Linked in presentation

Editor's Notes

• #2 You may consider using a day of class for a junior or senior class to discuss LinkedIn and help your students start building their profile for success.
• #4 Joining is simple. Start by creating an account at linkedin.com. Once you create the account, you will be able to add your information, photo, and have access to many other networking opportunities and the ability to research and follow areas of interest.
• #5 This may seem like a pretty basic concept to most of us, but the first impression is going to be the photo. The picture of Mandy is perfect. Her face is centered, the background is faded and blurred and does not take the focus away from her, but adds a nice backdrop without distraction. The guy on the right? Do I need to say more? Unless he is looking for work as a comedian, this is probably not the picture to use. Brenna’s picture on the left bottom is good, but by being off center and having the guy with the striped shirt in the background, it is somewhat distracting and takes the focus away from her. Photoshop can do wonders for photos, and in a few quick moments, she is now the center of the picture. Most importantly, SMILE, and use a current photo. Think of your photo as what you would like a prospective employer to see when you walk into an interview. Current and a genuine smile.
• #6 The headline of your profile allows you 120 characters to say something about yourself. This is the first thing anyone who views your profile is going to read. Make it count. Most people who are in established professions not actively seeking a job will likely list their current job title, but a student who will be seeking a job should include some key points. Specifically, what do you want to do, when will you be ready, and where do you want to live? The example here shows that she will have her J.D. in 2017. That covers a couple things, it seems fairly obvious that she wants to work in law, and will be ready sometime in 2017.
• #7 Other examples could be similar to those shown.
• #8 One thing many people do not realize about LinkedIn is the ability to change the “stock” URL issued when you create your account. As shown, Dr. Pleger has a long URL with a bunch of random numbers and slashes. This may be okay if you are not planning to include your LinkedIn profile as a link anywhere, but if you are actively seeking a position and want to refer potential employers to your profile, customizing your URL will provide a much cleaner link that is personalized to you. This can be done from the edit profile page by choosing contact info and mousing over the URL, click the pencil icon to edit and choose your own URL.
• #9 The summary section of your profile should be first. Think of this as your cover letter. If the viewer reads only the summary, what do you want them to know about you? What are your goals, accomplishments, specializations, passions. Get their attention so they keep reviewing your profile. This example is from the profile shown a few pages ago for the J.D. graduate in 2017.
• #10 Adding content to your profile can be daunting. Start with the information you would normally include on your resume or CV. Then add other relevant sections. The key idea is to only add content that makes sense for your goals and purposes. You may or may not want to include hobbies and interests unrelated to your career area. Although many people do not believe that your personal interests impact your job, this is not the case. For interest, if you are passionate about hunting, and the person reviewing your profile is a anti-hunting vegetarian, it might cost you an interview. Does this mean you should be fake? No, but it might be okay to leave out irrelevant information for the time being. Once you are established, you may add some of these interest to network with others who have the same interests. Most importantly: Keep your profile up to date. Add awards and degrees as received. Add experience and update duties on existing positions as they change.
• #11 You can use the arrows on the right of each section to grab and move the content to an order that makes sense for your profile. For someone who is established, you may start with your experience and skills as these are the most current areas. Graduating students may wish to start with education unless they have relevant internship or job experience.
• #12 Stealth mode is a nice option if you want to review profiles anonymously. Go to the Privacy and Settings in the upper right corner of your profile. This is where you can set many different options, including the ability to choose what others see when you view their profile.
• #13 Adding connections on LinkedIn is important, but don’t go crazy sending a million requests to connect using the standard stock message. You want your connections to count, and first connections should be those that you would feel comfortable asking to introduce you to their connections. When sending a connection request, you have the option of changing the message that you send. So rather than sending the standard message shown, consider changing it to something more personalized, such as shown. FYI, this option only works well from a computer, and is really difficult to do from the Iphone app.
• #14 Groups are a great way to network on LinkedIn. Based on your profile and connections, LinkedIn will recommend certain groups, or you can search for groups of interest. For example, I am part of the Instructor Connection – Accounting group. I often browse this group for new ideas to use in the classroom and see what others in my field are doing. There are hundreds of groups in a variety of topics and areas of interest. And if you don’t find what you are looking for……..
• #15 Create your own! You can create your own group page on a particular topic, for a particular organization, such as a student club, Alumni or various other interests. For example, I have created a group for the members of the LSSU Student Chapter of the IMA. Each year, new members will be added and be able to network with other current and former members of the group. As students graduate, they can remain part of the group which will create great connections for the new students coming up through the group. These former students can be mentors or career connections.
• #16 One distinct advantage of being part of groups is the ability to send unlimited messages to fellow group members. The free Basic version of LinkedIn limits the number of messages you can send to people who are not your connection, but if you are part of a group, you can send as many messages as you want to fellow group members. This is a great way to network and connect with other people in areas of interest.
• #17 The search tool on LinkedIn is pretty powerful. You can perform basic searches or advanced searches, based on specific parameters. The easiest way to start is to click on the magnifying glass search tool at the top of the page with an empty text box to get to the main search page and then start selecting parameters to use for your searches.
• #18 LinkedIn also provides the ability to research various companies. If you are looking for a position within a certain company, you can search on that company and see if you have any connections that might provide an opportunity. For example, in the above search on Oracle company, the results show that I have 2 people in my network that are connected to Oracle. When LinkedIn indicates these connections in my network, it is referring to 1st and 2nd connections. What does this mean? 1st connections are those with whom I am connected directly. 2nd connections are those who are one person removed from me. Think of second connections as a “friend of a friend”. 2nd connections are 1st connections with one of my 1st connections, but are not connected directly to me. This is where you want to rely on your first connection to introduce you their connection.
• #19 LinkedIn also has a tool to browse various industries. Maybe you don’t know exactly what company you want to research, but you know the industry. The industry search tool allows you to browse many companies within specific industries.
• #20 So, what does LinkedIn do to help you? LinkedIn uses keywords and information from your profile to suggest jobs that may be of interest to you.
• #21 Don’t like the jobs suggested? You can also search for jobs on LinkedIn by clicking on the Jobs tab, then click the search button on the right to get to the jobs search page. You can search by keyword, company, and many other options using the basic or advanced search options.
• #22 Again, similar to the company research, each job listing will show the number of 1st and 2nd connections you may have. For example, the job posting for VP at LSSU indicates that I have 242 people in my network related to LSSU. This would be both 1st and 2nd connections. If I want to see who the connections are, I can click on it and they will be listed.
• #23 Searching for Alumni on LinkedIn also adds opportunities to connect. Former Alumni are typically willing to help current students with job opportunities. This is also a nice tool for looking for former classmates or students.
• #24 Some basic etiquette. Students need to remember that no matter how perfect their LinkedIn account looks, if they have a public Facebook profile with questionable content, all the work they have done on LinkedIn may be wasted. Employers will often search on the name and look for public information. I advise students to check their Facebook settings carefully, and don’t post anything they would not want a future employer reading or seeing. In a perfect world, what people do in their personal time should have no bearing or relevance on their career, but we all know that in the real world, that is not the case.
• #26 Thanks for coming!