Without the buzz of campus life, the energy of classroom discussions, the intensity of all night study groups, and the excitement of constantly meeting new people, a recent college graduate may feel their world is suddenly very small. If you were lucky enough to secure a job prior to graduation, then you are about to have a whole new world open up to you. If are one of the many who have not yet secured a job, not having a strong network of people to help you can slow your search. Despite the ease of applying for jobs online, many job opportunities are discovered through other people, not a computer. So, who are your people?
Even if it doesn’t seem so, you have a huge network at your fingertips. It will involve some time and work to connect to it, but nothing a college grad can’t handle. Hopefully at some point in your college career, you were introduced to LinkedIn. As one of the most widely used professional networking sites, the benefits of being an active LinkedIn user are not limited to working professionals or jobseekers with more experience. So, how can it help you?
Establish a Professional Online Presence & Be Found
When you apply for a job, potential employers will be using social media to search for any red flags about you. This probably isn’t big news and you’ve likely heard the warnings about posting party pics. What you may not have considered is that employers could be equally unimpressed if they perform a Google search and find nothing – meaning no search results at all for your name. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to not only be found, but to be proactive in creating a very positive online image.
Here are some tips for building a strong profile and boosting your professional brand:
5 Tips for Developing a Strong Profile
- Professional looking photo of you alone. No cropped pictures with someone’s else’s arm in the picture!
- Headline with area of study and/or career ambitions
- Keyword-rich summary that includes the type of position you are seeking
- Include internships, extra-curricular, and volunteer activities
- Recommendations from professors, advisers, and internship supervisors
Connect with Alumni In a Meaningful Way
LinkedIn has a powerful tool that allows users to view the career paths of those who graduated from their alma mater. Information such as where they work, the city where they live, what they do, and what they studied in school is just a click away. As a recent grad, you may feel like you don’t yet have a professional network — LinkedIn’s ‘find alumni’ feature is your network at your fingertips. Find a grad who is working in your dream job, a few years into their career, and send an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Once connected, you can respectfully ask for any insight or advice about getting into their profession. Most professionals who enjoy their jobs want to give back and help newbies to the field. This motivation to help can be strengthened when you share an alma mater. If your new connection is willing, you can request an informational interview and take the relationship offline. This meeting (or phone call) if taken seriously and properly prepared for, can provide a springboard to other new connections. If the meeting goes well, you can ask for suggestions of anyone else you could talk with about how to progress in your career.
You can also connect with former professors, internship supervisors, college career center staff, your peers, your immediate family, your extended family, and community leaders. Once you feel a little more comfortable with navigating the site and have developed a strong profile, consider joining a few LinkedIn groups focused on your career interests – this is a great way to expand your network and connect with new people. Many colleges and universities have groups that are administered by the career services office and offer information about job openings.
Research Companies and Opportunities
Many companies have an official LinkedIn page where you can view how you are connected to its employees who have a LinkedIn profile. Some companies also post job openings. If you are interested in working for a company and find you have a LinkedIn connection in common with someone who works there, you can request an introduction.
The tips above offer a good starting point for using LinkedIn. If you devote a little time each day to fostering established connections and making new ones, before long you will have built a strong professional network.
Good luck in your search!