Secrets of Success with LinkedIn

It may seem confusing at first, like an open-CV for the public and recruiters to see, but LinkedIn is one of the most valuable tools in connecting with professionals, finding former peers, colleagues and co-workers. LinkedIn is used to post job opportunities, to follow new developments in business, tech, achievements and news in a wide variety of industries.

Recruiters look in LinkedIn for potential candidates with certain skills, qualifications or experience to fill jobs, new graduates look on LinkedIn to connect with professionals in their industry and build networks for pursuing jobs, and job seekers use LinkedIn to find people who are working in roles they’re looking to get, to see what sort of qualifications and experience are needed to hold different positions.

Building a LinkedIn page is not an overnight process. It is a long process to find your networks, contacts, to accumulate recommendations from peers, as well as endorsements from your connections. To help your job search and networking, here’s some key tips to building your LinkedIn page to catch the eyes of recruiters, to connect with colleagues and to land that job post-graduation!:

1.       Get a Professional Photo:

As LinkedIn is representing you professionally, it’s important to have a professional headshot on your main page. Often, career fairs will offer a professional photographer on-site for graduates to get their LinkedIn photo. Otherwise, a professional photographer can usually set up a studio shoot without breaking the bank. It’s also important to show employers and visitors to your page, personality as well as professionalism in the shot.

Every year, Concordia’s Alumni Relations Office has a 2-day Graduating-students conference focused on determining next-steps following graduation. Keep an eye out for “Alumni Matters” while at Concordia, for an opportunity to get a free professional LinkedIn headshot while at the conference.

2.        Volunteer Experience!

What sets your degree apart from other people with the exact same degrees? How are you competitive against the students in your graduating class? What skills do you have beyond the classroom curriculum? It’s important to use the “Volunteer Experience” section of LinkedIn to show any organizations you have been a regular part of/have helped extensively with on a larger project. Be sure to be specific in your involvement, detail your role(s) and be accurate with the range of dates during which you were involved.

Many students at JMSB get involved with the community, engaging with the world around them. Our students are active, using the knowledge learned in class beyond the classroom and in the community.

3.       Leadership Experience and Achievements Beyond your Job Description:

What makes you important as a candidate or professional? How have you excelled at your job, reached beyond the position description or achieved goals professionally? Have you been on any councils or committees, or dedicated extra time to be involved beyond your job description at work?

This can be in the form of recognition for outstanding performance professionally, awards won for performance or team collaboration, short-term interim position-filling roles, promotions and career advancement within a company. If you have been recognized individually or as a team for high performance in the workplace, be sure to share that with employers in a bullet-point in the details of a job position.

JMSB Graduate students have opportunities to participate in international competitions (and often win or place very well!), to do international service, present at conferences and colloquiums, and lead in research and professional collaborations with professionals on a global level.

4.       Putting “Student” as your Current Job:

A trap many students fall into, is putting “student” as their headline or as their current job. “Student” does not count as professional experience.  It is leading to redundancy, as your educational experience and credentials are highlighted later in the profile. It’s important to keep the profile to-the-point and to avoid repeating or redundancy. Highlight all of your achievements as a student under the education section, during your studies.

5.       Don’t Cross Your Volunteer Experience w/Work Experience:

Did you volunteer your time (a few hours a week, typically) as part of a club or organization, even at an executive level in the student group? Were you an organizer of a campus event during your studies? If it is not paid professional experience, it should be added in the volunteer section of the LinkedIn profile, or added as a bullet point in the degree details as part of your student experience.

Employers are typically looking for professional work experience and credentials in the beginning of the LinkedIn profile, followed by volunteering experience later on in the application.

6.       Include Details of Studies:

As not everyone has the same involvement or achievement in their studies, it’s important to include CGPA, any honours, awards and scholarships that you received while in university, in the “details” on each degree entry you post. High school is not important to have on your LinkedIn when you are about to apply for studies at the graduate level.

For JMSB students, LinkedIn education entries are often supplemented by involvement in student societies, clubs, organizations, committees, volunteering and competitions—opportunities that all JMSB can get involved with during the course of their studies.

7.       Endorse, Endorse, Endorse!

Once connected to your network, endorse your friends, colleagues, peers, bosses and supervisors for the outstanding work they’ve done relevant to their job. It’s generally good LinkedIn etiquette to also endorse take a few moments to return the gesture, endorsing colleagues for strengths they have demonstrated professionally. This highlights professional strengths to employers who are browsing profiles for potential future candidates.

8.       Be Professional in what you “Like”, “Comment” on and “Post”.

LinkedIn is not Facebook or Twitter. As much as viral videos are fun and great to share, LinkedIn is a professional resource where employers seek their future talent. Use it to post about your accomplishments, sharing industry trends/news and to connect and network with others over a variety of professional and industry-related topics.

9.       Update your LinkedIn when you move or relocate or when you get a new job!

Recruiters and other contacts will need to know when you’ve moved cities or moved jobs. Concordia University often invites alumni guest speakers in to speak to current students about a variety of different industries. When you move cities, update your LinkedIn.

10.    Don’t Waste Summary Space

In the summary space at the start of LinkedIn, summarize your experience, skills and use numbers and stats wherever possible!

11.    Resist the Jargon

Keep in mind who your audience is. Most people viewing your page are likely HR recruiters, colleagues, university alumni and industry peers. If you are looking for a job, be sure that you use wording that is comprehensible for HR recruiters who do not have the same education and training that you do. Briefly explain your studies, but keep it manageable for recruiters to read and understand your professional skills.  If you have done research at a very high academic level on a very complex topic, be sure to ensure that terminology is used that recruiters and colleagues can both understand.

Students in business should keep the language to terms that most recruiters would easily understand (with world-recognized designations used as acronyms only—spelling out the rest), regardless of their background.

12.    Your Headline - The most important line of your LinkedIn!

Your headline appears next to your name on the LinkedIn search engine—consider how you are going to sell yourself to recruiters in one line, to peak their interest when browsing profiles, and entice them to read your profile. Being short in detail and only putting things such as “Looking for a job”, “Student” or “Seeking new opportunities” alone, can turn off recruiters looking to fill professional positions, as it does not summarize how you could be an asset or the prime candidate to fill a role for their company, only that you need a job.

The headline should summarize the last position you held, and your professional specializations and industry or professional career focus. You can add “MBA/MSc/GDBA/PhD (etc.) candidate” into the tagline as well into this context of also adding professional focus/industry or last job. Your headline should be quick, catchy and should rock—to attract traffic and interest to your page. Do not use “unemployed”, it will not show up in job searches.

13.    Get a Custom URL!

It only takes a few seconds, but it is worth it—it is easier to remember as well as to paste in CVs and business cards instead of a url full of randomized letters and numbers to link to your page.

14.    Be Yourself

Potential employers are going to want to see the human side of you, use “I” when outlining your achievements (usually not on a CV, but OK on LinkedIn!), ensure that your profile photo is professional but still shows your personality and energy through to the viewers. Be warm, welcoming and give details, but don’t go overboard.

JMSB students and graduates follow the LinkedIn John Molson School of Business page for updates and to stay connected and networked with JMSB graduates worldwide. With over 51,000 alumni worldwide, JMSB offers a huge alumni network for students to leverage during their studies as well as long after their graduation.