Written by Lucy Fordyce
As a young professional myself who is nearing graduation, I recently delved into the world of LinkedIn. For a platform that never had much of an appeal to me, it was only once I began to realise I needed to start becoming more serious about my next steps in my professional development that other platforms needed to be embraced.
Surprisingly I now find myself checking LinkedIn, at least once a day. The platform provides a wealth of information regarding people’s professional profiles, opportunities and jobs. Its powerful digital network enhances your real-life network, making it easier to connect with people on a professional basis. The business ad employment-oriented social networking service is also where 95% of recruiters search for job candidates.
So with that being said, here are the three top reasons why young professionals should be developing a presence on LinkedIn upon graduation.
1.LinkedIn is like your very own personal brand
No matter what, if you have a name and are present on a social media with a digital footprint, you automatically have a personal brand. LinkedIn leverages this by bundling up all of your achievements, work history and connections into a package. It’s like a digital version of your resume in which you can clearly define all of your skills, key achievements and experience. Building your own personal brand does take time and effort, however, it is important to start thinking about how you can position yourself so that you can get recognised and noticed for opportunities that you want.
In doing so, this allows you to represent yourself as an expert and a trustworthy personality in your position.
2.It helps you find a job
If your nearing graduation, you’re most likely spending a lot of time thinking about where you will work once you graduate. When used properly, LinkedIn can be an extraordinary resource when searching for a job. LinkedIn enables you to conduct a filtered job search for positions that are compatible with your profile. Even if you aren’t actively searching, a polished and impressive profile and network could bring career opportunities to you. LinkedIn also provides you with a platform to search other people working in your field of interest, and look at their career paths for inspiration to see how they got to where they are. Along with this, you are able to research companies that you have a desire to work for. In doing so you can gain a sense of company culture, employer history as well as being aware of any job openings available.
3.Networking Opportunities
Before LinkedIn, connecting professionally with people was much more difficult. LinkedIn has been the perfect stepping stone, opening a network of opportunities and connecting you to numerous professionals including potential hiring managers and other individuals in similar industries. LinkedIn creates exposure and when you connect and engage with the right people, professional opportunities will emerge. Networking will also give you the opportunity to gain industry insight. The stronger your LinkedIn network, the more you will benefit from it, particularly in solidifying career connections later down the track.
Through creating and polishing a professional LinkedIn profile, you are already placing yourself ahead of the game. It is important to delve into the LinkedIn world in order to prepare yourself as early as possible with the hopes of landing yourself an ideal job.
