Amongst the stress of your studies, it can be hard to look to the future and do more to get you towards your dream job now. LinkedIn is a great place to start! LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. You can use it to find placement opportunities, professionals within your dream industry or even a graduate job! In this post I will be telling you all the benefits that come when you use it effectively.
LinkedIn allows you to put yourself out there
Creating a LinkedIn profile allows you to create an identity for yourself within the area that you would like to go into. It also allows you to be visible and for people to find out more about you and your skills easily. Lots of employers will look for a LinkedIn profile link in your CV so that they can look further into what you get up to and the skills that you have.
Find placement and job opportunities:
LinkedIn has a very wide range of placements and job opportunities in every sector that you can think of. You can search by job title or by sector. It is also important to remember that the people hiring for these opportunities will be looking on LinkedIn for people to fill the positions as well. Make sure that your profile matches the skills and qualities that are required for the type of positions you are interested in.
Find out what graduates of your course are doing now:
Thinking about life after university and where you would like to go with your career can be very challenging. Having a look at what alumni from your course are doing now can give you an idea of the variety of jobs that could be available for you when you graduate. This is particularly a good idea if you are unsure what to do with your degree when you graduate. If you are unsure, I would recommend that you check out the Final Year Career Launch by the UoL careers and employability team.
Keep in touch with your course mates:
If you think that you have no one to connect with then think again. More often than not your course mates will pursue a career within the same field as you so connecting now can give you loads of good connections in the industry within just a few years. It is also great to be able to celebrate each other’s wins and see how your friends and coursemates are doing in their careers.
You can easily expand your network globally:
With over 800 million members in over 200 countries there is no shortage of people in your field to connect with. If you are looking for jobs or placements abroad, LinkedIn can give you a great idea of the opportunities available but also it can allow you to get in contact with people currently working in those areas so that you can see how it works for them and decide if a move abroad could work for you too.
See what your academics are doing in their field:
At the University of Lincoln, particularly in the sciences, academics tend to have a great interest in research alongside their teaching. Connecting with your academics on LinkedIn allows you to have a view into their research scope and this could give you a good indication of their subject area ahead of choosing a supervisor for your dissertation. I would also recommend following your academics on research gate to keep up to date with their latest research in your subject area.
Interview prep:
When applying for placements and jobs it is extremely likely that you will one day need to do an interview. Alongside all the interview support provided by careers and employability, it is a good idea to follow the company on LinkedIn and see what their core beliefs and values are. You could also connect with people that are currently on placement there or who is working there to give you some insider information about the interview process and their experience working within the community.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article I hope that it has helped you see the benefits of creating and using a LinkedIn profile. Be sure to follow student life on Linkedin!
- Topics
- Third year
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