Career Skills: Tips to Building Your LinkedIn Profile

BY: JENNA NEWMAN

Whatis.com defines LinkedIn as, “a social networking website, designed specifically for the business community, whose goal is to allow registered members to establish and document networks of people they know and trust professionally.”

As the fall season begins and school is back in session, it is time to put the bikinis and beach towels away and start building your professional profile. LinkedIn is an easy-to-use, yet powerful tool to gain an advantage in the professional world and work towards your dream career!

Below our three tips from our first PRSSA General Meeting on how to get started:

(1)  Creating a Strong Professional Headline When an employer looks up your LinkedIn the first thing they see is your professional headline. This will also help people find you when searching terms. For example, if you are a Communications Major at the University of Delaware hoping to pursue a career in Public Relations, your headline may read, “Communications Major at University of Delaware. Public Relations Enthusiast!” This headline tells who you are, where you are, and what you are interested in.

(2) Gaining Skill Endorsements Skills on LinkedIn are the traits that “make you uniquely you.” On the LinkedIn website it says, “Members with more than 5 skills are 27X more likely to be discovered in searches by recruiters.” So what does this mean and how do we make people believe we are skilled in categories such as social media or graphic design? Endorsements are when your colleagues, mentors, bosses, or anyone else on LinkedIn confirms or “endorses” the skill you claim to have. This will show up on your profile and make you more credible to potential employers.

(3) Do not hesitate to REACH OUT TO PEOPLE AND GROUPS People expect you to link with them on LinkedIn and the more links you get, the more visibility you will get. Say you have a guest lecturer come into one of your classes who also works for your dream PR Agency– link with them. It’s not “weird” and who knows the opportunities it will open for you now and down the road.

Ultimately, perfecting your LinkedIn profile consists of taking a chance, creating a profile, and then refining it and editing it again… and again… and again. The internet and LinkedIn’s help section of their website gives you all the resources you need to land your dream job, now it’s just up to you!