When you were a young child, you might have been asked by a relative or friend what you wanted to be when you grew up. You might have even answered with excitement and urgency, anticipating your career choice or dream in mind. Whether it’s to be a firefighter, surgeon, accountant, pilot, priest or your dad, we all share the desire to become something more in life especially when thinking about our career path. When asked the question, “What do you want to be,” as a college student, sometimes there is some hesitation in listing all we want to become. Looking for jobs and connecting with employers can be a strenuous task and can put a great deal of unneeded pressure on our lives. However, with LinkedIn, you can hone in on new opportunities surrounding your job search and engage in various sorts of communication. All it takes is the press of a button, and a couple of steps to follow along the way.
What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is the largest online professional network which allows you to build your status, advance your knowledge of companies and employers, and seek out connections that can directly affect your career choice. LinkedIn gives you the ability to create a professional platform that reflects your personality and style while offering ways to enhance your network. With any platform, you should be careful in considering how you broadcast yourself. You should include skills, experiences and extracurricular activities at the top of your page to provide an easy and accessible way for employers to get to know you.
In addition, you should consider connecting with people and groups that best share your area of interest. The opportunity to know a wide variety of people and learn from them is a rare one, so it might help to engage in new relationships to expand your knowledge. At the same time, not everyone on LinkedIn will be as serious as you are in the job hunt and there will be scam artists as there are in every kind of platform. When you connect with someone who is legitimate, you should always include a personal note to help build a professional relationship and let the person know that you are here for him or her, not just for your own benefit.
LinkedIn stands out in many ways, but especially in the way it is both professional and manageable. Unlike many social media platforms, LinkedIn emphasizes your resume, which inevitably shows your seriousness about your job search. LinkedIn will highlight your strengths while allowing you to show your own style. LinkedIn doesn't require tedious or timely tasks since you’re completing steps by a simple click of the mouse.
Employers or groups on the other side of the screen can return your discussion posts or messages just as easily. Ninety percent of employers are using LinkedIn everyday which makes for a high chance of contacting the employer or representative of the job you were pursuing in little to no time. With LinkedIn, you can connect with anyone from high school or college professor to fields of business. There is no limitation to learning, networking, and exploring in your job search.
LinkedIn Learning, rolled out to students this month, includes video courses on resumes, Excel, interviews and other career-related topics, integrated directly into Canvas for all students. LinkedIn Learning will make it even easier for students to access ways to improve their professional style and keep their writing impeccable.
With LinkedIn, you will be able to stretch to be what you always dreamt of in a stress-free fashion. Your involvement in LinkedIn can help guide others toward their own career choice in little ways. By signing up free today, you will be helping yourself and others accomplish the ultimate task, that is, becoming who you always wanted to be.
If you would like to have your picture taken for your LinkedIn profile or for a different professional resource, photos will be offered at the Career Fair on February 27. Don’t forget to save the date!
For more information about LinkedIn or the Career Fair, contact career-center@msmary.edu or visit our website to learn more about resources to assist you in your job search.