Are you looking to find the best ways to prepare for the Career Fair? Ensuring you have a strong, updated LinkedIn profile is an essential step that pairs well with your resume. Here are some important details to keep in mind to have an impressive LinkedIn profile:
Setting Up Your Profile
Use a professional headshot. When creating your LinkedIn, make sure to have an updated professional headshot in order to make a strong first impression. Having a headshot that makes you look professional also makes you appear more approachable and trustworthy. If you do not have a current professional headshot, no worries! The CCPD offers free professional headshot events that are perfect for your LinkedIn—there’s even a photographer at the Career Fair to take headshots, so you can grab your next headshot there!
Set your header photo. A header photo is an important—albeit often overlooked—part of a LinkedIn profile. Header photos give you the chance to stand out from the crowd and display yourself. Select a photo or graphic which is clear and shows a bit about you, your career interests, or your personality. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for your header photo, you can always select a nice photo of the location you work in. Think—the Mt. Hope Bridge or a nice aerial view of a city or town. With a good quality header photo, your profile is 80% more likely to be interacted with over a profile without one. Overall, a cohesive look to your profile helps to keep people more engaged and interactive.
Update Your URL. Something else that can enhance your LinkedIn is updating your URL to something that is clean and professional. You can remove all the large numbers and symbols and leave your name attached to the end by going to the Public profile & URL tab on the righthand side of your profile. If your name is already taken as a URL, experiment by adding back in a dash or minimal numbers until you find something that works. As long as it’s shorter and less cluttered than the default URL, you’re golden!
Write a bio. Your bio on LinkedIn is a great way for connections to learn more about yourself. You should show some of your personality in your bio while highlighting some of your accomplishments and experiences. You can also elaborate on some of your skills as well as your goals for the future. It doesn’t have to be overly formal—as long as it’s professional and free of errors, you can have a bit of fun with it and show your personality.
Input complete information. You can think of the majority of the information in your profile as an extension to your resume. It’s very important to keep this information current and to regularly update it. Like your resume, there is an Experiences section on your profile in which you should emphasize accomplishments and tasks completed in previous experiences. Some LinkedIn users prefer to copy-paste their resume bullet points into this section and add to them, while others prefer to use paragraph format to add context and details that wouldn’t fit in a standard resume. The Education section lists all relevant information regarding your degrees, including majors, minors, and GPA. Finally, the Skills section gives you the availability to list many of the different skills you have acquired through previous experiences.
Making Connections & Networking
For many, making connections and networking can be considered daunting, but this is something that’s essential in order to attain visibility and engagement from possible employers.
Research connections and add to your network. Don’t be afraid to request to connect with peers or faculty you recognize from class, school, your hometown, your previous or current places of work, etc. If you have connections from family or friends, send them a request too! It can be so beneficial for both you and the person you are connecting with. Send a connection request with an introductory message when connecting with employers, faculty, or people you may be “meeting” or interacting with for the first time or first time in a while.
You can also engage with different profiles that are more personalized to your professional goals before connecting with them—research, browse, and explore profiles to get the lay of the land and connect when you’re ready. Just keep in mind that LinkedIn users can often see when you’ve clicked on their profile!
It’s also beneficial to branch out with your connections—don’t stay solely focused on forming connections within your field or future goals. While that’s an important part of networking, the broader your network reaches, the more chances for future opportunities. You never know where a networking opportunity may take you!
Post to your profile and interact with posts. While you may feel hesitant about posting or interacting with other people’s posts, posting can help in increasing your visibility and help you make connections. It’s also great for engagement and promoting who you are and what your accomplishments are, which may lead to more opportunities.
When making posts, common topics or themes include showcasing accomplishments (promotions, new opportunities, presentation or conference recaps, etc.) or simply writing about something you’ve learned in your professional experience. You can choose to make a simple text post, but a clear and professional picture showcasing your topic of post can add to the experience as well.
You should regularly engage with others’ posts—comment congratulations on their achievements, repost posts you or your network may be interested in, etc. The more active you are on LinkedIn, the more engaged you seem to employers and your network.
In general, if you’re having trouble or are feeling nervous to start engaging in posts, start small by commenting on others’ posts and work your way up to posting your own content. If you need ideas on how you can engage on LinkedIn posts, model your comments and posts off of what others are commenting and posting.
The Bottom Line
While starting up and continuing a strong LinkedIn profile may seem overwhelming, following these recommendations will allow you to get your most out of your profile and be another step ahead for the Career Fair and other professional or life events. Finally, don’t be afraid to stop by the CCPD if you’d ever like guidance with any career-related topics—including your LinkedIn profile!
— CCA Cat
