How to Make Best Use of LinkedIn While You’re Still in Uni

In this fast-paced world, one has no choice but to be a part of the digital revolution that is taking place.

As uni students, LinkedIn plays an important part in today’s world and making the best use of it – from finding better jobs to learning more from the experts in any field – contributes immensely to your professional networking. According to LinkedIn’s own reports, 80% of professionals consider networking crucial to one’s professional success.

Top Student Hacks to Revamp Your LinkedIn Profile

Make the Best of Pulse

Are you interested in learning about what is going on in your desired industry? Do you have amazing essays or research work that is ready to be showcased to the world? Then, Pulse by LinkedIn is the perfect platform to not only publish your academic writing, but it also gives you an opportunity to learn more of the practical tools that people are actually using in their respective fields.

To be published on Pulse, write an article that is focused on a topic that you are comfortable with. Using two to three images goes a long way in creating an impact and also in breaking the monotony of the text. Once the article is written, you can make use of other social networking platforms like Facebook or Twitter to promote your content.

The Alumni Tool

LinkedIn Alumni is a splendid tool, and if used correctly it can work wonders. LinkedIn Alumni lets you connect with your fellow alumni with just a few clicks and filters. Assume that you have moved to a different city to look for jobs after graduation – these filters help you zero in on those alumni who likely work in the same city that you have moved to. Or, some alumni might be interested in the same field of interest as you are. It is the perfect opportunity to maybe team up and work on a new project.

Steps to use LinkedIn Alumni:

1. Type in https://www.linkedin.com/alumni in your browser.
2. You can see all the alumni of your university in this page. Further, it also shows which city they are based in, their fields of interest, their current job (if they are employed) and other similar information.

iii. LinkedIn allows you to use 6 filters to filter out the search results. They are based on: geographical location, the company they work for, their position, their majors in college, their skills, and how you are connected with them (either 1^st or 2^nd degree connections).

Advantages Of A Complete LinkedIn Profile

A complete LinkedIn profile consists of a professional photo, a crafty, clever headline, a stunning summary, good recommendations and endorsements, past work, and achievements, all clearly distinguished into different sections. Here are tips for each one of them:

1. Your LinkedIn profile photo is something that people see first, and first impressions are often the last impressions, so don’t falter in this. The photo should be nothing short of a professional photo, taken with good lighting and you should be wearing professional attire.
2. Your headline is the first 1-3 lines that appear right below your name. Do not make the mistake of writing out your contact information in your headline. That’s just plain boring! Instead, write what skills you possess, or write your achievements in 3 lines. That catches the eye of the reader.

iii. A stunning summary is imperative to a LinkedIn profile – this is where you can talk about yourself and the work that you have done. Keep the first sentences interesting by directly stating who you are and what skills you possess that may help you contribute effectively in a new project/internship/job. Talk about all of your projects, research papers that you have had published, or even competitions that you participated in. This shows that you are proactive and always up for a challenge.

1. Endorsements give you the chance to add your skills so that people can click to say they endorse that you have said skills. LinkedIn arranges the endorsements according to the most recent one. Hence, if you have important endorsements from your superior that you want to showcase first, you can reorder your endorsements by clicking on Edit Skills>Manage Endorsements.
2. Recommendations are in-depth analysis and feedback on your professional work. To ensure that you have powerful recommendations, tell your recommender to clearly state your soft kills along with your technical ones. This gives a picture about your overall personality, which is extremely important in today’s world.
3. Connect With People You Don’t Know

It is very common for students to be advised to be extra cautious on social media and it is a strict ‘no’ to interacting with strangers. Well, these rules are slightly different for LinkedIn. LinkedIn, being a professional network, gives a platform to showcase your work to strangers. It is advisable to connect with people you may not know in real life as you never know who might be interested in the kind of work you are doing.  So, connect and build your network efficiently and make sure to connect with Recruiters – they are the ones who are willing to offer jobs or internships.

Boolean Search

With around 330 million profiles and 2 million jobs, LinkedIn has a huge database. Soowing to this, searching for the right profiles or finding exactly what you want can be cumbersome if you don’t use Boolean Operators.

Some examples of Boolean Search are:

1. [Term] AND [Term]: Gives results involving both the terms.
2. [Term] OR [Term]: Displays results containing at least one of the terms.

iii. NOT [Term]: Displays results that do not contain the mentioned term.

Unlike a traditional resume, which is limited to just one page to represent all your achievements, LinkedIn lets you personalise your profile by allowing you to showcase all that you have done, in detail. With the right implementation of the above mentioned tips and hacks, your LinkedIn profile is sure to stand out from the crowd. To read more on the subject, check out his article.

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash.