Let me lay this out plainly for you: If you are about to Let me lay this out plainly for you: If you are about to graduate from university, you need a profile on LinkedIn.
People want to see who you are and you don’t want them going to Facebook to do it. LinkedIn is a professional place where professional folks hang out and get known.
- Start with a head shot of you –not your dog, not your boyfriend, not you driving your hot car. Just you smiling confidently at the camera. It should look like you might actually be able to hold down a job.
- Make sure you include your degree, specialties and volunteer work. If you were involved in campus clubs or teams, those can be included too. Just be careful about the message you send when you mention the Hangover Club and the “I only go to school on Tuesdays” club.
- If you did a thesis or special projects, those can be listed too. They might, for example, contain a lot of keywords that people like me look for.
- Make sure that you profile states clearly what you are looking for – whether it’s an internship, summer job or a permanent position.
- Finally, make it easy for us to contact you. Either include your email address in the contact section or, at the very least, hook your account up to an email address you actually check. Otherwise it’s a bit of a waste of time.
So get out there and get found. You never know – maybe someone is looking for you right now!