Linkedin

(Intelligence)
Creating the perfect profile
 LinkedIn and Building a Career
Throughout the years, the internet has continued to evolve, and so has social networking.
Facebook and MySpace were the two biggest players. Now, social networking has evolved
with the evolution of Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. LinkedIn has become a
major player in creating a career network. It is almost like an interactive business card,
where you can build networks of employers, groups, and school connections. Joining
LinkedIn can become very challenging for many people because it is hard to know where to
start, how to make increase connections, and how to find employers. Thus, I will delve into
three specific topics that should help anyone create a strong LinkedIn profile that can help
them with their future career. First, I will be discussing how to build a proper LinkedIn
profile, including what is appropriate and not appropriate to include. Secondly, I will
discuss how to research employers and job opportunities on the site. Finally, it is important
to know how to professionally network online and how to turn connections into
opportunities.

Building a Profile
Building a LinkedIn profile can be confusing, and time consuming to do, but it is well worth
it. Most employers today are on LinkedIn and actively analyzing prospective employers
profiles. Thus, I will display an outline of steps to take when creating a professional
LinkedIn profile. The first thing someone will see on your LinkedIn profile is your headline.
Having a headline that sticks in an employer or connections head is important. It should be
short, sweet, and memorable. Another element connections will first see is your photo. One
of the most important things people miss, is that there needs to be an appropriate
photograph on your LinkedIn profile. A professional photo, that is not showing someone at
a party or a picture of Pikachu from Pokemon. These first two elements give the first
impression and makes the person looking at your profile think “should I continue to read?”.
A good first impression is key to build connections. One of the key elements that potential
employers look at is education. A good LinkedIn profile shows off all elements of education
including institutions, relevant coursework, any social and educational activities, GPA, and
honors and awards1. The more merits you have in your education, the more appealing you
will be to employers. Also, any relevant internships, volunteering, or other positions that
you have had that are relevant, include them! Another element of your LinkedIn profile is
the specialties section, where students can put anything that someone would want to see as
skill that you possess. With all the things listed above, your profile can stand out and have
someone want to be your connection, but what happens after your connected to a potential
employer? 2

Even if your profile were to be completely brilliant, sitting and doing nothing with your
LinkedIn will make connections quickly forget about you. LinkedIn gives the ability to posts
statuses. Posting intellectual and relevant statuses keeps potential connections more
interested in your profile. Joining groups is a great way to connect and interact with
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connections and people who may not yet be connections yet3. Make sure to join groups that
are relevant to work, school, and social interests.

Connecting
Finally, it is important to show connections to what you can do in the workplace. It is
important to add work samples including projects, writing samples, or even designs. You
never know when you have a project or sample that is relevant to something an employer
is looking for an employer.

By following all these steps, employers and connections will be more attracted to your
profile. However, it is not just the employers that are going to be looking for you, it is
important for people, especially students, to do extensive research on employers and
search for them. For example, if I were to get followed by Apple, it is very important that I
go to their profile and do research on the company before I would be contacted by them.
There are important steps to take in order to make sure you are well versed in companies
that follow you and you follow. Go to their profile and read their general information. Look
at job postings and recent statuses, see what the company is about 4. Go outside LinkedIn to
find a variety of information about the company including recent news stories, their
website, etc. Also, it’s important to find events on LinkedIn. As you join groups, many of
them will have events or certain companies that follow you have events or career fairs,
which are important to get a face-to-face initiative going with that company. It is very
important for a college student to be well versed in what that company is about, and they
want to see the research that has been done on the company. If they have not done the
research, then they will probably waste their time by even going to the event.

Conducting Research
So as students conduct research on their potential employers, the most important element
of this whole LinkedIn site is how to network professionally. Now, I will take you through
steps on how to network professionally online in an effective matter, so you can continue to
grow and gain influence on LinkedIn. The world we live in today is one that forces us to be
connected to each other, thus we need to adjust to be the most fit in this social networking
environment5.

First, students need to make sure that their LinkedIn profile is filled out and nothing is
missing. The more that is on your profile, the more of a chance that you have to get noticed.
Actually, it has been shown according to LinkedIn that a profile that is completely filled is
40% more likely to be noticed than a profile that is not completely filled out, that is a big
difference. LinkedIn allows their users to have an inbox where they can exchange messages
with their connections. It is important to use this and keep connections with people like
internship co-workers, friends, relatives, and professionals that you have encountered
throughout your life. It is important that you are not afraid to send messages, ask questions

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related to jobs, or just genuinely keeping in constant contact and keeping these people
close to you. Also, if you someone decides to connect with you or you connect with
someone else, send a message mentioning how you appreciate them adding you or you
would appreciate adding them as a friend, it is just a necessary common courtesy and a
great point to start out to make those connections stronger.

Joining a GuAs mentioned previously, joining groups is an essential part of LinkedIn, but it
is necessary to participate in these groups. Joining in on discussions is a great way to
interact with professionals in the industry, classmates, or faculty at your school. Plus, as
these discussions are seen by other professionals, it can lead to even more connections on
your LinkedIn profile. However, knowledge is important, make sure that you have new and
relevant information in discussions on LinkedIn so you can stand out6. Question any and
everything that you can and bring some fresh ideas to the table. Also, there is a section on
LinkedIn that is called Answers. Similar to Yahoo Answers, people post questions for
answers. Be as active as possible in the Answers segment of the website so that you can
show people that you have what it takes to answer questions, and as said before question
other peoples’ answers7.

Applying
Finally, the last important aspect of connecting on LinkedIn is not connecting on LinkedIn.
What? That does not make any sense, right? Wrong. Connections on LinkedIn can only go
so far. Making sure that these connections end up in real world contact is important. Try to
set up phone conferences, create events, and attend live events. This way, you can create
the strongest connection someone can have, which is a human connection. When
establishing these human connections, make that connection as strong as possible, build a
friendship and have deep conversations with people. Finally, make sure you are connected
on LinkedIn if you are not already, as well as get a phone number and another point of
contact.

By taking these steps in creating an effective profile, doing research on companies, and
making sure that you are well connecting online through LinkedIn, there is a much higher
chance of getting a position after college and growing your career. By increasing all of your
connections, you are increasing your potential opportunities in your career, and no one can
ever complain about that.

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Works Cited
Desautels, Barbara. "social Networking: Linkedin.com." Journal of Leadership Studies (2008): 103-4.

Homegardner, Tammy. The Importance of Networking Online- Now More Than Ever. 10 September
2020. 31 December 2021. <:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/09/10/the-importance-of-
networking-online---now-more-than-ever/?sh=62125e957d5e>.

Intelligence, Linked. 100 Ways to Use Linkedin. 27 November 2012. 31 December 2021(Desautels 2008).
<http://linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin>.

Team, Indeed Editoral. The Importance of Networking. 10 12 202. 19 April 2022. <:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/networking-in-business>.