University Student’s Guide to Creating a LinkedIn Profile
So you’ve decided to make a LinkedIn page. For many university and college students, this truly feels like one of the first steps you’re making towards a career. You’ve decided to take a step forward and branch away from social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram and begin thinking about your job search.
Whether it’s your first time on LinkedIn or you’re just looking to elevate your profile, check out these necessities you need when creating a LinkedIn profile!
1. Complete the LinkedIn Basics
The more complete your profile is, the better the odds are that recruiters will find you and feel more comfortable reaching out. Make sure to always fill in all areas so there are no obvious gaps that could make the recruiter question anything.
Even though LinkedIn is a social media, make sure to think of your LinkedIn profile as your online resume. Treat it with the same respect and professionalism as one you’d send in to a company.
2. Be an Active User
While this might seem obvious, there’s a difference between being an active user and a passive user. A passive user is someone who scrolls through their feed without liking or commenting on any of the posts they come across.
An active user is someone who publishes articles, collaborates with others on LinkedIn and comments on others posts. Being active is a great way to get your profile the recognition it deserves and to further show others that you’re serious about your professional career.
It’s also a great way to draw attention to your profile and share more about yourself and your passions with recruiters.
Your posts could be as simple as commenting on a post you found interesting to writing an article about a topic you’re excited about.
3. Have a Proper Headshot
Getting a professional headshot is one of the first things you should get while creating a Linkedin profile. While it might seem a little silly at first, your headshot will be the first thing users see when they look at your profile on LinkedIn.
Having a selfie or blurry photo can imply that you’re not serious or professional. If you’re in need of a good headshot, many on-campus clubs (especially business clubs) hold headshot events for those looking for a good picture!
4. Headline
Think of your headline as the title to your story. What is the first thing you want users to know before they click your profile? The headline is essentially a one-sentence statement of your current work/education status.
Utilize these headlines to either show employers what positions and jobs you’re looking for or to let other users and employers know your position and current work status. Examples of good headlines for students can be, “Seeking full-time software engineering opportunity” or “Seeking Summer internship for advertising and marketing roles”.
5. Summary
Writing a good LinkedIn summary is the best way to help make yourself stand out from other profiles. Your LinkedIn summary is used for you to give a general overview of who you are, what you value, and what you specialize in. By not including a summary on your profile, you miss out on a lot of different opportunities.
Your LinkedIn summary is one of the first impressions for people to get to know you. While general LinkedIn users will only see the first part of your summary unless they choose to read the rest, Linkedin recruiters will automatically see your full summary when scrolling through potential employees. Your summary is also used for LinkedIn’s algorithm during search results. The keywords you place in your summary will help your profile pop up in appropriate areas.
6. Experience
As with any good resume, you always have to include your experience, its relevance, what you were responsible for and what you accomplished. This is the most important part of your LinkedIn profile because it shares why you are a worthy candidate for any position. As this is a general profile, you’re able to tailor your LinkedIn profile to include more or less information than the resume you’re sending out.
As a university student, this might sound like a difficult task if you lack internships or part-time jobs. However, it’s important to remember you can include any extracurricular and volunteer experiences you have been a part of! Make sure to include any leadership or club opportunities. When you’re just coming out of university, your extracurriculars will be the best way to prove you’ve got the right experience for any employer!
7. Accomplishments
The accomplishments area is the best way for you to show off what you’ve done throughout your educational career. As a university student, employers don’t expect you to have workplace awards or much job experience.
This area is great to boast about the hard work you’ve done while in school. This can include any scholarships you receive, any college awards, your GPA or whether you’ve made the dean's list. However, while it may be tempting to include your high school GPA or your MVP award on your varsity basketball team, try to refrain from these as it is no longer relevant for your employer!
8. Skills
The skills section is a great way to include any tools, programs or soft skills you’ve used throughout your university experience. Skills could include anywhere from presentation and communication skills to photoshop and HTML.
In addition, your connections are able to vouch whether you’re being truthful or not by endorsing your skillsets. Endorsing means that others are verifying you have the skills you’re stating you have! Make sure to include these on your LinkedIn page to further impress potential employers and recruiters!
9. Show Off Your Success
The best part about LinkedIn is that it’s the one place you can brag about your professional achievements to no end.
Why shouldn’t you be proud of the work you’ve done? By putting links to pieces you’ve written, work you’ve designed, or videos you’ve helped edit, it shows potential recruiters and those looking at your profile what you’re capable of doing. While your resume can say what you can do, use your LinkedIn page to show what you can do.
10. Recommendations
If you’re able to get a recommendation from a past coworker or manager, this is a great opportunity to help your Linkedin profile stand out from others. Having others vouch for you as a coworker, employer or even student is a great boost to your profile. However, this is not to say that you should get a friend to write you a bogus review to look better for employers.
Struggling to balance life as a student? Check out this video about the 5 best apps to help you stay organized!
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