Linkedin for Students: Getting Started
I just discovered a unique benefit here at Western---free access to LinkedIn’s student college platform. Are you wanting to find ways to build your professional profile for different businesses to see the things that you’ve done for work and just within the community as well? This platform is a way for you and me to start networking, watching videos on how to be successful in job interviews, build your resume, highlight your certificates or ‘badges’ and so much more. Here is my first impression of this benefit, and my take on it, as well as how you too can access.
Using Linkedin is a great tool to have and use as it’s almost in a Facebook styled setup, it’s easy to work around. If you’re as lucky as me when creating a new account, you’re given a post of someone's profile and all the different things you can do to help make your profile stand out and pointers of how your page should look. You don’t have to follow the template at all, but it’s a great way to help students get started.
Linkedin is a more digitized version of a resume, and it not only allows you to be seen by different companies, but you can also see different people who are in similar boats as you and are working towards the same or similar goals as you! Sometimes starting by adding your classmates and groups that are in the areas of interest for you is a good way to start. Engaging with other people's posts is a great way to get yourself noticed and helps you build a positive personality on the platform. If you want to get further ahead, sometimes talking to your professors or even classmates and asking them to write you a short recommendation on your Linkedin page is always helpful.
Using Linkedin is a great way to stay in the loop about upcoming events, webinars, internships, student jobs and more. If you also plan on switching to continue your education at a different college or university, you can also follow those pages, and it will give you an insight about what you would be getting into. So how do you get started? Using your Hay Library Card number and the pin that you created to make your account, visit https://students.linkedin.com/ and start building your account. If you have any questions regarding your pin or Hay Library Card number, feel free to stop by the Hay Library with any questions or concerns, or even if you need face-to-face help when you’re making your Linkedin account.
Let me know if you see this as a value too?!
