Link into LinkedIn

Every college student should set up a LinkedIn profile the moment they set foot on campus.  There is a common notion that LinkedIn is only useful for business professionals or college graduates in general, however, this is not the case.  LinkedIn provides a wonderful opportunity for college students who wish to jumpstart their career search and get ahead of their classmates upon graduation. Although there are many useful job postings on online job boards such as Indeed, Monster, or Careerbuilder, LinkedIn takes the job search to the next level because you are able to build a network. Many of us have heard in college, so far, that networking is simply everything. According to a report from ABC News, 80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking. Since this is the case, if you aren’t already on LinkedIn, you should consider making one and making it soon.

A few days after I made a LinkedIn of my own, a manager from a local mall contacted me through a private message asking if I was interested in any of the current opportunities at her store.  Since my LinkedIn profile is public, she was able to see my resume and the experience that I have had so far and believed that I would be a good fit for the store. Regardless of whether or not I was interested in the job positions, the fact that she simply reached out to me definitely boosted my confidence and made me realize how valuable LinkedIn is as a tool for college students.  At the time, I was not looking for the kind of job position that she was offering.  Since we connected on Linkedin, however, we will be able to keep in touch and she may reach out to me again about a future opportunity.

It is important to start networking as soon as possible because forming relationships takes a long time and relationships are the key to landing jobs and internships.  Building an extensive network develops overtime and it is not wise to hold off until senior year to begin connecting.  LinkedIn makes networking easy, right at your fingertips, right on your cell phone or computer. With LinkedIn, you have the ability to manage all of your contacts in one place and use tools that allow you to stay visible and available to recruiters and hiring managers at various levels. If you are pursing a degree, you are doing so in order to build your skills and land a great job after college.  Lay down the foundation for your career path now so that you can build a network and give yourself a competitive advantage in the job hunt before and after graduation.