By Nicole Mott ’10
“Connections, connections, connections!” That’s what you will hear pretty often when you ask people how to find a job in the economy today. It’s all about the people you know. But what if you don’t know all right people for finding a job? A social networking website that has been around for a few years now is becoming increasingly more popular: LinkedIn. LinkedIn makes it easier to find these necessary connections we are all struggling to make.
It is described as the “professional Facebook” because just like Facebook, it is a great source for networking. However unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is specifically for networking with professional sources. As a student you have different components of your life on campus. Chances are you like to go out and have fun at times but you also go to many classes and cram for many exams. Facebook is your fun social network source where you can keep updated with old friends, maybe “stalk” some people occasionally or put up your pictures from a crazy weekend. LinkedIn on the other hand is for your professional side, the side that goes to classes, works on group projects and pulls all-nighters in the library. With LinkedIn there is no place to upload pictures of you partying, but you can list your past experiences. You can look for jobs, make connections with people in industries you are interested in and post your qualifications for people to see. Since our parents have been joining the Facebook bandwagon recently (yep, my mom is also on there) it is time for students to join LinkedIn.
Reasons to join LinkedIn:
- Looking for a Job? Interested in making connections? Both of these reasons are fulfilled with joining LinkedIn, especially if you are looking for a job this website is extremely beneficial. You are able to create a profile that includes your current job, past jobs, education information and a summary. With the summary you can list anything you want people out there to see. For example if you are an Art History major but very interested in Financing you can explain this career path in your Summary. You are able to upload one picture on your profile, but keep in mind the professional aspect.
- What to do after you’ve made a profile: The importance of LinkedIn is to connect with as many people as possible. So just like on Facebook you are able to connect with people through ‘friending’ people. Once you are friends with friends, colleagues, classmates or more. Through the friends you become friends with more and more networking is created. Once you have made connections on LinkedIn you can ask for advice or recommendations, which will appear on your profile for other interested employers to see, or just keep an eye out for future opportunities.
- Join Groups!! I stress this factor because this is a great way to make connections with people that are in similar industries that you may be interested in. For example, Bucknell Alumni Group has multiple subgroups such as: Bucknell Professional Network, Bucknell Health Care & Life Sciences Professionals, Bucknell Finance Network, Bucknell Law Network, Bucknell Engineering Network and a few more. All of these groups focus in on a specific industry that you may be interested in exploring further. You can also join groups for your sports team, sorority, fraternity, or even make your own group. Once you have joined these groups there are multiple resources within the groups to help you further your connections. In every group there is a tab for: a Discussion Board, Related News to the group and a Job Board. The discussion board can offer topics that may interested you or advice and the Job Board can be a great location to look for insight with upcoming jobs or internships in careers that interest you.
- Warning—Slight Effort Necessary: I know we all wish that we could just put our resumes on these career sites like Monster, LinkedIn or Career Builder and just hope that employers will simply find us, but unfortunately for all of it doesn’t work like that. You have to actually put in an effort with creating contacts, making your profile, joining groups and contacting helpful sources.
Over this holiday break check out LinkedIn. Take some time to make a profile, upload a professional picture, join groups, make connections, and reach out to some new contacts. I know that it’s frustrating constantly looking for jobs and sending resumes but this is a great resource and very easy to get some profile-to-profile time, which will hopefully lead to a face-to-face interview!
helpful video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTDnSnDMgE