linkedin

LinkedIn Tips for College Students

Posted on by Julia Aldrich

LinkedIn tips for college students

As a college student, it’s never too early to construct a resume. Starting early gives student the chance to constantly make sure everything is grammatically correct and up to date. However, in the digital world employers and programs look at much more than resumes to review potential candidates. One of the largest growing networks today is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a social media service for professionals and is one of the key tools for career networking and employment. As of 2016, LinkedIn holds over 467 million users, 40 million of which are college students or recent college grads. If you’ve decided to create a LinkedIn, it’s important to understand how utilizing the platform affects your success rate. Here are a few LinkedIn Tips for college students.

Profile Photographs

One of the most essential aspects of a good LinkedIn profile is the photo. Like other social media sites, i.e. Facebook, having an appropriate photo helps the viewer connect with you and legitimizes your account. Because of the various spammers and scammers lurking on the internet, it’s likely that other users, recruiters, and companies may feel weary about “connecting” with a user who doesn’t have a photograph. The key to a good LinkedIn photo is a clear headshot only featuring you. It doesn’t need to be a professionally taken photo, but looking clean and wearing a nice top is a must. Also, make sure to smile! Employers are looking for enthusiastic people.

List Your Skills

LinkedIn allows its members to easily list their skills in their profile. Additionally, LinkedIn allows you to put your skills in a specific order and lists the top three “featured skills” on your profile. The remaining skills are visible by clicking the “view more” button. Therefore, it is extremely important to think through which three skills best represent you. By entering your skills,  you allow employers to get a good understanding of what you’re capable of doing. LinkedIn also allows its users to obtain “endorsements” on their listed skills. Past employers and other members can verify you’re proficient in your these skills based on who and how many people endorse you. But of course, be careful who you ask!

 Expand Your Network

With LinkedIn’s huge member database, learning how to grow a strong and cohesive network of connections is one of the most important LinkedIn factors for college students. Like other social media networks, LinkedIn allows you to “connect” with people. These people could be classmates, coworkers, friends, whoever! In addition, college students have the special benefit of connecting with alumni. If you’re applying for a position, check LinkedIn to see if anyone who graduated from your school works there. Use this angle to connect and ask for advice and recommendations- not jobs. Like any other social engagement, make sure you’re not obtrusive.

Post Articles

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn users have the opportunity to share articles or write their own and post them on their profile. Sharing and writing articles is another one of the best practices on LinkedIn for college students. Articles can be blog posts, recent news in your field, and generally interesting things. Not only does this provide employers and recruiters with more information about you, but it also helps give them a sense of who you are. However, be very, very careful to only post relevant and appropriate content to avoid offending and upsetting anyone. A general rule of thumb is to avoid politics and overly opinionated pieces.  

LinkedIn is one of many social media platforms that currently has millions of active users. With so many social platforms bidding for your time, it may seem unnecessary to join. However, LinkedIn isn’t about sharing your favorite family photos or mistakes you made last weekend.  It’s focused on the professional job market and connecting with current or potential employers to build a strong professional network. Use these LinkedIn tips to create a high performing account for success during and after college!

Social Media’s Affect on Education

Posted on by Tonya Nelson

Not so many years ago, all the cool kids hung out on MySpace, looking for the cuties and talking to random people you would never meet in real life. Today, MySpace is ancient history, but the realm of social media is expanding. We need blogs, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn, and even Facebook to help connect to potential employers, get into social networking, and help us land a job. This need and use of social media has helped to transform aspects of college education and college life in general.

As a student in S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, it’s hard to escape the importance and prevalence of social media. Magazines, companies, films, celebrities, and just about everyone else can now be found on some, if not all, forms of social media. In essence, it’s the way of the future. Schools often now suggest creating blogs so employers can get a sense of your writing and personality, and managing a professional Twitter to get an idea for what your industry is like and perhaps catch the attention of a certain employer.

Social media is no longer just a way for high school students to find other students who also like puppies. It is a full blown industry that can close and open doors for you depending on what you’re talking about on your profiles. There are now college courses taught on the various social media platforms, how to create a professional profile, and the importance of maintaining these profiles.

While some argue that social media distracts from school time—which is true if kids are sitting in class on Facebook chat; surely their parents are super proud and putting that tuition money to good use—it can actually be seen as the student taking the future into their hands. By encouraging the students to follow, for example, different magazines, magazine editors and writers as a magazine major, this can only serve to exemplify the passion they have for their future careers. Further, students then have a chance to potentially interact with professionals in their field, by posting a Facebook comment or sending a tweet. Social media can revolutionize students getting ready for the job market as they can see first-hand some of the skills and day-to-day tasks of people in their field on the job, which can help them choose courses and find the best internships down the road.

Through teaching social media or using social media in the classroom, a student’s education is broadened. The Internet connects the world and with social media, the world has platforms on which to communicate and build significant connections for their future. The class can have discussions through a Facebook page or on Twitter, instead of having to deal with emails back and forth. Professors can hold a Twitter Q&A with an old colleague still working at a company students in the major would love to hear about. And remember that time James Franco taught a class via Skype? The opportunities are endless and with more unique social media platforms, more doors are opening.

Though many people still don’t understand social media and see it as a waste of time, it is quickly becoming the way of the future. Social media has already helped land thousands of people jobs and internships, which in turn has made it a necessity to be taught in some form in school so students understand how to make best use of these platforms on a professional level. So, embrace your Facebook, be kind on your Twitter and learn, learn, learn!

-ToonyToon

I’m reading Western Civilization 1715