to people and businesses. Schinkten (2018) advises not to abuse connection requests and suggests connecting with others only if there is a win-win relationship. To accept a connection request, click the “my network” tab and proceed by clicking “see who you know”. Here users can see pending invitations in which they can ignore or accept.

There are many ways to improve a LinkedIn search. Users have access to powerful search filters where they can narrow down a specific search such as:

Boolean modifiers – includes quotations and parenthesis
Search operators – incudes name, title, school
The alumni tool – includes people of similar education

To learn more about using these search operators, go to the help center in LinkedIn.

A great way to make an account relevant by the users’ interests is through LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn groups are trusted communities, where professionals ask questions, share insights and build connections. To join an appropriate group, search keywords and filter by groups. Make sure to review group rules and purpose before requesting to join.

Using LinkedIn Day-to-Day

Exploring the feed is a typical action that LinkedIn users do daily. The feed will present content based on the users interests as well as content posted by followed groups, people and schools. Users also have the opportunity of following companies and influencers. To follow a company, Schinkten (2018) directs the user to simply search the specific company in the search bar. To follow influencers, go to www.LinkedIn.com/feed/follow. LinkedIn will automatically suggest people to follow.

The newsfeed allows the chance for users to share content that provides value to followers and connections. There are different ways to share content such as through an article or video. Schinkten (2018) recommends new LinkedIn users to try writing their own article to share on the feed. He advises to write on something relevant to their followers. When choosing pictures for the article, make sure to have the rights for the image, otherwise it is illegal. Some recommended sites to get safe images from are www.unsplash.com or www.spitshire.com.

Everything someone does online contributes to their digital footprint. Employers often investigate potential employee’s social media accounts and review their digital footprint. Some things to avoid that improves one’s footprint include:

Reference to drugs and alcohol
Bad mouthing others
Discriminatory behaviour
Poor communication skills

Building a positive digital footprint can be accomplished by:

Conveying a strong professional image
Being well rounded
Having a wide range of interests
Having great communication skills

Schinkten (2018) believes that LinkedIn Learning is a valuable tool, users should use. He states that innovation and change occur at an alarming rate, all the time. This means that lifelong learning is needed in order to adapt to new industry trends and practices. LinkedIn learning offers those with premium accounts, courses and classes on all types of different subjects. Schinkten (2018) suggests there is something for everyone on LinkedIn learning.

Job Search and Company Research

Exploring potential careers is a handy tool for students with LinkedIn accounts. Schinkten (2018) advocates how easy and efficient students can research company insights and search for jobs. There are three main stages in the job search:

Find the job
Research the job
Apply for the job

LinkedIn also offers job alerts, which notifies members when a relevant job posting arises.

Manage Your LinkedIn Account

There are some key benefits in using LinkedIn Premium. This includes:

Sending in-mail
Viewing company insights
Moving up on job applications
Seeing who is viewing your profile

LinkedIn offers a free trial of their premium version to basic account users. There are four types of premium accounts: career (find jobs), business (grow network), sales (unlock sales opportunities) and hiring (find talent).

LinkedIn users can back up their data. Schinkten (2018) advises users to do so before deleting their LinkedIn accounts as once the account is deleted, it is gone. To backup data, go to settings and privacy and click download data.

My Conclusion

After watching Schinkten’s (2018) video, I realized badly my LinkedIn profile needed a complete rehaul. Before the changes, I had no profile picture, background picture, or work experience. I took the time to find two appropriate pictures, one for my profile picture and one for my background. In my background photo, I wanted to showcase a bit of my personality, so I chose a picture of me playing goalkeeper for the Nait Ooks soccer team. Also, I added past job experiences such as working for Titan Glass and Costco. In the coming days, I plan to implement more ideas learned through Schinkten (2018) as he recommends staying active on LinkedIn.

Your Ideas

What did you take from the video? Did i leave any topics or ideas out? Please feel free to add to the conversation without hesitation

References

Bray, M (2019, Dec 27). Why Network Segmentation is essential to Creating a Secure Enterprise Environment [Online Photo]. Retrieved from https://www.information-age.com/why-network-segmentation-essential-enterprise-123486552/

Schinkten, O (2018, Oct 18). Learning LinkedIn for Students [Video File]. Video posted to https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-linkedin-for-students/next-steps?u=2109516

Yublosky, M (2018, May 2). Your LinkedIn Profile [Online Photo]. Retrieved from https://www.diywebjem.com/2018/05/02/your-linkedin-profile-and-the-default-background-image/