The LinkedIn platform is a professional networking area which helps to choose career paths, search for jobs, build a professional network. It also engages to gain knowledge about professional areas that we are interested in. It can also be called a bridge, that helps from training or schooling to land to a job, so LinkedIn profiles are very important. It also develops a strong digital footprint, which is essentially your personal brand. Nearly 500,000,000 users, LinkedIn provides data and information on over 9,000,000 companies and have around 10,000,000 active job postings. This helps to research and find various options and interests for a student. Companies and recruiting industry will also look for their requirements and presenting us as a great fit and strong candidate will land us with the job. For a student, LinkedIn profiles are very important as they can decide their future. Every student must leverage the platform and reap its benefits.
Create a LinkedIn profile
The basic step is to create a LinkedIn profile. For this, you must first sign up first. Navigate to LinkedIn.com. Click on sign up and type in various details including first name, last time, email address and set up a password. Then click join. Now it’s time to write the university where you studied, the place you live, zip code, etc. Fill in the details accordingly and customize the profile. Verify the profile by verifying the email. After a few steps, the account will be set up. Add a photograph and a background image. Photographs must be clear, and the background photo must stand out. Change the headline which is one among the first things a recruiter will look up to. The headline will be a default one which we must change. The headline must generate interest and reflect a message to the reader. The area of expertise is the next area to focus on. The skills must be mentioned and areas a person is strong at. This helps to add important keywords to the profile, so other than a degree, the skills must be mentioned properly. Work experience including part-time jobs must also be mentioned in the profile, including the time period. The reference and recommendations are the next steps to be included. Keep updating the profile to improve the quality and view of the profile.
Build your network
The most valid point in creating a profile on LinkedIn is to do networking. Building a network that’ll help us grow in our interested field is going to be the primary motive in creating the profile. Connecting with other professionals and creating a solid professional network is one of the most empowering things. Connect with people and search for people who have job titles like the one we aspire is a daily job. When doing it, we nurture a strong professional network that keeps us updated and helps us find different opportunities. LinkedIn also helps to find a professional by his or her name using the search bar. You can connect to people when you see their profiles and connect buttons. It has a few requirements like you need to know the email or if your account is upgraded to premium, it’s possible to connect directly.
My network link is another great way to connect with people. It shows various options to explore including people you know who already there on LinkedIn are. It might be from the university that you graduated from or the workplace.
Use LinkedIn day-to-day
Exploring the LinkedIn news feed is something that is necessary on a daily basis. The home icon enables to check the news feed. The more regular you are, the updated you’ll be. The more contacts that are connected, their activities, their updates must be watched with care to understand where they are headed to. This could help us concentrate on the area to reach our goals. The more we find time on a daily basis will reduce the herculean task of finding bulk time catching up with updates at one shot. So periodically gain the information and reach the goal.
Job search and Company Research
LinkedIn provides various options to search and filter. Searching a keyword first and then filtering it accordingly is the easiest way. Filtering can be done by People, Jobs, Content, Companies, Groups, or Schools. Again, filter it by the Connection type, Keywords, Locations, Current Companies, Industry, and location. This helps to narrow down the search. Boolean algebra also helps to narrow the search, just that when using the modifiers NOT, OR, and AND, they must be written in all capital letters. The alumni tool is a powerful way to research schools, potential careers or find potential connections who attended the same school. This helps to grow a powerful network. LinkedIn groups are another great way for LinkedIn to customize the feed and make the account more relevant to interests. Explore the feed daily to get news updates and follow the company and influencers in order to land to the dream job.
Manage your LinkedIn Account
The LinkedIn account created by me always get is an update. The new publishing that we do, the new papers we have read. The latest news which relates to your profile. LinkedIn can act as an excellent research tool providing you with insight, guidance, and inspiration. So, use the facilities and manage your account. Setting up job alerts and searching for jobs must be a daily task while managing the account. The privacy settings must be very clear as this is a networking site. Customize the privacy and account settings as per the requirement. This is very important. In the premium segment, we have a lot of other options for privacy and security, like to check whom all viewed the profile and all. This is an advanced method for privacy. The same priority must be given to download and back up the data in your account. This could help in case you have to delete your account at some point.
Conclusion
The video definitely was an eye-opener. The various facilities provided were never known to me in detail. The idea of backing up data and downloading was new indeed. As a student, it really helped me understand the importance of a LinkedIn account to achieve my career goals. The sophisticated methods to connect with expertise whom I look up to in my area of growth was also a piece of important information I gained. I added up my LinkedIn profile with headline and the skills and Endorsements. After viewing the whole video, the outlook of using and facilities available with the platform have changed drastically.
References
Schinkten, O. (2010). Learning LinkedIn for Students. [Video File].
Retrieved From https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning
linkedin-for-students/welcome?u=2109516
Shulman, R. (2017, September 11). This Is How Entrepreneurs, Students and
Teachers Can Benefit from LinkedIn Learning. Forbes.
Retrieved From
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robynshulman/2017/09/11/this-is-
how-entrepreneurs-students-and-teachers-can-benefit-from-
linkedinlearning/#6f6cd0962ec9
Basil Thomas Kallingal 