Don’t wait until graduation day to start your career.
As a student, you can leverage LinkedIn to build industry connections, attract employers, and find career opportunities.
With 97% of HR and staffing professionals using LinkedIn to recruit new talent, you should create a memorable profile.
This guide shares the best 7 tips on how to stand out to potential employers and land your dream job.
Benefits of LinkedIn for Students
When used strategically, here are the benefits you’ll enjoy when you use LinkedIn for students:
- Keep up with the latest industry news.
- Network with other students, employees, and interns.
- Learn more about companies you’re interested in working with.
- Attract recruiters to your profile for job opportunities.
- Prepare for interviews through research about companies and positions they’re hiring for.
7 Ways to Make Your Student Profile Stand Out
Show potential employers that you’re serious about your education and area of work, and increase your chances of getting hired.
Here are 7 ways to make your LinkedIn profile stand out from the crowd and set you up for success in your professional life.
1. Create a Great Student Profile
Use your LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills and market yourself to recruiters effectively.
Get a professional headshot and upload a banner that visually represents your personality, area of study, or important skills. It could be a picture of you speaking in public, volunteering, or engaging in a passion.
Use the ”Summary” section to provide an overview of your professional life based on your field of study. Showcase your expertise by highlighting your accomplishments and credentials.
2. Mention Your Work Experience
Show you already have real-life job experience by including internships, projects, freelance work, and volunteer work.
When possible, quantify your professional achievements and include keywords relevant to your wanted job or role.
If you lack formal job experience, highlight your academic work to demonstrate practical skills and knowledge.
3. Add Your Skills
As a student, your CV might be a bit light, and recruiters could skip visiting your profile.
But you can still get those profile views and compete with industry professionals. According to LinkedIn, you can get 33x more DMs and 17x more profile views by adding at least 5 skills.
LinkedIn allows you to add up to 50 skills, but you should focus on the most relevant ones.
4. Network Efficiently
Build your career by building a strong LinkedIn network.
Adding friends and colleagues is a good starting point, but you should focus on connections within your target companies or industry.
This means finding LinkedIn members who work in your desired field, have experience at companies you target, or hold positions you want to.
You can easily connect with them on LinkedIn if you know their name.
You can also connect with like-minded people by joining LinkedIn groups related to your industry, interests, or career goals. Engage in discussions and offer expertise to build relationships with other group members.
5. Create Eye-Catching Posts
Make your posts stand out from others by using eye-catching visuals. LinkedIn posts with images and videos get more views and comments, so it’s a great way to increase engagement on your posts.
Share a mix of images, videos, GIFs, infographics, and memes. Use Taplio’s Carousel Generator to create customized carousel posts with just a URL in seconds.
6. Build New Skills With LinkedIn Learning
Demonstrate that you’re always learning new things to recruiters and employers by completing courses relevant to your desired job title or career path.
LinkedIn Learning gives you access to many technical and soft skills courses. Add these certifications to your LinkedIn profile to highlight your skills and expertise.
Complete courses relevant to your field and add these certifications to differentiate yourself from other candidates in the job market.
7. Keep a Constant Presence
Regularly update your profile with your latest achievements, projects, and experiences to keep a strong LinkedIn presence. Share articles, news, or insights related to your industry to show your knowledge and passion for your field.
A constant online presence helps you increase your LinkedIn profile visibility, connect with recruiters and employers, and build strong relationships within your network.
