How to Make a LinkedIn Profile

When I got to college, I had no clue how important LinkedIn was about to become. From meeting alumni to finding internships, LinkedIn truly is the key to getting ahead in your career. However, for many students it is confusing and overwhelming to set up. Luckily, I have learned many tips and have been able to create a great LinkedIn profile!

Profile Picture

The first impression people have of you on LinkedIn is your profile picture. This profile picture is unlike any other social media you may use, it must show you as a professional. However, for many college students getting professional headshots done can be close to impossible. Luckily, senior pictures are often great alternatives and are frequently used as profile pictures. Make sure you are facing forward and have a neutral background, remember to smile! If you don’t feel comfortable using a senior picture, you can always get dressed up and ask a friend or family member to take a picture on your phone.

Headline

Headlines are great to quickly let people know who you are, it must be concise! If you are in a current internship position, LinkedIn will automatically update the headline for you, it would read something like, “Social Media Intern at Google”. However, if you don’t have a current position you can create your own headline! I often include my areas of study and the name of my school, this way when I connect with alumni they can easily see how we are connected. My current headline reads, “Digital Technology, Marketing and Fashion Student at Fordham University - Content Creator”.

About

LinkedIn provides users with an ‘About’ section to provide more in-depth details about themselves. This should include specific keywords that will pull your name up in a LinkedIn search! In your ‘About’ section you should discuss where you go to or went to school, what you study, what your experiences have been and what you are currently doing. Remember to leave white space in between the sections so it is easier to read!

Featured

The Featured section allows you to link any third party sites, such as blogs, that you would like people to have easy access to! This is not required for a great LinkedIn profile, but it can be very helpful if you have a professional website you would like to showcase.

Experience

The Experience section of your profile is arguably the most important section! Think of this almost as your online resume, what do you want a recruiter to know about you? You can include multiple types of experiences including internships, volunteer work, jobs and college club participation. Be sure to provide details, with keywords for your desired industry, as you would with a paper resume!

Skills and Endorsements

This section is what I like to call your subtle brag section. If you have any special skills, let people know! Whether it be Microsoft Excel or event planning, this section allows recruiters to see what makes you special and what you are capable of! Your friends and coworkers can endorse your skills to show recruiters that you do in fact have special skills that could be valuable to their company!

Reccomendations

You may not be able to add to this section right away, and that is completely okay! As you gain experience, feel free to ask your managers to write you a LinkedIn reccomendation. These help future employers get a better idea of what you are like as an employee and adds some personality to your profile.

Connect

Once you have created a strong profile, you can start creating your network! Look up classmates, coworkers, alumni, friends and family to connect with them and grow your network. When you send a connect request you can attach a small note, feel free to introduce yourself and tell them a little bit about you and why you would like to connect with them. As you grow your network, you can start connecting with your connections’ connections and it just continues on and on.

Post

Feel free to post professional content on your account, whether it may be about school or a new job acceptance. Remember when posting that this is a professional space, only post content relevant to your career growth and aspirations. By using hashtags you can reach profiles that you are not connected to, once again enabling you to expand your network!