Summary of “Learning LinkedIn for Students”

Create a LinkedIn Profile

In his video “Learning LinkedIn for Students”, Oliver Schinkten educates the audience how to create a LinkedIn account as a student. Under this section, Schinkten introduces the ways to customize the main page of the LinkedIn account of a student’s user. The section is divided into three parts: basic information, professional experience, and supplementary materials.  

First, displaying the personal information and summary as a student. Regarding the personal information, the following points should be included:

1. Set up a LinkedIn account as a student-Show the contact information and school.
2. Upload a professional photo-Utilize a high-quality photo with formal dress code and keep update the photo.
3. Customize the headline- Apply the headlines that can indicate the student’s goal and passion.

As Schinkten mentions, Summary is an essential portion can share the mission statement, career goal, and personality of a student. He suggests student user should pay attention of this section and keep the following points on mind: continue to update the personal profile, think about self identity, and catch the opportunity of showing achievements and skills.

Second, showcasing the professional experience as a student which included:

1. Work and volunteering experience- Add any work experience or volunteer experience in the profile and describe them specifically.
2. Education-Education are not only the academic career, but also are the extracurricular activities on campus.
3.  Skills and endorsements-Spend time to consider and list personal skills then add 5-10 skills under this category in the profile. Ask endorsements from someone are familiar, such as classmates, co-workers, or instructors.
4. Recommendations- Indicate the recommendations from others and show the ability as a referrer.

Last, Schinkten recommends some supplementary materials that can improve a student LinkedIn profile:

1. Additional sections- Add additional sections based on personal needs.
2. – personalize the student’s public profile that appear to public eye.
3. Profile URL- individualize the URL of the profile to attract the target audience.

Build Your Network

Schinkten discusses the creation and exploration of he networks of LinkedIn. He suggests that student need to create the network selectively by three categories: advocate, strategic expert, and subject matter expert. When student is building their network of LinkedIn, the most common way is using the search bar to search the target individuals or organizations. Meanwhile, LinkedIn limit the access of free account and provide more abilities premium account. It is effective to customize the connection based on personal demand.  

In order to make the student’s f LinkedIn account becomes more targeted and effective, Schinkten shares some tips that can help students to explore their network:

1. Make improvement on LinkedIn search-use filter to narrow down the search areas.
2. Connect with the alumni-expand the network with similar career or experience.
3. Join a LinkedIn group-contribute the group and get opportunity from the community.

Using LinkedIn Day-to-Day

In this part, Schinkten showcases the activities in LinkedIn that student can participate. The activities can be divided into two types: basic and advance. For basic activities, students can view the feed, follow individuals or organizations, upload content, and send or receive messages.

If students want to establish their account for business networking, they also can attend the advance activities:

1. Design footprint-establish personal brand.
2. Public article- post an article that can show a student’s personality, enthusiasm, and knowledge with legal and ethical media. Share ideas with others.
3. Become a learner- Update knowledge from LinkedIn Learning. Keep learning through the whole career.

Job Search and Company Research

Under this topic, Schinkten indicates the method to explore the professional career of LinkedIn as a student from general to specific. The beginning of most job searching is understand the company that can provide the ideal job. There various company list in LinkedIn can help student to be more knowledgeable about the interested organization and prepare for the ideal job position. After generating an overall understanding of the target company, students can dig out the company insights if they are premium member of LinkedIn. More details can be found under the company insight. Then, it is time to seek a specific job.  LinkedIn can address all the process of job hunting, from researching to applying. For students, it is easier and more effectively to plan their career in LinkedIn. Schinkten also suggests setting up a job alerts to avoid any missing job opportunity.

Manage Your LinkedIn Account

As a student user, it is necessary to know how to manage the account based on personal demand. First, understand the difference of premium account and free account can make the LinkedIn activities more targeted and effective. Second, personalize privacy settings and account types. Last, download personal data at fixed period and understand the function of deleting account. 

My conclusion

“The LinkedIn profile summary is one of the first things people see when they visit your profile.”

Shields, 2018

From the video, I was impressed by the influence of the Summary section. I do not set up a Summary section before I watch this video.  “The LinkedIn profile summary is one of the first things people see when they visit your profile” (Shields, 2018). I believe that create a LinkedIn profile is not only about listing, provide a summary can show to the potential employers how you view yourself. I plan to write a Summary that can show my own personality and career goal to catch the attention.

Reference

Shields, J. (2018, September 26). How to Write a LinkedIn Summary (About Section): Examples and Tips. Retrieved from https://www.jobscan.co/blog/linkedin-summary-examples/

LinkedIn Learning. (2018, October 18). Learning LinkedIn for Students. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-linkedin-for-students/welcome?u=2109516