LinkedIn is a professional networking resource that is increasingly used by employers and recruiters to find potential candidates. It also is a space for candidates to find employers and build a professional network. LinkedIn is NOT Facebook. The connections you make on LinkedIn should be people who can potentially make introductions for you, or for whom you could make introductions. Be selective about who you add to your professional network.
Network with LinkedIn
Complete Your Profile
When building your LinkedIn profile, be sure to make it as complete as possible. Complete profiles garner more views and therefore more opportunities.
Your headline should be a concise but descriptive branding statement that shows your current position and goals. The default headline is your current title, but you can customize it to reflect your brand and your aspirations. Unlike Facebook, you only get one photo on LinkedIn. Make sure the photo is a high-quality headshot of just you, professionally dressed.
Examples: “Media Arts & Science Junior Seeking Summer Internship”, “Future Video Game Developer & Designer, Luddy Indianapolis,” “Data Enthusiast Looking for Summer Internship Opportunities // Master of Data Science Candidate”, etc.
Make it memorable. It should help someone understand the role you want to do next and/or contain keywords important to your profession. You have 120 characters
Your headline is NOT just “Student at IU Indianapolis”.
It is important to craft your professional summary by including information about your work passions, skills, qualifications, goals, and interests. This is where you can include relevant work experience as well as non-academic involvement. Write your summary in a first-person narrative and tell your story in a way that gives employers a quick glimpse of who you are and what you care about in your career.
Add your work history and involvement/volunteer roles, providing a thorough description of your work responsibilities, tasks performed, and key accomplishments and contributions. Your experience does not need to be paid or full time—you can include internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work, or extracurriculars. Include strategic key words and phrases that will stand out to recruiters.
Include all the institutions you’ve attended and list your concentration, major, and/or minor. Include student organizations you are involved with on campus. Consider embedding class projects to showcase your work you’ve done in classes.
The skills section allows you to highlight the skills you have on your resume and any additional skills you feel you can bring to the table. Your network—those colleagues and friends who are familiar with your work—can “endorse” those skills, vouching for your professional abilities.
This section gives you the opportunity to highlight projects that you are particularly proud of and would like to bring to the attention of an employer. Put the project in context (class project, professional project, voluntary, etc.) and discuss your specific contributions. If you worked in a team, add the team members to the project listing.
- Add at least 7 professional skills to the Skills section.
- Ask for recommendations from past supervisors.
- Provide details about your involvement in professional associations and the organizations you belong to or committees you serve on.
- Post once a week. Talk about a project you are working on, a skill you’ve learned, or ask a question to get some feedback. All of these are great ways to generate conversation.
- Set a job alert for yourself–the “Jobs” features on LinkedIn is commonly used by Recruiters in the tech-world.
Make Connections
When building your network, make connections with people you have met and interacted with—professors, supervisors, coworkers, peers, and others. Be sure to personalize the note when inviting someone to connect with you by reminding them where they met you or why you would like to connect.
Join Groups
You can join groups or associations based on your interests, connections, education, or industry, and these groups give you an opportunity to interact directly with professionals through ongoing group discussions. You will want to join and display membership in different groups on LinkedIn that are relevant to your job search and reflect your network. These groups appear at the bottom of your profile, which shows employers and your other connections that you are interested in engaging in the professional community.
Join at least three “Groups” on LinkedIn–including the “Luddy Indianapolis Career Services” group. There are alumni and current students there!
Search for Career Opportunities on Linkedin
After completing your profile, you can easily search for internships and full-time career opportunities on LinkedIn and narrow down your results using filters, keywords, and advanced search. Consider researching the companies and ways you can recognize and avoid fraudulent tactics before you apply.
Tips:
- Set up job alerts based on your previous job searches, preferences, and specific companies to ensure you’ll regularly receive relevant job notifications.
- Save jobs while browsing job search results on LinkedIn to come back later to apply for them.
You can also explore the Luddy Indianapolis Job & Internship Board.