An Introduction to Business Social Media:
Whether you’re a freshman who is new to Cornell or a senior who is recruiting for full-time employment, LinkedIn is a key resource in the professional world. It serves as a one-stop-shop to learn about someone’s professional background, present engagements, and future endeavors. Beyond that, it is a platform that captures and connects people’s professional aspirations to ease the challenges of networking. That’s why it’s a great tool for students to know how to leverage throughout their careers – especially given the increasing prevalence of social media in our day-to-day lives.
To begin, in the first part of this series, we will detail how to build a strong LinkedIn Profile.
Profile Picture & Background Photo
They say that a picture speaks a thousand words, and LinkedIn reported that users with a profile photo can get up to 21 times more profile views than those without! We recommend you have both a profile photo and background photo to make your profile stand out.
Ideally, your profile photo should be a professional headshot. The Career Exploration Center (CEC) runs an annual LinkedIn photo campaign in the spring — look out for announcements next semester! In the meantime, business fraternities host periodic professional photo campaigns throughout the semester or you could grab a friend and rent a camera from Mann library (see a previous blog post, “Putting on Your Professional Game Face”, for more help).
A safe default image for the cover photo is the Cornell or College of Human Ecology emblem or banner photo. These images are available for download on the College of Human Ecology website or Cornell University Brand Center website.
About
This section is the online version of “Tell me about yourself.” We understand that sometimes the most approachable question can be the most daunting — but this is one you have the best answer to! We’ve broken it down into three core elements:
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- Who you are — (i.e. what you study, current year in school, where you’re from, etc.) ~ 1-2 sentences
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- What you currently hope to do professionally and why you hope to do it ~ 1-2 sentences
- The ask — (i.e what do you want? Networking, professional connections, professional opportunities in field of choice, etc.) ~ 1 sentence
As a reminder, you can write in the first or third person, just remember to remain consistent throughout the section.
Experience
This is an iteration of your resume. We recommend you list the positions listed on your most recent resume, but you can include significant past experiences too. In this way, the Experience section is a running resume; as you progress in your career, you may find some experiences less relevant and you should take them off as necessary.
To begin, a great start is revising your resume to emphasize your most important experiences. Career Assistants provide walk-in resume critiques in the CEC — stop by and have us take a look! Beyond that, we recommend you fill the description box of your experiences with the respective bullet points from your resume.
Please note that this section can include off-campus and on-campus employment as well as club leadership positions.
Pro-tip — See if the institution or company you had the experience with has a LinkedIn page or group. This will likely add an icon to the experience which will make it seem more reputable.
Education
For education, you can simply list “Cornell University” or “Cornell University – College of Human Ecology” and follow the prompts provided. The section also provides a space to list “Activities and Societies”; this can include organizations where you’re a general member or less active (but still involved).
While it’s optional, the description subsection could be used to further explain the College of Human Ecology, how your major fits into its mission, or what exactly it is that you study. The College of Human Ecology is filled with diverse and interesting majors that can be difficult to put into words. Visit the CEC to view our “Marketing Your Human Ecology Education” resource which outlines the answers to some of these questions.
Skills & Endorsements
The Skills & Endorsements section boasts your professional skills and allows those familiar with your work (i.e. project team members, co-workers, supervisors, professors, etc.) to support your claims. Endorsements add a level of credibility and objectivity to your skillset. That said, this is a great way to support your colleagues and speak their praises for others to see.
Accomplishments
Accomplishments can take many forms: publication, patent, course, project, honor/award, test score, language, or organization. We recommend that you use your own discretion in what you’d like to emphasize here. Some people are very strategic in which ones to include so that their accomplishments complement their professional goals and other people include all accomplishments. The decision is up to you – neither option is better or worse.
Interests
Interests are incredibly wide-spread. These can be institutions you aspire to work at, ones that you highly respect or have general interest in, ones that you want to follow for updates, and more. On the other hand, they can be noteworthy people whom you’re inspired by or want to see on your LinkedIn feed. Either way, this section is an indication to your profile viewers of what you’re interested in professionally. It can be a great talking point and help expand your network.
Congratulations! If you followed along with those pieces of advice, your LinkedIn profile should be stronger and more robust. Please follow the CEC blog to be notified when we publish “How to Navigate LinkedIn as a Student Pt. II”, which focuses on developing a strong LinkedIn presence!