By Ashley Cahillane, LinkedIn Expert, Sli Nua Careers

Examples of fleshing out a LinkedIn profile for College Students and Graduates

College students and recent graduates regularly ask about the best means of utilising LinkedIn to navigate their way through the jobs arena. Populating your profile with compelling content can task users with a testing challenge, given their relevant real-world inexperience. However, there are ample opportunities to flesh out a given profile and maximise the appeal to key industry players.

The following profiles illustrate examples of how profiles can be tailored to fine-tune the trajectory of a profile’s pitch by implementing strategic use of the sites functionality.

Anita Job

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitajob

This profile uses the headline and summary to sell the candidate effectively. The reader gets a clear view of who she is, what her qualities are and where she wants to go with her career. The Courses, Certifications and Honours and Awards sections are utilised very successfully, and would have been key to differentiating the profile from her peers. The profile would benefit from a bit more detail on her duties and responsibilities in her roles to date; however overall, this is a good student profile.

Student Sample

https://www.linkedin.com/in/studentsample

This sample profile illustrates what student’s should be striving for. Again, the summary is well-pitched, however, the use of the projects section underpins that this student has the relevant transferrable skills for the real world. Examples of a project in the form of MS Word or PowerPoint file would have topped the profile off nicely.

Adam Smith

https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/adam-smith/5b/786/665

This particular profile is very effective at detailing how short-term work experience can be pitched to full effect to potential recruiters. The descriptions of his responsibilities in each of his roles, coupled with the level of content documented under his education and good use of the publications section give and overall well-rounded profile. A well-pitched summary would have benefitted this profile.

Michael Bennett

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-bennett/8a/288/7b6?trk=seokp-title_posts_secondary_cluster_res_author_name

This student’s profile highlights the importance of looking at extra-curricular activities when looking to flesh out a profile. The volunteering work, with the boy scouts in this case, is an added area where transferrable skills can be sourced from.

Recent Graduates

Jacob Williams

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jacob-williams/53/a40/b73?trk=seokp-title_posts_secondary_cluster_res_author_name

This graduate utilises the summary section to communicate how he envisages his career going. He gives great detail on his work experience and makes particularly effective use of the publications section to promote his project work. His skills section is very specific which will enhance his presence in search results. In addition, he has joined relevant groups to establish an online presence.

Sarah Sinese

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/sarah-sinese/59/99b/9a6?trk=pub-pbmap

Again, this user states her career intention early in the profile by utilising the summary section effectively. She has covered over any gaps in experience by adding a ‘Recent Graduate’ position in the experience section to show that she is actively looking to build on her degree. The Certifications and Honours and Awards sections are utilised here to add an extra dimension to the profile.

Overall, there is ample opportunity for college students and add an extra dynamic to their profiles by adding samples of their work to their profile. This can be easily done by simply adding media to the relevant section of your profile. It will certainly make your profile memorable and differentiate you from other potential job applicants.

Contact us today at any of our offices, e: admin@slinuacareers.com if you require your existing LinkedIn profile improved, or if you need to start from scratch.