LinkedIn for Students and Future Graduates

LinkedIn for Students and Future Graduates

By?Sue Ellson?BBus MPC CDAA ASA WV SPN

More information on LinkedIn for Schools, Colleges and Universities here .

LinkedIn for Students and Future Graduates Webinar

Students are one of the fastest growing segments of people on LinkedIn – it is definitely not a social media platform just for educated professionals! Eventually, every student either graduates or leaves their school, college or university and then LinkedIn really starts to showcase its value.

For an example of a good quality student profile that I have helped improve, check out Zoe Giagoudakis (Secondary School Student, very comprehensive). This is a great pro forma for your to consider and if you are a little further along in your career, check out my Sue Ellson LinkedIn Profile as I have implemented all of the following strategies in my own LinkedIn profile.

There are some specific suggestions I have for students who are either still in secondary school or who have started their tertiary vocational, college or university education (Yes, I believe that LinkedIn is a very useful for tradespeople and creatives too, not just people in professional services!).

Why is a LinkedIn Profile SO IMPORTANT for students?

1. You need to keep a record of your achievements (unwritten = likely to be forgotten)
2. You need to build your network throughout your life (emails, phones etc change, remaining connected means you can still be found or find others)
3. So you can appear in Google Searches and tell your own story. You need proof of what you have done online (up to 75% or people will Google you before a job interview, 95% before offering you work)
4. You need to acknowledge your education provider (it is great to be a part of an alumni network and maintain long term relationships with people associated with your education)
5. You can start collecting online skills endorsements, written recommendations, publish content, engage with the newsfeed, do research on companies and individuals, find mentors etc. In my view, LinkedIn is one of the most under-rated and under-valued social media platforms. It is my absolute favourite social media platform (I joined on 21 December 2003, member number 77,832) because it has stood the test of time and continues to innovate and provide immense value.

How to update a student's LinkedIn Profile

• include as much detail as you can about your education providers and the subjects you have completed for each qualification you have in the Education section (you may also wish to include your date of conferral and certificate number to allow hiring managers to confirm this information if required). I recommend choosing the school from the drop down box, mentioning the year the school was established and a brief description of the school, provide an alphabetical list of the subjects completed (grades not necessary) and a URL link to the school for verification purposes. If the school has a great video or other document you can attach as media, do that too!
• share information about all of the voluntary work you have completed (even day-long projects both at school and outside of school). This can be included in both the 'Experience' section and the 'Volunteer Experience' section.
• describe any Honours or Awards you have received and what they recognized (be specific and provide a link if there is one) - add these in the ‘Honors and Awards’ section of your LinkedIn Profile. Remember the ’S.J. Hughes Award for Geography’ doesn’t mean anything by name, but if you explain that it is for ‘Most outstanding team geographic modelling project' it is much more interesting.
• showcase any involvement in specialist sports, arts, music, student exchange, travel or overseas programs etc
• list your extra-curricular activities (sports, interest groups) in the Interests section
• include rich media that explains your interests for the future
• become a student member of a professional association and include the details on your LinkedIn Profile
• fill in gaps of experience by describing your travel or gap years and what you learnt
• complete the projects section with at least three projects you have completed. Include the title of the project, a description of the project, the challenges you overcame, the results you achieved, the feedback that you received and any future outcomes that occurred (without including any commercially sensitive information – and try using percentages rather than exact figures)?

Create a LinkedIn Profile

• choose a photo that is aligned with your purpose – not your graduation shot
• mention student as a keyword if you are looking for ‘student’ positions and would like to come up in these search results (depending on your purpose, you may also wish to include graduate, intern etc as well)
• discuss part time work and all of the transferable skills you have acquired – customer service, supervising, rostering, cash handling, trusted with keys and security codes, abiding by occupational health and safety policies, assisting with inductions, training others
• although you may not have experience in a particular field, if you have studied the topic or have an interest in it, please include these keywords in your LinkedIn Profile – particularly in the Headline and Summary (About) sections
• visit the Students Portal of LinkedIn at https://students.linkedin.com/ and check out the various resources at https://university.linkedin.com/linkedin-for-students as well.
• add your school email address to your LinkedIn Profile and do NOT remove it (just make your personal email address your primary email address). This is so that people who know you via your school email address can still 'find' you on LinkedIn if they send an email invitation or they allow LinkedIn to invite contacts to LinkedIn and prevents you from accidentally creating two LinkedIn Profiles
• go through the LinkedIn Profile Cheat Sheet to see what you can update or complete

What else is important, especially for schools, universities and education providers?

In my personal view, a LinkedIn Profile should be completed by all students in their second last year in secondary education - for example, in Australia, for most students, that would be at the beginning of Year 11, before the demands of part time work, subject selection, exams etc interfere with getting started and building a network. I believe schools should aim to have at least 80% of students on LinkedIn with their school listed in the Education section BEFORE they leave the school so that they can remain a part of the school alumni and for all students to practice using LinkedIn for research, professional development and building a network before they finish secondary school.

LinkedIn can help students and graduates build an online network and personal brand from the very beginning of their work or enterprise life. It also helps maintain contact with people whose email address, phone number or location changes and it helps individuals reach people that were never accessible in the past.

Dunbar's number suggests that a human can only maintain 150 stable social relationships. LinkedIn allows us to maintain, find and increase that number way beyond our wildest imagination - in fact, currently over 830 million members worldwide and nearly half of those are active monthly users .

Finally, everyone who has a LinkedIn Profile should set a good example for everyone else.

There is enough for everyone

and everyone is enough.

Be proud of your achievements, declare your values, strengths and context so that you can attract aligned gigs now and in the future. Don't assume that the only way forward is a 'job' or a 'career' for life.

I believe that the 'future of work' involves a variety of work, that allows you to explore all aspects of your strengths and personality across multiple locations and markets.

I would love to see more students considering a combination career rather than a specific career, a workstyle that matches a lifestyle and not automatically assume that the only way forward is a straight, linear, chronological path. Technology is enabling more people to try multiple options throughout a lifetime - so please, be courageous and be your own kind of peculiar!

Other Articles by Sue Ellson related to Students and Graduates

How to choose your next job or career

Tough love for unemployed job seekers under 30 years of age

How to help someone with their career when they won't listen to your advice

Networking - Free and Paid Online and Offline - What really works?

How to find a job or work using LinkedIn

Zoe Giagoudakis (secondary school student sample)

LinkedIn for Academics, Professors, Lecturers, School Teachers (teachers and staff to set an example)

LinkedIn Page Strategies for Schools, Colleges and Universities (advancement staff and communications team)

LinkedIn Marketing for Schools, Colleges and Universities (marketing)

How to find School, College and University Students, Staff and Alumni (alumni)

See my other LinkedIn Articles here

Keyword Hashtags

#linkedinforstudents #linkedinforgraduates

First Published:?20 January 2020

Last Update: 9 August 2022

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Sue Ellson?BBus, MPC, CDAA, MPC, ASA, WV, SPN?is an Independent LinkedIn Specialist, Business and Careers Consultant, Trainer and Author.

More information at?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sueellson ?and?https://sueellson.com