How to use LinkedIn effectively
LinkedIn is an invaluable resource, used by a significant amount of people throughout the world. It is not just a public CV that people can use to offer you jobs, it is also a way to connect with countless people, and make important connections that could change your career forever. It is a way for you to pinpoint the exact right person (or people) to talk to, about advice in getting a certain job, or advancing your career. If nothing else, it is more professional and informative than a Facebook page, so when your potential employers google your name it doesn't return with a picture of you climbing a landmark in the city centre after a night out. However, LinkedIn is not the easiest site to use effectively, and it is vital that you make sure it communicates the best you to employers. This article will go through some of the basics of LinkedIn and then give some important tips that will allow you to get the best out of it.
Connections in LinkedIn: what do they mean?
LinkedIn is effectively a professional social media network with an important emphasis on connecting people to each other, to positively impact upon their careers and businesses. It uses three connection levels to convey how closely linked you are to other users. But what do these connection levels mean?
Someone who is a 1st connection is someone that you have connected with, which involves you either adding or accepting them as a connection (similar to the Facebook friends system). A 2nd connection is someone who you are not directly connected to, but someone that shares a 'mutual' 1st connection to you. Finally a 3rd connection is everyone else-someone you have no connections in common with.
These connection levels can be really useful for facilitating introductions—if you share a connection then you can perhaps use that to start a conversation. The more connections you have, the 'better connected' you are, which is always a plus on LinkedIn. Your 1st connections (along with companies or people you follow) will contribute to your news feed with their activity, and you will see their career progression on this news feed-very similar to a Facebook news feed.
LinkedIn also incorporates a profile page. This profile can be either beneficial to you, if you fill it out and make it professional, or it can actually be detrimental if you go about it the wrong way and don't pay it attention. Therefore you must try to maximise your profile so that when potential employers or clients view your profile, it stands out and presents the best you.
Maximising your profile
Getting the best out of your profile is easy: all it takes is a bit of time to copy your CV over, and also a good photo. Although it sounds easy, there are many people out there with sub-par profiles that do not benefit anyone. Here are a few quick tips that will be of use to those of you looking to maximise your LinkedIn profile.
1. Get the picture right
Getting a good photo on your profile is the first step to making your profile look professional and savvy. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you are the only person in the photo—if you do not, most people looking at your profile will not know who you are, and this just makes matters confusing. Usually the safest bet is for the photo to be a front-on picture of you dressed smartly. If it makes sense to, then have a photo more related to your profession—a good example of this is for a lecturer to display a photo of them presenting in a lecture theatre.
2. Fill your profile out
Get all the experience, skills and qualifications you have on there—LinkedIn does a good job of taking you through this process. Make sure skills, experiences and education are in the designated place, and if the companies that you work/worked for have profiles on LinkedIn, make sure you select them when adding the experience in order to make your profile look a little more legitimate. Add your university qualification(s), including your grade or predicted grade, and another useful thing to do is to include the modules you chose.
3. Have a good headline
Your headline is a short statement telling people what you are all about, and this is an opportunity to stand out. The ideal headline will differ for each person—if you know you are looking for an opportunity in pharmaceutical industry, you may wish to put something like: "Pharmacology graduate/student looking for opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry". Or perhaps you are not actively looking for a job, and instead you put your current job title or status, or your interests. Whatever your situation, have a think about what you want out of LinkedIn and word that into the headline.
4. Make connections, and use alumni
The best way to get your people looking at your profile is to add, add, and add. Even if the connection is someone you know, but may not have any current interests working with, the connection could end up being useful someday, and you will now be connected for that unforeseeable circumstance. One very useful tool is the alumni feature, which you can use to see where the graduates from your university end up, and this can even be whittled down to graduates from your course in particular.
LinkedIn can only be a positive addition to your online portfolio, if used correctly. When people search your name, they will see a professional portfolio of all your achievements and experience, and they will see that you are keen to progress in your career in any way possible. However one last piece of advice: make sure that you update your profile as your career develops—you don't want to still be listed as a student years after you graduate!