By Alissa Lopez
While attending career fairs and networking events great, consider enhancing your professional networking strategies online.
You can make lasting impressions with professionals you meet at events by connecting with them online. Various social media can be used to foster relationships, but LinkedIn especially is the platform for professional networking.
Professor Lorra Brown held a LinkedIn workshop for the SPRA in the fall 2016 semester and shared some interesting fact and tips with members.
As you can see, maintaining a presence on such a significant professional outlet is important.
If you're ready to build your professional network and create a LinkedIn profile, take note from the following expert tips that Professor Brown noted in her workshop:
Start with a professional photo. If you don’t have a professional head shot, add that to your to-do list, and go with the cleanest, most professional looking snapshot you have — and upgrade as soon as possible. And smile! Remember: That photo may be your first impression with a potential employer.
Make your headline stand out. By default, LinkedIn populates your headline with your job title and current company, but you don’t have to leave it that way. Consider listing your specialty and speaking directly to your audience. If you want your profile to be searchable, include important keywords; if that’s not as big of a concern for you, consider getting away from industry jargon to stand out. Try to keep your headline to about 10 words.
Fill out the “summary” field with 5–6 of your biggest achievements. Use bullets to make this easy to read. Think about your target reader and then paint a picture of how you can make that person’s life easier. You can also add media files, including videos, so if you are a speaker or presenter, an introduction video could be a great idea.
Add images or documents to your experience. Did you know that you can add media files to your experience? It’s a great way to create a visual portfolio along with your standard resume information.
Fill out as much of the profile as possible. That includes skills, volunteer associations, education, etc. This is the place to put all the interesting stuff that doesn’t fit on your resume, but paints you as a well rounded individual. One quick note: if your volunteer experience directly pertains to your job search, put it in as work history, so it’s up in the relevant section, not down at the bottom.
Keep your work history relevant. You don’t need to list every single job you ever had. Instead, only list the jobs that are relevant to your current career goals.
Add links to relevant sites. If you have a work-related blog or online portfolio, make use of the three URLs you are allowed on your profile and link to it. Probably better to leave off the baby blog and cat videos, though. Use discretion.
Ask for recommendations. Endorsements are great, but recommendations are the currency of the realm on LinkedIn. Reach out to past colleagues, managers, and associates and ask that they write you a recommendation.
Use status updates to share industry-relevant content. This can help show recruiters that you are focused and in-the-know in your industry.
And once you've created a killer profile, there are some LinkedIn Do's and Don'ts to remember.
Professor Brown also left us with some important tips:
•Be professional: This is not your Facebook or Instagram account. It's important that you stick to a professional head shot rather than a duck face selfie.
•Use career keywords: Keywords like social media, marketing, copy-editor, and whatever else pertains to your career goals will help increase your profile's visibility.
•Update status: Consistently updating your status is another important aspect of your profile's visibility.
•Create a compelling summary: Make sure that your profile stands apart from the crowd. Don't just say that your hardworking, show us why your hardworking.
•Link to Twitter, blog, etc.: This will help boost your visibility on various social networking sites.
•Join groups: If you're a student at a university or part of an honor society, let your connections know by joining relevant groups.
•Build your network: Consider subscribing to free newsletters of relevant firms and trades and maintain your digital presence.
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