How To Use LinkedIn As A University Student

Last year I saw a college student post here on LinkedIn a question about how they can/should be using LinkedIn as a student. I also had a friend’s daughter reach out to me about finding an internship (required for her program, without benefit of a career services/fair).

I thought it made sense to write about it here. This is NOT a post for soon-to-be-graduating students. This post is for those with more time in school (freshman/sophomores/juniors). I will link to articles I already have covered for new grads and internships.

How can you maximize LinkedIn to create a professional profile while you are still in school?

• Use your school as your current “employer”. List out each year as a separate role within that employer (just like a resume). Your year should be your "title". List out your courses and projects of note and extracirricular activities (you can also put these in the “volunteer” section if they are national organizations, ie sports conferences, honor societies, etc.) ?Make sure to keep the information ‘I currently work here’ updated. If you go abroad for a quarter/semester, call it out separately. Internships should be worked in as they happen.

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Employer: University of Arkansas, major

Title: Sophomore 8/2023-Present

-Courses taken

-Projects of note

-Extracirricular activities

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Freshman 8/2022 to 5/2023

-Courses taken

-Projects of note

-Extracirricular activities

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In addition to updating regularly whenever you finish a class/project, make it a habit to post content regularly; ie, say you are in marketing and you have an interest in ecommerce/retail.

• Create a schedule where you look at industry articles online that are pertinent, and share your comments on them. For example, I have worked for Zulily, Amazon, and (as a PT retail associate for many years) at Chico’s FAS. Major retailers (also employers) in my local area include REI, Nordstrom, and Starbuck’s. So I follow their company pages and see press releases, etc. I also subscribe to the Seattle Times and the Puget Sound Business Journal to keep up with happenings locally.
• Start following employers and industry leaders you admire, are in your industry, in the area you hope to settle. (ie I follow Bill Gates, Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson, and Brené Brown.)
• I also highly recommend creating a Handshake account and monitoring it regularly when you are getting ready to look for internships/jobs in your junior/senior years.
• Next bit of strategy: start connecting with your school alumni, especially in your discipline/major. Send a connection request with a personal note telling them you are currently a student and looking to build your professional network for when you graduate. Also follow them (does not require a connection – I have 30K followers who I’m not directly connected to.)
• Post occasional updates of your own, ie you finish an internship, or you are going to study abroad for a quarter/year.? Writing/content generation is a habit you get into. Once a month or every couple of months at minimum.
• Any summer jobs during high school should fall off after you get a professional job, ie a summer job, internship, or student job. (And a student job, ie working at the athletic center - should be treated as a separate professional entry; keep the school your employer, add it as another actual title).

The biggest bonus to creating/updating your LinkedIn profile? You have resume content ready to go when it is time to write your first resume for your first internship/FT job.

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As promised, here are some additional resources for new grads and internships:

New Grads (includes resources for international students in the US): https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/students-new-grads-how-work-which-titled-recruiters-kristen/?trackingId=%2BuOyvnIbTYu%2BemFxvniEyg%3D%3D

Internships: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/elusive-internship-beast-kristen-fife-purple-squirrel-hunter/?trackingId=c8wHlzN5RTikfvVPM2Ef6w%3D%3D

Volunteer experience on your resume: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/volunteer-experience-your-resume-kristen-fife-she-her-hers-/?trackingId=%2BuOyvnIbTYu%2BemFxvniEyg%3D%3D

Leveraging Informational Interviews: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/informational-interview-kristen-fife-purple-squirrel-hunter/?trackingId=c8wHlzN5RTikfvVPM2Ef6w%3D%3D

Understanding how to work with recruiters: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7148021617980301312/

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