The advent of internet and social media has changed our lives. Its effect is even in our professional lives, but professional networking is far different from social media sites, such as Facebook or Instagram. How you present yourself on LinkedIn and how you network can have an impact on your professional growth and future career. I had the opportunity to attend a workshop by LinkedIn on professional networking and here are a few takeaways from that workshop.
The starting point is to make a LinkedIn profile, of course! Make sure you have a professional photograph or a proper headshot. Your LinkedIn profile should be a representative of your academic as well as occupational qualifications. Do add academic and professional projects with clear milestones and impact of your projects. Apart from these you would want to include scholarships, awards, or any other forms of achievements. Add relevant skills and have those in your network endorse you for the same. It is also valuable to have written recommendations from people you have worked with. These endorsements will make you standout. If you have any volunteer experience or personal projects, do mention them to showcase a good work-life balance along with extracurricular activities. Besides enlisting the above, you can use the summary as a mission statement to define your career direction and the values you believe in.
Once a profile is ready, most of the people stop right there which is not helpful. Visibility is important on a platform like LinkedIn and staying active helps gain visibility. Connect with people you already know. Seek connections with people that may help your career growth as well, such as alumni of your school or people working in institutions where you seek employment. Follow companies you like and discover the culture at those companies through their posts.
LinkedIn is an excellent platform to connect with others and grow as an individual. Talking about some of my experience, LinkedIn has help me get introduced to several companies and understand their culture. The several blogs posted by people and companies that I follow have helped me stay updated about the fast paced software industry that I work in. LinkedIn has also help me reach out to people who work in companies that I am interested in, thus paving a path to a future employment of my choice.
For the above listed reasons and several more, do invest time in professional networking as it pays off. If you have any experience as well, I would love to hear about it. Happy networking!
 |
Arundhati SawantHome Country: IndiaDonald Bren School of Informatics and Computer Sciences
|