As the end of the semester approaches, graduating students will be looking for full-time jobs, and returning students are searching for summer internships.
One of the most popular ways for students to job search is to use LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an online social platform where people build their personal identity and profile, connect with others and find job or internship opportunities.
However, using LinkedIn isn’t always as easy as it originally seems.
“I know for most people, executives and professionals, posting on LinkedIn is a scary prospect,” said Donna Serdula, founder and CEO of Vision Board Media. “This is your career, and you don’t want to embarrass yourself. You don’t want to risk it.”
Vision Board Media is a “corporate and personal branding” marketing firm, according to its website.
Even though the idea of posting on LinkedIn may seem daunting at first, Serdula encourages all students to feel comfortable posting and uploading their experiences.
“But for LinkedIn, you don’t want to be quiet, and it’s a really kind platform,” Serdula said. “People are very nice, and they’re very understanding. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s hard to do wrong.”
For college students, understanding and portraying your brand will help differentiate yourself from others on LinkedIn. Branding should consist of a student’s experiences, ideas and things they’ve learned, or anything that makes them who they are.
“These are the things you want to start thinking about because you want to start to differentiate yourself,” she said. “You want to be able to put yourself out there in a strong manner. When a person is seeking that, they find you.”
Feeling comfortable putting yourself out there, as well as sitting down and just starting the process, is important.
Serdula said more people put these things off and delay filling out their profile. According to Serdula, the later you start, the less likely you’ll get it done.
“If it’s hard, it’s not a bad thing,” she said. “People say, ‘I’ll do it when it’s right.’ You put things off, and it never happens.”
According to Serdula, one thing that can help students is artificial intelligence (AI), and as it grows, understanding how to use it effectively as a tool can benefit them while creating their profile. However, there is a difference between using AI as a tool and using it for everything.
“You can absolutely use AI to help with your LinkedIn profile, resume, bio, all those things,” said Serdula. “The difference, though, is, are you leading it, or is it leading you? One way is saying ‘just write me something,’ and the other way is you saying this is everything.”
While filling out a bio or profile, understanding positioning was another key factor Serdula mentioned. Which is why using AI as a resource rather than for everything is important.
“When you’re writing a LinkedIn profile, and you’re thinking about the positioning, this is something that AI doesn’t do that well,” she said. “You have to say, this is my target audience and my goal. I am looking to do this, whatever that might be.”
Making connections and networking is an important part of using LinkedIn efficiently. Keeping tabs on what people in your network are talking about and who your connections are is important.
“One of the things they can do is scroll through the LinkedIn feed and see what their network is talking, posting and commenting about,” Serdula said. “The other thing they can do is go to the My Network icon and look at their connections. You want to look at those connections and see who these people are.”
Although you may have these connections, Serdula said being active with them is important to make them actually meaningful.
“As you look through them and you look at their profile, maybe you have a question or something you want to say,” she said. “Message them. These are your first-degree connections.
Lastly, Serdula said it’s important for students to know that they have things and experiences to add to profiles and resumes. Just because they’re still in college doesn’t mean they have nothing to add.
“The truth of the matter is, they do have something to add,” she said. “They’ve been in school. They have fresh new ideas. They’re interested in learning.”
