LinkedIn in the Workplace-- Part 1

In the 21st century, social media has become the new communication platform. According to Statista, over 80% of Americans use social media on an everyday basis in order to stay up-to-date on their friends, reach out to classmates they haven't seen in years, and heart-react to the occasional cute cat picture. What you might be surprised to learn, moreover, is that given the permeation of social media in our everyday lives, social media has also become integral to business. According to Kinsta, 90% of job recruiters actively use LinkedIn to reach out to potential employees.

How do you make sure that your LinkedIn is recruiter-ready? Let’s take a look at this essential online business platform as well as some hand-selected tips on how to maximize your social media potential.

What is LinkedIn? It’s an online platform designed for professional networking. LinkedIn has many options of information to add to your profile, such as a resume, links to portfolios, previous work and volunteer experience, and even test scores. For any aspiring business-person, young or old, creating a LinkedIn greatly helps with visibility over competitors and connection to recruiters.

For any aspiring business-person, young or old, creating a LinkedIn greatly helps with visibility over competitors and connection to recruiters.

In this two-part blog series, we’ll equip you with 10 total tips you can use to become recruiter-ready. Below are the first five; to read the next five, click here!

1. Add work experience.

Your work experience section of your profile should not be blank. Do your best to focus on experience relating to fields you’re interested in, preferably with major companies or organizations. Remember-- recruiters aren’t looking for school club experience, so only include it if necessary! Rather than overcrowding the section, pick the top experiences that would seem important to recruiters.

2. Describe the impact below each job or work experience.

Don’t only describe the company you’re working at, but make it clear what role you play and which skills you use. Use numbers and statistics whenever possible. Get rid of the fluff as much as you can so that a recruiter can see your impact in a quick skim. We’d recommend using bullet points!

3. Use the Featured section.

If you have any major projects, published articles, or quick links that showcase your best work, put them in the Featured section that shows at the top of your profile. This is an instant way to represent your “best self” to a recruiter.

4. Add your educational background.

If you’re a high school or middle school student, you don’t have a major -- but, under the school section, do add your school, with information about participating clubs and activities (and your GPA if it benefits you). Adding your school helps show your educational background, and adding the clubs you participated in helps to show the trajectory of your experiences. If you’re interested in a particular field, focus primarily on experiences that have taught you useful skills for your future work.

5. Utilize the Volunteer Experience section for major experiences.

Pick leadership positions you’ve had in volunteer organizations and, just like in the work experience category, don’t overcrowd it. A recruiter cares a lot more if you directed outreach for a certain organization than if you helped to fix a bike one time for two hours. Again, be sure to elaborate succinctly on your impact and specific experiences.

---

With our first five LinkedIn tips, you’re well on your way to creating a professional, impactful LinkedIn page that will impress coworkers and recruiters alike. If you’re ready to take your LinkedIn page to the next level, read on to gain our five additional LinkedIn tips.

Feel free to follow the Big Sisters Project on LinkedIn for business tips and updates on what’s new at the BSP! Happy networking!

Nikki is a prominent member of the Big Sisters journalism team and enjoys sharing knowledge & inspiration via blog posts to the BSP community. Read her blog post about women in the workplace here! Also, check out her additional five tips for a strong LinkedIn page.

#thebigsistersproject #linkedin #networking #inspire #community #business #entrepreneur #socialmedia #connect #professional #womenintheworkplace #women #jobs