Create Your Profile
Creating a LinkedIn profile is engaging, self-fulfilling. It allows you to showcase your skills to colleagues, possible employers and followers. Creating a profile is the opportunity to create your professional identity. This identity is developed as you see it, envision it and what you will continue to uphold.
Schinkten states the importance of your profile being professional, yet personable (2018). When creating the profile, it is critical to upload a photo that portrays the most recent ‘you’. Schinkten also explains that your profile will be immediately enhanced by creating an engaging, provoking and concise headline and summary as well (2018).
In my opinion, so far, LinkedIn has set out what it has intended to do; create a social media platform for professionals who wish to grow and expand. This was all started by users creating their profiles based on the recommendations of the platform which were confidently outlined by Schinkten in 2018.
Think of LinkedIn as your ‘Facebook’ for professional means. Everyone using this platform is using it to connect, build, develop and grow their own professional mind. It is a unique world, LinkedIn, and by creating an in depth, accurate and engaging profile, you are opening the door to this new world.
Build Your Network
The greatest thing about LinkedIn is the opportunity to gain insight, follow inspirations and gain understanding into the professional world. LinkedIn is about making connections and developing an engaging platform to post, comment and communicate (Schinkten, 2018).
Building a network reflective of your personality, professionalism and aspirations is critical. This allows users to get the most out of this social media platform. Schinkten demonstrates that there are so many various ways to connect with others; searches, common connections, being part of the same group, work, etc. (2018). LinkedIn provides you with an alternative professional platform to connect with people who enhance your goals, values and growth plan.
Connect with those that are going to help you grow and who you are able to collaborate with. Networking is critical in the professional world. The people you network with are a direct reflection of you, so remember, keep it, well, professional! I have recently been connecting with more international influencers and female leaders to keep myself engaged, focused and inspired for growth.
Using LinkedIn Day-To-Day
LinkedIn can be used in whichever fashion is suitable for the user. In short , if you want to be part of a group, you can; if you want to have a better digital footprint, you can; if you want to post articles for others to read, you can! You can engage with people across the world with the same interests, education, alma mater and more as you. The connections and growth opportunities are endless.
Schinkten describes LinkedIn as a phenomenal place to shed a positive and professional light on your digital footprint (2018). By being an active member on LinkedIn, your online presence is increased (2018). It is up to you whether that presence is positive or negative. This is your chance to be a meaningful, inspiring or everyday cause and to make a difference. Ultimately, the choice is yours.
The biggest recommendation Schinkten makes is to be genuine, sincere and realistic with your postings (2018). This allows you to have an accurate depiction of who you are in the professional world.
Job Search & Company Research
Not only is LinkedIn a Social Media platform that allows you to collaborate with professionals. It is also a meeting site for employees and potential employers. LinkedIn is a platform where companies are excited about providing their information to potential employees and by doing so, employers are providing all the necessary information and opportunities for prospective employees to all research, job applications in one area (Schinkten, 2018).
Using LinkedIn, employees have easily accessible information to use to prepare for any interaction with potential employers. This also applies going the other way; employers are able to verify potential employee information by using LinkedIn and the many features it has.
This feature of LinkedIn is one of my favourites because you can connect with companies that you never would have thought of before. LinkedIn is a safe, reliable and accurate way to engage with potential employers. Whether a job comes out of it or not, you are still able to make a strong connection if gone about in the right way.
Manage Your LinkedIn Account
LinkedIn is unique in the sense that its platform is completely free to all users. This fact alone is a rarity for many online platforms as broad as LinkedIn is. Although, there are options to become a ‘Premium’ LinkedIn member as well. Schinkten explains that the opportunities provided are more advanced way to enhance your professional status (2018). Some opportunities included are; detailed reports of who has been viewing your profile, job postings tailored to your qualifications and more.
When managing your LinkedIn account, it is also important to remember that you, as the profile owner, can edit your settings to be private or public whilst viewing others (Schinkten, 2018). This means that if you are exploring possible connections, employees, etc. that you can turn your profile to private and they will not be notified that you have done so.
This setting would be very advantageous for employers to use while investigating the potential employees that have applied for the position. LinkedIn should not only match the applicant, but it should also present the employee in an acceptable, professional and engaging way.
Conclusion
Many years ago, I joined LinkedIn because of a company wide initiative. Once created, it was quickly forgotten about and left to collect the world wide web dust and quickly become an outdated, standing still in time reflection of my life in 2014. However, after beginning a career abroad, LinkedIn quickly became an accessible and efficient way of connecting with possible employees, colleagues and even friends. From there, I became more involved in my posting, more engaged with my connections and more reflective on the content which I included.
While listening to Schinkten speak about LinkedIn for students, I am very proud to say that I was utilizing LinkedIn to my best abilities and that I could go even further. With that, my biggest and most exciting ‘take-away’ from Schinkten’s videos were the explanation of publishing and article creation (2018). This is an aspect of LinkedIn I am excited to try. Also, I am terrified to share my thoughts to a community of colleagues, inspirations and professional acquaintances for them to reflect and engage as well.
Sources:
Schinkten, O. (2020, February). LinkedIn Learning for students, video recording, LinkedIn Learning.
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