What is LinkedIn?

Each generation entering the labor market faces a different reality. While our parents looked for their first job mainly in the newspapers, generations X and Y direct their steps to the Internet instead of going to the newsstand. This one, however, is characterized by the fact that it develops at a pace that is sometimes difficult to keep up with. New tools, portals and trends appear like mushrooms after the rain. Some of them may be more useful and the other less, but there is a website that you absolutely need to be familiar with -  What is LinkedIn.

• What is LinkedIn?
• What to use LinkedIn for?
• Job search on LinkedIn
• Why is it worth having a LinkedIn account?
• How to build a good LinkedIn profile? Advice for pupils and students

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social networking site focused on career development and building a network of professional contacts, a place where professionals from various industries can search for jobs, create their portfolios, exchange ideas or make recommendations to each other. From the user's profile, we can find out, first of all, in which companies and in what positions he worked at a given time, his education, and what skills and qualifications he has. Sounds similar to the content of a resume, right? A LinkedIn account is truly your professional showpiece, just like a traditional CV document. After completing the relevant information on the portal, you can generate a CV file that you can use for recruitment. Simply put, LinkedIn is a tool that offers many possibilities and you should definitely consider using it when planning your professional development. Generally speaking, the portal is completely free to use, but there are premium subscriptions that give you more options.

What to use LinkedIn for?

The functionality of LinkedIn is that it can be helpful at many stages of the job search process. Simply put, it can be said that it combines the features of a CV creator, job site, chat and information portal. LinkedIn allows you to clearly present your current professional and educational path. You can build networks there - for example, with your former co-workers, members of the team you currently work for, friends from college or people who have the same professional interests as you. One of the functionalities of LinkedIn is the job marketplace. If you are looking for a job, we recommend that you direct your steps to this page. More and more experts even say that it is from LinkedIn that your job search should begin.

Job search on LinkedIn

The advantage of LinkedIn over typical job portals is that, in addition to the job description, you gain access to a range of other information that may be helpful. One of them is, for example, the degree of matching of the skills listed in your CV with the requirements of the position. LinkedIn will also inform you whether there is a person associated with a given company among your friends, as well as how popular the offer is with the users of the portal (number of views and applications). You will also easily find the advertiser data, and you will even find out where the employees come from and what schools they graduated from.

Why is it worth having a LinkedIn account?

LinkedIn is a tool that allows you to build your personal brand, which is so important nowadays. It is worth doing it as soon as possible. We highly recommend students to start building their reputation on LinkedIn right now. Despite the lack of professional experience, you can put a lot of information on your profiles, which is useful, for example, when looking for an internship or apprenticeship. Over time, you will enrich your business card with other valuable elements, including acquired professional skills, completed courses or positions held. So take care of your image from the very beginning of your professional career.

There is also a huge job exchange on LinkedIn. There are 20 million companies on the portal, 90% of which use it for their own recruitment. Often, job offers themselves "come" to users. Many recruiters independently look for attractive candidates and inform them about the possibility of submitting an application.

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LinkedIn is also a great treasury of knowledge. Users share their professional experiences and industry information here. By observing selected companies, you can also be up to date with their recruitments and projects, as well as follow their development strategies.

How to build a good LinkedIn profile? Advice for pupils and students

Here are a few things you should keep in mind when trying to create an account that will appeal to recruiters:

Time - it takes a minute to set up an account on LinkedIn, but creating a good, complete profile requires much more time. It is also not worth delaying your appearance on LinkedIn. The sooner you create an account, the wider your network of contacts and the richer list of recommendations can be. If you have doubts as to whether your profile is complete, don't worry - LinkedIn will tell you that.

Photo - LinkedIn is a social networking site like Facebook or Instagram, but it has its own rights and definitely not every profile photo will turn out to be an asset to your profile. To choose the right one, it is worth checking the profiles of people from the company or industry in which you work or apply. Some organizations prefer typically business photos (essentially similar to CV photos), others focus on presenting the employee in action. Remember that a good photo can help you shape the image you care about.

Header - comes right after the first name and last name, so it's probably the thing most recruiters are looking for. Many users enter their profession or position in the header. This is not a bad solution. However, to impress the recruiter, it's worth including something distinctive in the headline. It can be information about values ‹‹that are important to you, about your success so far, or about a character trait you have. If you are looking for your first job and have no work experience, use the headline to "sell" yourself as a human being. For example, the headline: "Reliable, goal-oriented IT student willing to seek solutions to people's everyday problems", is much better than the usual "IT student", because instead of lack of experience, it highlights the features valued on the labor market.

Language - in real life we ‹‹don't really want to establish relationships with inaccessible and haughty people, right? The same principle applies to LinkedIn. Use a language that will make recruiters and other users want to get to know you better. Try to write about yourself creatively, avoiding hackneyed phrases. Allow yourself to be known by inserting information about your interests and creating an image of a warm, friendly person. Avoid long, pompous descriptions.

Multimedia - Placing a photo, movie or slide show can be another way to get noticed. As pupils and students, you can illustrate, for example, your experience in charity work.

Moderation - let's return once again to the example of new face to face relations. Have you ever met someone who, although he seems to be a cool person, tired of you with enough information about yourself that you gave up further acquaintance? If so, you should understand why we are writing about moderation. Describing everything down to the last detail can overwhelm the recipient and cause them to stop following your profile. It is worth taking a cold look at our account and assess whether we are not trying to bombard others with knowledge about ourselves.