If you ’Google’ your name what will you see? Go on take a look. Do you like what you see?
Chances are that if you are using LinkedIn then your LinkedIn profile will appear first in the searches, but how can it help you?
Whether you are a current student or graduated two or 22 years ago, LinkedIn can work for you. It is your CV that never sleeps. It allows you to develop your online presence and maintain a network of contacts. Recruiters regularly use LinkedIn to search for or check out candidates and if you optimise your profile it can get you noticed. But it is a lot more than a CV.
Start by building your profile and then regularly give it love and attention to keep it fresh, and don’t set it to private like Facebook, you want to be found on LinkedIn.
For advice on profile building see our guide.
Once you have set up your profile you can venture into the depths of LinkedIn. Are you making the most of what it offers? If not, then here are some suggestions:
Join the University of Bradford’s alumni and student community.
- Getting started with the ‘LinkedIn Group’ Simply type ’University of Bradford’ in the search box, click on the arrow to the left, select “Groups” and then press enter or the search icon. You can now join the University’s official alumni group but there are others you might also find of interest. You may need to be accepted into the group by the manager but that usually doesn’t take long. This allows you to keep in touch with the university and see what our alumni have gone on to do in their careers.
- Get involved in group ‘Conversations’. Once you are a group member you can scan the group’s ‘Conversations’, ‘Members’ and ‘Jobs’. You can join in conversations about industry, comment on other people’s articles or maybe simply introduce yourself to others by starting your own discussion.
- Send messages. LinkedIn allows you to message or send a connection request to anyone with whom you share a group (as long as that person has opted to receive messages.) You can send up to 15 free 1:1 group messages to fellow group members each month. Our alumni are usually particularly friendly! Although there’s no guarantee, fellow students and graduates can give a helping hand, set up introductions or just be sources of general information and advice.
Tap into the LinkedIn alumni tool. Under the ‘Connections’ tab, click on ‘Find Alumni’ to see our alumni and current students. You can see where people work, what they do and where they live. You can probably find your university classmates in there too.
Like company pages. This is a great way to enhance your commercial awareness: you can see what’s hot in their world and be alerted to job opportunities as they arise.
…and there’s a lot more…
Networking on LinkedIn is an effective and often enjoyable way of keeping in touch as well as finding out things you want to know. If you have had success networking with alumni on LinkedIn then we would love to know. Do get in touch with me via ‘messages’ on LinkedIn.
If you need any help then check out our info or contact us.
And don’t forget to keep your profile updated. Go on, keep linking!
Hermione Berry, Career Development Adviser