UKC recently hosted a ‘LinkedIn Live’ student special, with talks from Mark Gaisford (founder of RedSprout Media), Ralph Mayer (global senior customer success manager at LinkedIn), Becky Simms (CEO of Reflect Digital), Jade Pluck (LinkedIn to Success) and Molly Wright (Molly Moodle Media). The event was extremely interesting, as they all put their own spin on the tips and tricks of LinkedIn, as well as what they would look for in graduates as employers themselves. Although there is a lot of information here, it was a really educational evening with SO much useful advice.
From the experts of LinkedIn themselves, their handy insights into the networking site included:
- LinkedIn isn’t old and stuffy anymore, it has some of the highest organically generated interactions of any of the social media’s!
- Get the connections going now – they all advised setting your profile up and making those important connections now, even if you haven’t graduated yet. You have nothing to lose by connecting with your peers, relationships you create through Kent Union or people you know at work/from internships – you never know which connection you might utilise in a few years time!
- Engage – From the man who works at LinkedIn himself, the top tip is to engage on LinkedIn as the algorithm likes it! You can post updates on your events or experiences, or simply comment and engage on the posts of others.
- Office 365 – if you have this software programme already, you can connect it to your LinkedIn to automatically update your CV and add your attributes into the right skill sets.
- Follow businesses and people that you are interested in or that inspire you – from this you will get their latest business updates, secrets to their success or an insight into their career. You also have nothing to lose by sweet talking someone in your dream job by adding a personalised message to the connection invite – they will probably be flattered, and you never know where the new connection will lead you!
- Use LinkedIn to research any companies/employers that you have an interview with – businesses will often post extra updates or information, and you may have found something that is not on their website, making you stand out from the rest of the candidates.
- The Times Test – never post anything that you wouldn’t be proud of if you woke up and found that it was on the front page of the Sunday Times!
- Put any societies or sports teams you are a part of on your LinkedIn profile – as a digital CV you can add any and all experience. Employers will want to create a better understanding of your overall character, and you should be proud of extracurricular activities you take part in. Never think something is too small to include!
Photo courtesy of https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6496056390426124288
Becky Simms and Molly Moodle are the queens of digital marketing and media, with some advice about your personal brand on LinkedIn:
- Connect to people you know now, as you don’t know where they’ll be the future and you might still want to connect with them
- What you say and do now is going to let people know what you want to do in the future
- Have a good picture of yourself on LinkedIn – you should be wearing the right attire for the job you want, and should preferably be a head and shoulders shot without other people around you (e.g. it shouldn’t be a picture of you on your night out, even if you do look great!)
- Write/talk about what YOU have done; even if it was a group project, they want to see what your contribution was, not the rest of your team
- Add a header to your page, as this is a great way to brand who you are (e.g. something from your year abroad, or something you’ve created in a project). You can always brand yourself and create something with free, easy apps such as Canva.
- Take a look at your competitors – see what other students have added to their account or header, and see if there are any ideas you can embrace.
- Write a great introduction under your photo – think about the keywords that will make you stand out e.g. what you’re looking for and in what industry. Including words such as intern and graduate will help your profile appear in more searches.
- Link URLs, videos or blogs relating to any projects you’ve done or online portfolios.
- Upload videos explaining who you are and what you would love to be doing. Videos create some of the highest engagements on LinkedIn, and employers like the confident and proactive approach.
- Make sure you are linked to your university page, as employers often look through alumni.
- Ask someone to leave a recommendation on your profile (e.g. a tutor, employer, or coordinator), meaning employers can hear someone singing your praises rather than waiting to ask for a reference
- Add calls to action to posts on LinkedIn as they’ll get more comments, e.g. ‘who’s excited for…?’ ‘Does anyone have any tips for…?’ Generating more comments will mean that more people see the post.
- Tag influential people – you never know if they will see and engage in with your post.
- Build a story with your post e.g. ‘Look out for…’
- Show that you’re human by expressing your personality through gifs and emojis
Tips for graduates:
- Pick up the phone, send emails and put yourself out there to ask for work. experience. According to the employers at the event, they love when graduates pick up the phone, as not only does no one do it anymore, but it helps to get to know you and create a personal connection.
- If you can stand out by putting a video with your cv, do it! Letting them see your personality; it also looks quite good if they haven’t asked for it.
- Put some of your personality into your CV, as employers are often looking for a culture fit for their company.
- Never go over 2 pages on your CV.
- Prepare in advance questions you have for an interview, this is your opportunity to give them something more e.g. ask about thier brand values.
- Ask for feedback from an interview, e.g. you can always email or LinkedIn message to follow this up.
Since the event I have taken on their tips on my own page:
Kent Employability Blog 