LinkedIn is useful for both career exploration and making career connections. It helps you exchange and enhance knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. It is an online destination that allows you to represent yourself professionally to potential employers, alumni, and the broader professional community of your choosing. The University of Virginia Alumni, Students, and Faculty on LinkedIn is another resource for exploring where UVA alums ended up after graduation and beyond. You can also use the “Find Alumni” option (under the “Connections” tab), and even narrow by major.
Tips for Success:
1. Identify your short-term and long-term professional goals
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It's important to contribute to the professional development of others as well as your own
- Knowing your goals helps you target the right networks and connections
2. Research key information about employers or industries
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You want to be knowledgeable about your field and specific employers of interest
- Professionals will recognize you as someone serious about your career if you know about current issues, professional organizations, and hiring trends
3. Talk with professionals in your network to find employers and industries of interest
- Once you have connected with professionals through online professional networking sites in your area of interest, begin talking with them about their interests
- Use your understanding of the employer or industry to articulate how your skills would be a good match
4. Give back to your network
- It is considered a poor practice to only gather information without giving information
- Remember how you benefited from others' information and provide helpful information for those looking for it
LinkedIn Summary:
Your LinkedIn Summary is a place for you to tell the story of your professional experience. To get started, consider answering these questions in your profile summary (2000 character limit):
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What am I interested in, professionally?
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What do I aspire to, professionally?
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What are my best skills or experiences that have prepared me for these aspirations?
Look at the summaries of professionals you admire, or some of the examples on LinkedIn University to find a profile summary that matches your personality and lines up with your industry of interest.
Making Connections:
You should search for a person’s name and click the ‘connect’ button. You can also import your email contacts and browse the user directory for potentially interesting contacts. You can include a message when you add someone. LinkedIn users seem to respond more positively to personalized invitations than the pre-populated messages.
Additional Resources
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