Edition #18 - New Graduate Guide

Landing Your First Job with No Industry Experience

Welcome to LinkedIn Booster newsletter with best practices to help improve your effectiveness on LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn profile is key and serves as your professional landing page. ??

I recently published an update on Creating a Killer Profile and an article on How to Optimize Your Profile to Get Your Dream Job. During a recent meeting with a recent graduate, I encountered a common frustration: landing an entry-level job without prior work experience in their field. Even the most basic positions demanded experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed hosting a recent New Grad - Level Up Your LinkedIn Game webinar with Pam Kosinski, Founder of GoalLine College Counseling, and Ben Schulz, a recent Computer Science grad from Michigan State University.

Our goal was to unlock the full potential of LinkedIn for Ben, who is hoping to step into his first engineering role. ??

?? Purpose: We explored how Ben can effectively use LinkedIn to enhance his job search.

?? Pam’s Advice:

It’s not just about the college you attended—what matters is how you leverage your education. Setting up a LinkedIn profile early is crucial for building your professional narrative.

?? Job Search Strategy:

? Build a robust LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills and career goals.

? Expand your network by connecting with existing contacts, joining relevant groups, and using advanced search filters.

? Create and engage with content to discover job opportunities and connect with industry professionals.

Key Takeaways:

Profile

? Complete All Sections of your profile experience, volunteer, skills, recommendations, courses, projects, featured links etc

? Highlight All Experience, including service jobs, volunteer roles, and coursework or projects that demonstrate relevant soft and hard skills even if you feel like they are not exactly the same as your ideal dream job.

? Use Targeted Keywords throughout your profile to align with job descriptions in your desired field.

Networking Strategies:

• Leverage Existing Connections: Target hiring managers and decision makers and utilize intros from mutual connections (friends, family, fraternity brothers, professors, alumni).
• Use LinkedIn Advanced Filters: Find people by specific roles, geography, industries etc through advanced search options.
• Personalize Requests: Send personalized connection requests with a note, mentioning mutual connections or shared affiliations.
• Utilize Affiliations: Engage with university alumni networks and increase followers and professional contacts.

Engagement:

• Groups: Post content in your affinity groups (i.e. your alumni groups will be more receptive to posts about your job search).
• Direct Message: DM people in your network or via in-mail by specific roles, geography, school, industries etc through advanced search options and start a conversation.

Click to view the full webinar:

https://lnkd.in/gQDCgn-3

A special thank you to Pam for her invaluable insights and to Ben for being such a quick learner!

?? Ben was a pleasure to work with and is actively seeking opportunities in software development, front-end, full-stack, and Java. Any support you can offer in his job search would be greatly appreciated.

If you’re a recent grad or job seeker, I encourage you to apply these strategies to boost your LinkedIn profile and increase your chances of landing your ideal role.

Feel free to DM me on LinkedIn or email me if you'd like more hands-on support in honing your presence and/or sharing content on LinkedIn. ??

Email: [email protected]

Randi

Randi Curhan

Founder

MissionBoost Consulting

#LinkedInTips #JobSearch #EngineeringJobs#CareerAdvice #LinkedInOptimization