Let me start this post by saying that I am not an expert on LinkedIn. My profile is average. Some of that is on purpose (I'll explain that part in a bit) some is in the "do as I say, not as I do" category. I know a bit, I read more and I hear things from employers, I'm not always the best at keeping my profile up to date. Despite this, I'm a huge advocate for LinkedIn.
I recently facilitated an interactive LinkedIn workshop for graduate students. Even though it's summer session, we had a full house! You can check out the Twitter photo here. Referencing a previous article I used, Pew Research Center has 18-24 year olds using LinkedIn at 25%, this increases to 34% for 25-29 (Smith and Anderson, 2018). This makes sense, and anecdotally echoes what I see: students begin thinking about LinkedIn around graduation or in grad school. The trouble with this topic is convincing students that LinkedIn really is worth their time. Add in the fact that these workshops are open to grad students in all programs, and it gets a little complicated.
Back to why my LinkedIn has gotten a little more plain in some areas. I realized it wasn't fair to add in all the bells and whistles and focus on only what a marketing, advertising, PR student might need and leave off the white papers, photos of poster presentations, or links to publications that a physical sciences, english rhetoric, nutrition student might want to have. The truth was that by only having my LinkedIn look a certain way, I wasn't fully explaining all the benefits to students in different industries, and it was causing me to lose buy-in from them. My goal is to connect with enough people throughout industries to be able to show those examples to students, but until then mine will stay a little plain.
Regardless of industry LinkedIn has a lot to offer, here are 7 reasons to get you started:
1) Connect with people you know well
2) Connect with people you would like to know
3) Connect with people who want to know you
4) Research companies, industries and jobs in real time
5) Search for jobs
6) Get recruited
7) Be a part of conversations
At its core LinkedIn is social. You want to connect with people in order to build your professional network. Start with people you know well, colleagues, supervisors, or classmates. These folks will help you build your profile by endorsing the skills you've listed because they've worked with you in that setting. Next think about who you'd like to know better. Maybe it's the head of your department, or the business owner down the street, or someone you met at a conference once. LinkedIn is a great place to followup on those brief introductions and a chance to reconnect. I look at #3 as your chance to give back. Accept connections from people who are interested in what you do. LinkedIn is the one social media platform that I will accept student requests.* Not all my colleagues feel the same, and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but I think that it is important for me to help them grow their network so I'm happy to do so.
LinkedIn is a great way to research companies prior to going on interviews, or even applying for jobs. You can learn about the company culture by looking at what they post or share. This is so underutilized by job seekers. If they have an active presence, they are giving you a window into what they care about. It can be so helpful to know before you interivew, and to make sure it's the right fit for you. LinkedIn has a job search feature, where you can search and apply for jobs much like other job search sites. Unlike other sites, one great feature with LinkedIn is you can see when you have connections or alumni that work at the place you are interested in applying to. For example, I have FSU listed in my education, and if I am applying for a job at Humana, I can see that 4 other FSU alumni work at Humana. If I wanted to I could reach out to them to learn more about the company or the role, just based on the fact that we are both FSU alum. Of course, being recruited is another benefit. As with any social media site, you'll want to be smart and safe, but recruiters use keyword searches to find potential candidates for hire. It is important to make sure your profile has common keywords and skills in your field so that when recruiters run searches, you show up. One final benefit is simply being apart of the conversation. Many professional organizations have groups on LinkedIn, there are also other interest groups you can join, articles to read or write, ways to connect with others in your field. I really value continuing education, I think LinkedIn is a wonderful example of a Personal Learning Network (sometimes a network within a network) and it's important to join the conversation, even if you just lurk for awhile!
I know this is a long one, sorry about that! I would love to hear your thoughts on LinkedIn, those of you who work with it a lot any strategies on helping students? Especially when you're working with diverse interests? Anyone new to LinkedIn see how they might use it for these reasons, or something I didn't mention?
I usually end my presentations by encouraging students to start where they are, and start small. No sense trying to go back 10 years. Just add in good content about what they are currently doing, and once they feel comfortable with that, just keep working their way backwards a little at a time. It's a process.
(*as a counselor I cannot accept counseling clients as LinkedIn connections)
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-2018-appendix-a-detailed-table/
I recently facilitated an interactive LinkedIn workshop for graduate students. Even though it's summer session, we had a full house! You can check out the Twitter photo here. Referencing a previous article I used, Pew Research Center has 18-24 year olds using LinkedIn at 25%, this increases to 34% for 25-29 (Smith and Anderson, 2018). This makes sense, and anecdotally echoes what I see: students begin thinking about LinkedIn around graduation or in grad school. The trouble with this topic is convincing students that LinkedIn really is worth their time. Add in the fact that these workshops are open to grad students in all programs, and it gets a little complicated.
Back to why my LinkedIn has gotten a little more plain in some areas. I realized it wasn't fair to add in all the bells and whistles and focus on only what a marketing, advertising, PR student might need and leave off the white papers, photos of poster presentations, or links to publications that a physical sciences, english rhetoric, nutrition student might want to have. The truth was that by only having my LinkedIn look a certain way, I wasn't fully explaining all the benefits to students in different industries, and it was causing me to lose buy-in from them. My goal is to connect with enough people throughout industries to be able to show those examples to students, but until then mine will stay a little plain.
Regardless of industry LinkedIn has a lot to offer, here are 7 reasons to get you started:
1) Connect with people you know well
2) Connect with people you would like to know
3) Connect with people who want to know you
4) Research companies, industries and jobs in real time
5) Search for jobs
6) Get recruited
7) Be a part of conversations
At its core LinkedIn is social. You want to connect with people in order to build your professional network. Start with people you know well, colleagues, supervisors, or classmates. These folks will help you build your profile by endorsing the skills you've listed because they've worked with you in that setting. Next think about who you'd like to know better. Maybe it's the head of your department, or the business owner down the street, or someone you met at a conference once. LinkedIn is a great place to followup on those brief introductions and a chance to reconnect. I look at #3 as your chance to give back. Accept connections from people who are interested in what you do. LinkedIn is the one social media platform that I will accept student requests.* Not all my colleagues feel the same, and everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but I think that it is important for me to help them grow their network so I'm happy to do so.
LinkedIn is a great way to research companies prior to going on interviews, or even applying for jobs. You can learn about the company culture by looking at what they post or share. This is so underutilized by job seekers. If they have an active presence, they are giving you a window into what they care about. It can be so helpful to know before you interivew, and to make sure it's the right fit for you. LinkedIn has a job search feature, where you can search and apply for jobs much like other job search sites. Unlike other sites, one great feature with LinkedIn is you can see when you have connections or alumni that work at the place you are interested in applying to. For example, I have FSU listed in my education, and if I am applying for a job at Humana, I can see that 4 other FSU alumni work at Humana. If I wanted to I could reach out to them to learn more about the company or the role, just based on the fact that we are both FSU alum. Of course, being recruited is another benefit. As with any social media site, you'll want to be smart and safe, but recruiters use keyword searches to find potential candidates for hire. It is important to make sure your profile has common keywords and skills in your field so that when recruiters run searches, you show up. One final benefit is simply being apart of the conversation. Many professional organizations have groups on LinkedIn, there are also other interest groups you can join, articles to read or write, ways to connect with others in your field. I really value continuing education, I think LinkedIn is a wonderful example of a Personal Learning Network (sometimes a network within a network) and it's important to join the conversation, even if you just lurk for awhile!
I know this is a long one, sorry about that! I would love to hear your thoughts on LinkedIn, those of you who work with it a lot any strategies on helping students? Especially when you're working with diverse interests? Anyone new to LinkedIn see how they might use it for these reasons, or something I didn't mention?
I usually end my presentations by encouraging students to start where they are, and start small. No sense trying to go back 10 years. Just add in good content about what they are currently doing, and once they feel comfortable with that, just keep working their way backwards a little at a time. It's a process.
(*as a counselor I cannot accept counseling clients as LinkedIn connections)
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-2018-appendix-a-detailed-table/
I really enjoyed your post Leah; great insight for a LinkedIn beginner like myself. One of the things that surprised me about my experience so far was the willingness for people to accept my connection requests. When I first created my account I don't think I had anything in my profile other than student at FSU. I sent out 3 initial requests to instructional designers I had found through searching and 2 of them accepted within a day. I then messaged each one and asked if they would be willing to talk to me about their career as an IDer and they both were eager to help. Maybe the ID community is just friendlier, but I was surprised at the response I received. I did not expect anyone to accept an invitation from a "nobody" much less agree to take time to talk with me. I look back at this experience as a reinforcement of your #3 reason.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever utilized LinkedIn Learning? I've received a couple emails about it since joining but wasn't sure what it was all about or whether it was something worth pursuing.
Literally less than 3 hours after I posted my previous comment, I received a notification from LinkedIn that the 3rd IDer that I had tried to connect with just accepted my invitation! Coincidence?
DeleteErick that's awesome! Thanks for providing that feedback. I'm curious, how did you find them and did you have any connections to them, like they went to FSU or similar locations or anything? That's great that they were all willing to talk to you. I'd love to know how those conversations go!
DeleteSorry, forgot to answer your other question, no I've never used LinkedIn Learning before. Are you thinking about it?
DeleteLeah,
ReplyDeleteAs a new user of LinkedIn this was extremely helpful to me. I often feel overwhelmed with the prospect of going on to this site and trying to build my whole history and career for others to see. I honestly had this post up as I was going through my LinkedIn profile this week. One of the best parts of this is when you said to start where you are. That really is good advise when trying to get someone who has been in the workforce for years onto this site. Thanks for the helpful tips!