By Jack Zhou
Social media has permeated most, if not all aspects of our lives. Taking control of your professional brand online has never been more important, as the brand ‘you’ is what employers, collaborators, clients and colleagues will see when they search for you online. While as a student your activities may be social in nature, employers are looking to understand your professional expertise – Facebook photos of the party you went to last week just won’t cut it.
I came across LinkedIn in my second year in university. At first I didn’t see the value, as I did most of my networking by simply adding friends on Facebook. As time went by I quickly noticed my business school friends were starting to adopt LinkedIn as a networking tool. They were using LinkedIn to connect to various professionals, not just students alone.
I knew I could harness the power of LinkedIn to begin networking but before I could, I knew I needed to first build a strong profile.
Creating a strong LinkedIn profile worked well for me as it helped to land me my current position as marketing intern at LinkedIn. My role is to teach career counselors and student leaders how to use LinkedIn effectively so that they can pass it onto the student communities. I am very thankful for having built my professional brand on LinkedIn.
Tips for Building your LinkedIn profile
Display an appropriate photo
I chose a professional, high-quality headshot of myself. Party photos, cartoon avatars, and cute pictures of your puppy don’t fit in the professional environment of LinkedIn.
Summary and headline
My summary is a description of myself as a professional. In my summary, I have included where I currently work, what I do, what I’ve studied and what my goals are. Remember to include relevant internships, volunteer work, and extracurricular activities. (I like to think of a summary as an introduction to me as a professional.) If you were to meet someone in the context of networking, what would you want them to know about you first? Think about that and turn it into a simple summary. I always voice myself professionally, meaning no “lol” or “u.” Create a profile headline that gives people a short, memorable way to understand who you are in a professional context. Think of the headline as the slogan for your professional brand, such as ‘recent honours graduate seeking marketing position’. Check out the profiles of students and recent alumni you admire for ideas and inspiration.
Fill your “Specialties” section with keywords
My “Specialties” is the place I include key words and phrases that a recruiter or hiring manager might type into a search engine. The best place to find relevant keywords is in the job listings that appeal to you and the LinkedIn profiles of people who currently hold the kinds of positions you want.
Include professional experience
I added all my previous work experience to my LinkedIn profile. I included any extracurricular activities such as competitions, school conferences I have organized, teams I were part of and also included any relevant summer or part time jobs. With each experience, include a description or bullet points at the bottom to showcase your achievements.
Show off your education
I always include information about all the institutions I attended. I include my major and minor, as well as highlights of my activities. It’s also appropriate to include study abroad programs and summer institutes. Don’t be shy — your LinkedIn profile is an appropriate place to show off your honours or awards you’ve won.
Request Recommendations
It’s important to build credibility by having third-party endorsements on your profile. At first I thought it would be challenging to get recommendations, but with a bit of hard work I reached out to past co-workers and managers to request that they endorse me. Think about soliciting recommendations from professors, internship coordinators, employers and professional mentors.
Update your status weekly
A great way to stay on other people’s radar screens and enhance your professional image is to update your status at least once a week. Tell people about events you’re attending, major projects you’ve completed, professional books you’re reading, or any other news that you would tell someone at a networking reception about. I always try to post an article that I read on LinkedIn today onto my status so that people know I am engaged with the industry that I am interested in.
Jack Zhou is a commerce student at the University of Toronto.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Those are some helpful tips! Thanks! I will be sure to keep these in mind when I create my own LinkedIn profile.
As a new user of Linkedin, these tips are great! I look forward to redeveloping my professional brand.