3 Ways LinkedIn Has Helped Me as a College Freshman, and Some Practical Tips for Fellow Students

Hi everyone! Welcome to my first LinkedIn article. Starting off this new year, I want to try something new by sharing my personal experiences on a new platform (I have a Medium account which I sometimes post articles on). Despite all the bad events in the world, the past year had truly been one of personal growth for me. One of the most notable milestones of mine has been establishing a presence on this site. Today, I would like to share some of my takeaways from that experience.

As we all know, LinkedIn is a platform known most notably for professional purposes such as job-seeking or sharing tips industry insights. For many students - especially in Indonesia, LinkedIn is often associated with dullness and complexity. It is not uncommon for people to see it as a job-seeking site or even just a platform to brag about your achievements (let's be real, this was what I used to think of the site too back then). In reality, however, LinkedIn turns out to be one of the, if not the best social medias I have decided to use. Here are some reasons why that is the case.

Valuable professional networks

Before being active on LinkedIn, I used to only have Instagram as my social media. Being a platform for people to share their personal moments, Instagram users mostly only follow people they know on a personal level. Other than that, people really only follow accounts they like such as accounts that post food videos in my case. There doesn't seem to be any clear pattern where people actually start making new connections on Instagram. At best, Instagram is used as a means of reaching out by organizations which primary presence is on the platform, such as asking a speaker's availability for a webinar.

It's a very different case with LinkedIn where connections are actually built from the ground up. This is of course due to the fact that both platforms cater to different needs. Through LinkedIn, I have made connections with people I couldn't have met on Instagram or even in real life. On this platform, I have networked with people of varying backgrounds like engineering and computer science from whom I have gained a great deal of knowledge, even by just scrolling through the timeline. Through this platform also, I have been able to connect with very awesome people, from consultants at top firms, campus most outstanding students, to even startup CEOs.

Higher exposure to the right audience

As aforementioned, I used to update everything on my Instagram. At the time, I regularly post my achievements through pictures taken during awarding ceremonies. Of course, friends and families congratulate me every time I post on my feeds or stories. However, after the first few days - or even just a day for story, all the good words stop. Nothing really changes afterwards, and the likes only keep on coming every once in a while if someone stumbles upon my profile on explore.

The same does not apply on LinkedIn. Not only can your post be seen by people long after your initial post (I've seen my friend's post appear on my timeline a month after it was uploaded), it offers a mechanism where your post can appear in someone else's timeline if a mutual connection interacts with it. As a result, a post can reach so many more people than if you would post it on other platforms. Here's a comparison of my best performing post on Instagram from July 2020 (which is conveniently a micro-blog about scholarship) to my best performing LinkedIn post from December 2020.

As it can clearly be seen, both platforms have their own pros and cons. In spite of the smaller number of reach, Instagram gives better engagement for a post. On the other hand, LinkedIn puts your post in front of the screens of more people. The interesting part about it is the fact that number of likes isn't really linear to the number of follows. I gained 15 follows from the above Instagram post, but made more than 30 new connections a week since I posted on LinkedIn. In that sense, I personally believe that LinkedIn provides more substantial outcome in that sense.

Opened doors of opportunities

The pictures above are the poster of some events where I became a speaker to share about different things this year. Despite the fact that not all of the invitations came from LinkedIn, all of them have a thing or two to do with the platform. For example, I was invited to become a speaker at an event in which the organizer decided to invite me as a speaker upon seeing my LinkedIn profile.

This is especially true about one of my current activities, specifically for the role I currently assume at StudentsCatalyst, a student incubation program which aims to empower highly motivated students to network, inspire, and go beyond. Many was quite shocked learn that the director of operations for StudentsCatalyst's first ever national batch is a freshman. What they might not even have known is that I was offered the opportunity to apply for a management position before I even started my high school's final exam.

Now that I come to think of it, I couldn't have achieved such a great feat had I not updated my LinkedIn on February after 3 years of vacancy (I only had 16 connections before then). That is just one proof of how the platform brings in opportunities, not taking into account the endless possibilities of collaboration I have heard of started after connecting on LinkedIn.

The Know How

The real question now really is "how do we get to that point?" This is a totally valid question to be asked, especially by a university student. Some of my colleagues said that what I have done is only possible because I have achieved much during my time in high school, and is not feasible for the ordinary student. I beg to differ with them on this one, because I believe that everyone can equally maximize LinkedIn to its maximum potential with the right strategies. I can recommend some tips which I have implemented to this point.

Put up a nice introduction

This is an aspect which is very often overlooked. When I see the profiles of students, I either see very short introduction about the person with only a very short paragraph or I see nothing at all. Your intro is the first thing people see when they open your profile, and using the recommended ones from LinkedIn just doesn't do the job! You need to tailor your intro to your strengths and goals in mind. I put in the following information on my bio in chronological sequence:

1. Start with brief information (name, where and what you study, and a general idea of your character - are you ambitious, creative, or passionate?)
2. A highlight of your past achievements which is most relevant to your current focus
3. Current activities (organizations, internships, etc.)
4. Future aspirations (career outlook, make sure this goes in line with the image you're building from the beginning)
5. Contact information (most commonly email)

Select what you put in your bio

Okay, this might be hard to swallow for some. I've known people who put every single achievement they have on their bio, from participation on a competition (without actual awards) to even awards from kindergarten. I personally don't think that this should be done. I disagree with the notion that having more things put on the bio translates to better profiles. Just like the case with a CV, it's about quality more than just mere quantity.

You need to select what you put in your bio, because it can greatly impact the image you're trying to create. One thing I like to do before posting an accomplishment is first asking myself several questions: Is this a noteworthy enough achievement? If I put this alongside my other achievements, are they going to be coherent in making a story? Will it boost my branding or will it just ruin the whole identity I'm building?

Just post frequently

This is the contrary of my previous tip, as I would suggest to focus adding more of this than the other one. As I have previously mentioned, the amount of exposure you can have from LinkedIn is just astounding, and you should really capitalize on that. The more you post, the more views your profile will gain from other people - some could perhaps open doors of opportunities for you!

You can literally post about anything. When I see tips on Youtube or blogs, many say that posting about industry insights would be the best way to raise views. This, however, is not applicable for students since we have no leverage on that part. What I like to usually do is update my activities like speaking in webinars or even just about the activities I am engaged in at an organization.

Use your friends

Yes, you saw that right. Your friends are the people that could greatly boost your presence on the platform. There are several ways of 'using' your friends. The first one that I've been personally doing is exchanging skill endorsements. My friends from high school and college endorsed me for certain skills I'm best at like public speaking, and I endorsed them for their best skills like graphic design. The only thing you need to remember is not to overdo this, as it would only raise questions. What I meant is that you should endorse no more than 2 or 3 skills for a person.

I've seen a post which said that your first degree connections are going to determine the overall engagement of your post. Upon the first few minutes or hours of posting, your post will be put on the timeline of your first degree connections (usually people you go to school with). If they engage with your post well, it will be spread to more people. I tried to apply this by asking some of my friends to like a post of mine, and it really worked. There is an increase in views for posts which I tried to experiment this on.

What You Should Remember

All in all, this platform really serves it purpose for the right people who use the right methods. From my experience, I would say that the most important thing to focus on is utilizing your strengths and presenting it in a way which delivers a clear identity for yourself. With the right approaches, anyone could really benefit from this platform - even first year college students.

It is time that we develop our mindset. Posting your achievements and putting up an elaborate bio is not a sign of arrogance. If anything, people who do that know what they can do with the available tools. For my fellow students, don't feel insecure when you look at other people's profiles. There is always a beginning for everything, and you should start creating your story now!