How Can College Students Benefit from LinkedIn

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn is an online social network for professionals. It is the leading online professional directory of individuals and companies. LinkedIn has more than 300 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company.

Unlike other social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram where you create your account, make friends, share your photos, videos or music and post statuses, LinkedIn is designed specifically for professional networking which includes job searching, finding sales lead and connecting with potential business partners.

Companies can post information about the company andjob openings on their pages. They can also directly contact LinkedIn members for recruiting purposes.

How can Students Benefit from LinkedIn?

Students can benefit tremendously from using LinkedIn. In fact, students should start networking on LinkedIn as early as possible. LinkedIn can help you find a job as soon as you complete your graduation.
However, it’s a remorse that many students spend more time on more popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as compared to LinkedIn, which is the best professional social networking platform on the internet.

Following are some of the tips on how college students can gain maximum benefit from LinkedIn:

• Complete Your Profile and Post a Profile Picture
  The first step is to create an account on LinkedIn. After you are done with this, it is time to set up your profile. A well-organized profile with correct information will definitely help you more as compared to an incomplete profile.

  Many college students don’t post their pictures on their profile page because they fear of looking too young. However, what they don’t realize is that a profile picture can actually work in their favor. It helps recruiters to see you as a human instead of a hyperlink. Post a good headshot picture of yourself with a neutral background.

• Customize Your URL
  When you create an account on LinkedIn, it automatically provides you a standard numerical address of your profile. I suggest you to modify it with your name to stand out in Google search results. Naming the URL to your liking can help greatly in case if you want to refer your profile page to someone.
• Describe Your Work Using Keywords
  The best way to give maximum exposure to your profile is by using keywords when you describe your profession. For example: Accountant, Software Programmer, Hardware Troubleshooter, etc. This practice will help you become more visible and accessible in your industry.
• Join a Group
  Networking through LinkedIn is fast, easy and the best way to make professional connections without requesting any introduction. Based on your profile, LinkedIn will suggest groups for you to join which are formed around industries, clubs and associations. You can participate in discussions and ask for career advice and other professional matters.
• Apply for a Job
  Many companies post job openings on their company pages and most of the deserving candidates get hired through LinkedIn. All you have to do is to setup an email alert to receive notifications of recommended jobs.

  Once there is an opening, you will able to see the notification on your homepage as soon as you log in to your LinkedIn account. You can click on job description and view ‘company profile’. You can even see who works for that particular company. You will also be able to see the job poster’s profile by just going through the company’s page. You can apply for the job by uploading a cover letter and resume.

Conclusion

In these tough economic times where unemployment rate has gone high, LinkedIn has been a blessing in disguise for veteran professionals as well as fresh college graduates who have been benefitting from this professional social network for over a decade now.

Author Bio:
A great aficionado of Shakespearean plays, John Barclay aspires to be a prolific playwright himself one day. To accomplish his dreams, he continuously polishes his writing skills, which consequently lend him to an esteemed services, rapidassignments.co.uk, where he writes creative write-ups for clients.