If you are reading this, chances are you have heard about “LinkedIn” and not pretty much satisfied with your overall presence there. And if you are waiting to start building up your LinkedIn profile after graduation, it’s time to reconsider.
Social networks have become the most fastest mode of quality hires and 90% of the Fortune companies use LinkedIn’s corporate talent solutions to find future hires.
But students at their college period are not much fascinated to LinkedIn as they think LinkedIn to be “Facebook for old people”! But the truth is LinkedIn is a resume that never sleeps. It is a powerful tool that helps students to build their own brand in the competitive world. So if you’re not on LinkedIn, you simply don’t exist in the working world.
To begin with, we have listed top 7 ways students can use LinkedIn to build a great career!
1. Look Professional:
You might have come across a lot of people saying you to put up a profile picture on your LinkedIn account but that’s not enough my friend. Replace your current picture (taken from Facebook) with an high-quality photo of you alone, professionally dressed, facing forward. Do this n get 14x more views.!
2. Include your expertise and extracurricular:
Gather all the academic as well as professional work you have done during your school days & put them all together. Be specific about your work experience, any internship or skills you have developed.
Also Read: Top 7 Tips to Better Email Etiquette for Students
3. Connect with Professionals & Industry Leaders:
With over millions of business tycoons on this platform, connect with them whose career amazes you and reach out to them. But do it wisely. Just do not say you want to get in touch with them because you need a job, but engage them with a request for career advice, a personal question, or offer up a skill that could be of service.
4. Join LinkedIn groups and be active there:
Setting up a LinkedIn profile is not just enough to reach out to the people you care. One of the best ways to get noticed and engage with people in your industry is to elicit conversations and ask smart questions. LinkedIn groups are a great way to establish yourself as a contributor rather than a passive reader.
5. Get as many Recommendations as possible:
Having recommendations on your profile of your co-workers increases chances of attracting the employers attention. Moreover, having recommendations establishes a trust of your brand to others and signifies your work process to the world.
6. Read & write articles on Pulse:
LinkedIn provides a great way to write blogs on its platform in a niche presentable manner. You can add cover image and style the article as per your needs and share with the world. You can also find millions of great article about your industry on Pulse which can help you learn, grow, and find your way.
7. Have a unique LinkedIn URL:
If you want your profile to show up on Google search result in the top like, in the top 5, then you must change your LinkedIn profile settings to ‘public’ and create a unique URL that matches with your name. For example, someone on Linkedin with name “Neil Patel” should have its URL as www.linkdin.com/neilpatel or www.linkedin.com/patelneil and NOT anything like www.linkedin.com/neilp006
If you follow the above-mentioned points today, you will make an investment for your tomorrow. So if you want to stay ahead of your competition when it comes to landing a job, prepare yourself as early as possible!
