You are probably asking yourself why should I be on LinkedIn?
This question is relevant to both students and professionals alike. Maybe you think that your graduate career or your professional career are going great. And therefore there’s no need for you to be on LinkedIn.
As you will see in this article, LinkedIn offers many ways for you to bolster your graduate or professional persona and thus can help propel your future career. Therefore, you should join LinkedIn to get all the benefits that I state in this article.
Though this article is a guide highlighting reasons you should be an active user on LinkedIn, you should note there are other potential benefits that can be gained from using LinkedIn.
Here are 7 Reasons you Should be on LinkedIn:
- Connect With Other Students, Professionals, Mentors
- For Job/Internship Alerts or Job/Internship Searching
- Can See Career Progression of Others
- Researching Companies
- Sharing Opinions and Getting Insights
- LinkedIn Learning
- LinkedIn Groups
Support The Public Health Millennial on BuyMeACoffee
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social media platform that is designed particularly for professionals and businesses.
LinkedIn is a great resource for students seeking full-time employment. It can be used both through the website and the mobile app.
The beautiful thing about LinkedIn is that you can create a professional profile as well as search for jobs/internships all in one place. This is powerful as no other job searching website has this personal feel to it.
Furthermore, future employers can easily view your profile and see your skills and experiences.
LinkedIn Learning is also a cool feature available to bolster skills that will propel your professional career.
Lastly, LinkedIn offers paid upgrades to have a premium account. Premium accounts have been called by LinkedIn “made for users who want to land their dream job, and grow and nurture their network and career.”
However, I do not think LinkedIn premium is worth it for the majority of LinkedIn users as the free version still offers loads of value without costing you a cent.
Now here are the 7 reasons you should join LinkedIn.
1. Connect With Other Students, Professionals, Mentors
LinkedIn is the perfect platform to use to connect with students, professional, mentors and even thought leaders in your respective field.
LinkedIn currently boast 575+ million users, with more than 260 million active monthly users. This means that there is bound to be a connection that will bring you value on this platform.
There is no better time than to start making connections on LinkedIn than right now.
If you have not yet, definitely start yourself a free profile today HERE.
(ThePHMillennial.com may get a commission for purchases through Amazon Affiliates links. See Privacy Policy)
For Students
LinkedIn is the perfect platform to connect with other students in your school, at other schools, in your degree field and in similar fields.
In today’s world, more and more people are getting new jobs from knowing someone that is working at an organization rather than from job postings. This being said, it is important that you make as many valuable connections when you are still in university.
Students should also join the LinkedIn Groups for their respective universities if they have one. And recent graduates be sure to join the Alumni groups.
Your goal as a student is to absorb as much information as possible and LinkedIn provides many sources of valuable information for students.
A great thing about everyone having a profile on LinkedIn is that you can do research and find which professionals you want to learn from. And then you can even reach out to them for mentorship of some sort.
For Professionals
Mentorship is also an essential part of growing your professional persona. So it goes without saying that you can use LinkedIn to find mentors that will best help you grow.
Along with alumni groups, there are many different groups for specific fields that you can join and engage with.
These groups usually offer you the ability to connect with many like-minded individuals while also having job openings posted directly from current employers. This way you can connect and seek a conversation with the individual who posted the job before you ever apply which will certainly give you an upper hand.
LinkedIn works best when you are both giving and taking so make sure that you are contributing to the community.
2. For Job/Internship Alerts or Job/Internship Searching
As mentioned in the “What is LinkedIn?” section, LinkedIn is an awesome resource for job searching and gives you the added bonus of the personal aspect of having a LinkedIn profile.
You need to leverage the fact that you have a personal LinkedIn profile. By this I mean:
- Include a professional Profile Photo
- Update your Headline to be relevant to your current work
- Include a Summary that tells a visitor about yourself (include a call to action)
- Update your Experience to reflect relevant positions in your field
- Include all relevant Education & Volunteering experience
- Update your Skills & Endorsements section to align your Top Skills with future career interest
You will want to have a completed profile and will want to be continuously updating it as you progress in your career.
You could think of LinkedIn as your online professional resume. Therefore, it should be used as a tool to separate you from other potential professionals.
If utilized well, LinkedIn can be used to streamline you getting your next job/internship.
Job/Internship Alerts
To turn on Job/Internship alerts
- Click the Jobs icon at the top of your LinkedIn or/
- Click the Jobs icon at the bottom of the LinkedIn app
- Then Click Manage alerts under the search box
- Edit or delete search alerts here
- Click Save
Alternatively you could go to the Jobs page and:
- Search for whatever criteria you want (job title, location, company)
- Then turn on alerts for your search
Job/Internship alerts are great way to keep in the know about job openings and also know about what relevant skills you need to be a competitive applicant for certain jobs.
Job/Internship Searching
If you are searching for a job or internship then you should follow the instructions above to turn on job/internship alerts.
LinkedIn’s platform for job or internship searching is very robust. Coupled with LinkedIn’s social media platform, it is an ideal employment tool in the modem world.
When you have a good LinkedIn profile, it will make you a more attractive candidate for employers that use LinkedIn as part of their hiring process.
LinkedIn is great because it also has a strong international (non-USA) job searching functionality. So if you are searching to move abroad LinkedIn may be the ideal platform for you for this search.
Recruiters
Another way you can get a job on LinkedIn is through Recruiters.
These are typically Human Resources employers at various organizations looking to staff open positions.
Make sure that you Update your Career Interest.
The 4 options are:
- Actively applying
- Casually looking
- Not looking, but open to offers
- Not open to offers
Additionally you can choose what Job Titles you are considering, location, and type of job.
If you are interested in using the LinkedIn recruiter feature then it is a good idea to put keywords in your headline to optimize your search-ability by recruiters. A good headline will include keywords that align with your strongest skillsets.
However, if you are a student I would be a little more cognizant about changing your headline to reflect a skillset. This is only because by doing this is showing that you are very experienced utilizing this skill at a high level which might not be the case for most students.
(Related: 4 Steps to Secure a Job After Graduate School)
3. Can See Career Progression of Others
I personally think using LinkedIn to look and learn from the career progressions of others is the most underutilized of its uses.
Think about this, there are more than 575 million LinkedIn users (this number will continue to grow), there is bound to be at least a hundred professionals that will have careers that resonate with your interest.
The funny thing about “creeping” on LinkedIn is that it can be so valuable.
By going on someone’s profile, there is so much you can learn. Especially if you are a student.
When scanning someone’s profile look for:
- About – look to get insights into what they want to share about their professional experiences.
- Experience – look at the role that they held and the responsibilities that came with that role. This can be used to learn what job titles and types of work you may be interested in. Additionally, you are able to see how someone has progressed in their career. So if someone happens to have a dream job position then you should look and learn to see how they got there and what skillsets and experience they acquired along the way.
- Skills & Endorsements – This section will be important so that you can learn what skills persons are marketing in your field. You always want to have your Top Skills as skills that you would want a career in so that you can gain endorsements on them as early as possible. As a student sometimes you are not sure what skills are best to put on your profile so by looking at more experienced persons in your field you can narrow down on what skills you should choose for you LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn gives you the ability to transition from one person’s profile to profiles People Also Viewed. This can make it easy to do intensive research into experienced professionals in a desired field.
Whether as a student or a as a professional, learning from others on LinkedIn can be invaluable. And a simple way to do this is by looking and learning from peoples profiles.
4. Researching Companies
Another benefit LinkedIn offers is the ability to do research on companies.
LinkedIn gives you the ability to go to a company’s page and do some research about them. You can even follow the company if you are interested.
On a company’s page, there is:
- Typically information about them
- A feed of recent post
- Job openings
- Current employees
- Highlights
- Suggested pages to follow
This feature can be useful both for when you are planning to apply to a company and for trying to find a mentor or a new connection at a specific company.
This can also be another way that you can engage with other LinkedIn users by replying thoughtfully to comments on post on a page or just to gain more knowledge or perspective to share with your connections.
Maybe you are interested in moving to a company but aren’t sure that the work-life balance is right for you. Then you can see if there is anyone at the company that you feel comfortable reaching out to finding out about this information.
Interestingly, LinkedIn also highlights alumni from your university that currently work at companies. This can be a great way to connect with someone without it being completely awkward.
5. Sharing Opinion and Getting Insights
In life, sometimes you have questions to ask but don’t know who to ask. LinkedIn is the perfect platform for this issue.
One of LinkedIn’s best features is that you are unrestricted from posting whatever it is you want.
A cool thing about LinkedIn post is that you can get views from so many more people than you are only connected to.
If you create a good post and get reactions from your connections then you will be able to have a greater reach and more views from LinkedIn users. And this makes it more likely for users to reach out and connect with you.
Post can be used for:
- Seeking Advice
- Asking Questions
- Career Focused Life-Updates
- Posting Job Openings
- Sharing Insights
You don’t have to post all the time, but know that individuals that are more consistently creating post are preferred by LinkedIn algorithm.
(Click here to learn more about the LinkedIn algorithm)
LinkedIn can be such a powerful tool for users to share new insights into their field. And even better, you can get real time feedback and engagement from others.
LinkedIn Blogging
Post can be considered the little brother to the big sister of LinkedIn Blogging.
Though you don’t have to create a blog on LinkedIn and could share your own personal blog as a linked post on LinkedIn. LinkedIn blogging is however preferred by the LinkedIn Algorithm than sharing linked post.
This means that LinkedIn blogs will inherently get more views and probably get more engagement because LinkedIn prefers content that is built into their platform. I personally still share linked post as I know I own all of the content I create through my website.
The benefit of using LinkedIn blogging other than the higher views is that it can help you to become a ‘Thought Leader’ on the LinkedIn platform.
This is no easy feat as there are bound to be many experts in your field that are actively and consistently engaging their audiences. But don’t let this get you down, if you start now and consistently post then you have a good chance of getting a recognizable following.
If you create a LinkedIn blog, it can bolster your professional persona and help you to share important insights with others in your field.
6. LinkedIn Learning
LinkedIn learning is LinkedIn’s online courses for professional and personal development. Essentially it is an online learning platform where you can develop the skills to be highly successful in your career.
It includes content from Lynda.com which was acquire by LinkedIn in 2015.
Courses are taught by industry experts who have tons of real-life experience. Therefore you are sure that the materials you are learning will be valuable to furthering your career.
Especially important as the job market shifts, it will be important to leverage the skillsets that you have learnt.
LinkedIn learning provides
- Diverse and high quality content
- Personalized curation
- Anytime/Anywhere Convenience
There is a sea of knowledge available on LinkedIn Learning. This platform will surely teach the skills you need to be successful in your career.
LinkedIn uses the data from their 575+ million users to develop a personally curated LinkedIn Learning plan and suggestions for new courses. This is powerful as LinkedIn can identify which skills are evolving to become the most important in your field.
With LinkedIn being offered as a mobile app on both IOS and Android, you truly have the convenience to sit and learn on your own time.
Additionally, when you complete a course using LinkedIn Learning you will be prompted to add the course to your profile and add the skill to your Skills section.
This can truly show employers that you are continuing to develop yourself and be a lifelong learner.
Whether learning a new skill or sharpening on an existing one, LinkedIn Learning can truly be a resource to help you learn what you need to in order to advance your career.
7. LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn also has a cool feature where people can create and join groups.
This is an excellent way to participate in relevant groups in your field.
Groups can be used to:
- Connect with new professionals/students/mentors
- Learn new information relevant to your field
- Work on projects with other people
- Post or view jobs in your field
- Building brand as thought leader
Make sure that you are joining groups that are valuable for your professional growth.
Never feel obligated to stay in a group that is not giving you any value. If you see yourself being sucked into conversations that are not helping you in any way, it just might be time to leave that group.
When you do find a group that gives you value, then you should start to become an active member of that group.
Like other’s post, comment with insightful thoughts, create your own post that hopefully spurs engagement.
By constantly engaging others in various groups, it will help build up your professional rapport with other professionals/students in the group. This can assist in getting you more connections in your field. Which is never a bad thing to do.
Remember that connections can be extremely valuable for sharing new knowledge, job connections, recommendations, and overall helping you build your professional persona.
Conclusion
In conclusion, LinkedIn is truly a remarkable resource for professionals and students alike. With so much sharing of knowledge and ideas taking place on LinkedIn, you should definitely join now.
By using LinkedIn, you will be afforded new and exciting opportunities and can connect with various people in your field of work.
7 reasons you should be on LinkedIn are:
- Connect With Other Students, Professionals, Mentors
- For Job/Internship Alerts or Job/Internship Searching
- Can See Career Progression of Others
- Researching Companies
- Sharing Opinions and Getting Insights
- LinkedIn Learning
- LinkedIn Groups
As you now learnt, LinkedIn offers so much value being both a social media platform and a job/internship searching platform. Whether you are using the free version or the premium version of LinkedIn, you are sure to gain lots of value by joining this community.
What do you find most beneficial about LinkedIn?
