Building a LinkedIn Profile & Leveraging it to Network USM - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Building a LinkedIn Profile & Leveraging it to Network

USM Career & Employment Hub

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Learning Objectives

• Describe the importance of using LinkedIn (LI) as a

social media tool and how it can be leveraged

• State elements of how to build a profile
• Identify important privacy settings
• Define methods of how to build your network
• Build or enhance your LI page

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What is LinkedIn (LI)?

LI Vision: Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. LI Mission: The mission of LinkedIn is simple: connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.

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LinkedIn

• Founded in 2003; acquired by Microsoft in 2016
• A social network for professionals
• High-tech equivalent of attending a traditional networking

event

• Add “connections” similar to Facebook “friends”
• 562 million users in 200 countries; 260M active; 146M from US;

40% active daily; 40M active students and recent college graduates (9.18.18 – Omnicore)

• Over 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn regularly (SHRM)
• Target audience is college students and professionals

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Uses of LinkedIn

• Seek career opportunities with a “virtual” resume
• Create and receive notifications for job postings
• Share professional experience and achievements
• Connect with other professionals…and/or former

colleagues, classmates and acquaintances

• Converse via private message
• Follow companies, groups, and influencers
• Save industry and other interesting articles
• Keep professional “life” separate from private one

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LI by the Numbers

85% of jobs are secured via networking Employers:

• <80% of companies used LI to find talent
• 96% searching; 94% contacting; 93% keeping tabs on

candidates; 92% vetting Job Seekers:

• 40% contacts referred me for a job
• 34% contacts shared a job opportunity
• 32% contacts provided an employee’s perspective on a

company

http://theundercoverrecruiter.com, 2014

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Creating a LinkedIn Profile

• Be authentic and include a strengths summary
• Use key words in your profile that are relevant in

your desired field; conversely, do not be too specific if seeking more broadly

• Check spelling and grammar – have a trusted

partner review

• Explore other profiles!

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Creating a LinkedIn Profile

• Go to www.linkedin.com

Use “Agree & Join”, not “Continue with Facebook”

Remember to clean up your Facebook…employers look at all

• f you social media!

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Profile Sections

• Introduction – Name, Headline, Demographics,

Summary

• Experience
• Education
• Volunteer Experience
• Skills & Endorsements
• Recommendations
• Accomplishments
• Interests

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Intro: Photo, Demographics, Contact Information

• Use a good, professional photo (headshot)
• Use your full name, no nicknames or abbreviations
• Current position can be student in xx major or

current job if related to field of interest

• Include your preferred contact information:
• Email – use a professional one
• Telephone – only if comfortable – it will be public!
• Address – discourage including
• LinkedIn url (how to personalize shown later)

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Intro: Headline

• Your personal brand
• Be creative – grab attention; can use a quote or

catchy words

• Recommend not using your job title

PMP-certified leader – known for successfully leading multi-million global projects. Passionate, caring Registered Nurse with passion for helping cancer patients and their families. Current marketing student looking for

• pportunity to leverage…

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Intro: Summary

• Who are you?
• Keep it short and sweet to grab attention
• Write in 1st person
• Describe your professional and personal brand
• Share what you are looking for and be mindful of

not having too narrow a scope

• Add multi-media to your profile, if appropriate –

photos, video, slides, etc.

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Experience

• Explain company, if needed (brief description)
• Consider this similar to a master resume; use resume

techniques

• List title, role(s) and duties of jobs and internships
• Use bullet format and begin with action verbs
• Use clear, succinct phrases
• Share key contributions, as appropriate
• Include dates, numbers

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Education

• Include all educational institutions – the LI alumni

network is powerful

• Expand on your education
• Degree(s) earned, or earning
• Field of study
• Include Grade, if 3.0 or higher
• Activities and societies
• Description – add flavor, such as relevant coursework and

study abroad experience

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Volunteer Experience & Causes

• List all organizations; include description of
• rganization
• Identify role(s) you held and activities
• Share highlights of experience

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Skills & Expertise

• List 5-15 core skills
• Provides a snapshot of your professional brand
• Endorse others and hope they return the favor!
• Can change over time

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Recommendations

• Enhance your profile
• Ask for recommendations, as appropriate
• Ask people who have offered you praise in other formats
• Be aware of who offers a recommendation!
• Recommend your colleagues, and they may

recommend you

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Accomplishments

• List your accomplishments:
• Publications
• Certifications
• Patents
• Courses
• Projects
• Honors and Awards
• Test Scores
• Languages
• Organizations

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Interests

• Follow others:
• Influencers – follow leaders and innovators in your industry

and that are of interest to you

• Companies – follow companies that interest you and/or

represent your career goals

• Groups – join groups to build your network; seek advice

and showcase your expertise; participating increases your visibility Remember…who you choose to follow is part of your brand and what you represent

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Settings & Privacy

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Privacy

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How others see your LI activity

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How others see your LI activity

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Job seeking preferences

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Job notifications

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Building Your Network

• The more 1st degree connections you have increases # of

second degree connections

• Consider quality vs. quantity
• Start with who you already know and trust
• Contact alumni – search by major, employer name, career

keywords, interests, etc.

• Connect with people in industries that interest you and with

companies that you want to learn more about

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Building Your Network

• Use a custom message, not the built-in: “I’d like to add you to

my professional network on LinkedIn”

• State your intentions up front:

Hello Cameron, I obtained your name through the University of Southern Maine Marketing Alumni Group. I will be graduating from the School of Business in May, when I will be looking for employment. I appreciate you adding me to your LinkedIn network, and perhaps I can contact you in the future to ask you questions about your experiences as a Marketing Manager at XYZ Corporation. Thank you in advance, Jo

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Tips

• Customize your public profile url and make it easy to

remember – include on your resume

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Tips

• Select the types of messages you’re willing to receive option under

Settings to fully open, ensuring you’ll receive both introductions and InMail (LinkedIn’s internal e-mail)

• As you would update your resume, you should also keep your

LinkedIn account updated with your updated resume, contact information or profile information Note: you can turn off notifications to your network as you update – recommend doing this unless a major change that you want broadcasted to your network

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Tips

• Use LI as a research tool, look for job postings, seek

announcements for opportunities

• Participate and interact often, the more you interact the

more contacts you make, growing your network

• Top 10 overused buzzwords on LinkedIn profiles 2013:

Responsible ~ Strategic ~ Creative ~ Effective ~ Patient Expert ~ Organizational ~ Driven ~ Innovative ~ Analytical

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