LinkedIn: Common Mistakes College Students Make

7:51 PM College, Career, and Coffee 0 Comments

LinkedIn is becoming quickly becoming an essential tool to utilize for your online presence. Essentially a digital resume, LinkedIn can provided a more detailed description of past work experience, your educational history, and other details that will not fit on your traditional resume such as interests or volunteer groups. Newly added to LinkedIn is the ability to add past presentations and documents onto to your profile. You can showcase your best work in a simple and effective way, making it easy for employers to see tangible examples of your skills.

Joining LinkedIn during college is the perfect way to build your network before hitting the job field. Connecting with classmates now provides you with contacts who in a few years will be working in all different industries. Beyond connecting with classmates, it also provides you with an easy way to stay up to date with mentors, internship co-workers, and other contacts you meet during your college career.

Here are some common mistakes collegiate students make when developing their LinkedIn profile:

• Posting an "unprofessional" photo: Don't use a selfie you took on a random weekend at a party or a tiny picture of you next to mountain. This photo is a first impression of your online presence. Save your casual photos for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Make sure your profile picture clearly shows your face, ideally from the shoulders up.

• Labeling your Professional Headline as "Student": Your professional headline appears underneath your name, giving a quick snapshot as to your current employment. If you do not have job at the moment or one related to the field you would like to pursue do not post that you are a "Student at                 University". Utilize this short headline to post a description of who you are or what you want to accomplish.

• Not utilizing school projects: During your collegiate career you will complete many group and individual assignments, presentations, and projects that could be a valuable resource for your LinkedIn account. Showcasing work you are proud of online provides future employers and connections with an example of your writing or presentation skills. A business analysis for your finance class or a presentation on a information systems network can show your experience in the classroom in a more visual way. This can be much more effective than listing skills and accomplishments.