Become a real LinkedIn pro!

Many graduates do not exactly know where they want to work yet. Or which positions there actually are. Do you recognise this? Well then, just try to figure out how to pimp your profile... LinkedIn is a handy research tool for that. As a starting point, you can look around in a targeted manner. Because how do you know what best to enter on your profile now? Exactly: by seeing how others do this. This way, you will know better how to profile yourself. Or at which companies you can find interesting vacancies for starters.

For instance, look at:

• What other alumni put on their profiles. The alumni tool makes it easy to find them and to contact them if you want. For instance, the LinkedIn page of Utrecht University has an overview of where alumni work, where they live and what they do. How handy! In this video, you can see step by step how it works. Filter on your degree programme, field of expertise, position or association for more specific information. Among other things, you can see where alumni started their careers. But also how they describe their (starter) positions on LinkedIn.
• What the profile pages of people who work at a company you would like to work at look like. How do they describe their positions? Which skills do they put on their profiles? You can find this profile information with the alumni tool on LinkedIn.

You can then use that information to complete your profile, which you will read about in step two. You can now also look for vacancies on LinkedIn better. Because after this little bit of research, you now know which job titles you can enter in the big vacancy ‘search bin’. You can switch on notifications for relevant vacancies to stay up to date.

You also find vacancies on corporate pages or in groups. Also look outside of LinkedIn, on websites of organisations interesting to you. This is because not all companies put their vacancies on LinkedIn.

Writing something about yourself: is that so complicated for you too? Phew! But it is still important, of course. Take your time properly to complete your LinkedIn profile. Because people who look on it want to find useful information, of course. And fast! For instance, recruiters quickly click on to the next profile if they do not find immediately what they are looking for.

By using LinkedIn as a research tool first (see step 1), you know which job descriptions and skills you can mention on your profile. That is a handy foundation. Ask yourself more critical questions. What are your strengths actually? Where would you like to work? Why are you interesting to a company? It is okay to think about that for a while. Do you need help in this? At Career Services, you can enrol in workshops or meet with a career officer to answer these questions.

Another tip: imagine yourself as the reader while completing your profile. This person does not know your context. For instance, do you mention a commission of your student association? If you do, briefly explain what you did for this commission. In order to check whether or not your profile is clear, you can have someone with a different background proofread the information.

Is your profile complete? If it is, you can post messages on LinkedIn as well. And do not worry, you do not have to do that all the time. It is better to choose good moments for that. For instance, share that you graduated and are ready for the next step at the start of your career! Important: list as specifically as possible what you are looking for. After all, this is how your network can really help you.

Good examples of a specific call on LinkedIn:

• “I graduated and I am looking for a job as an HR manager in the province of Utrecht.”
• “I would like to contact employees of big pharmaceutical companies. Does anyone have any connections?”
• “I am looking for a position as a Sustainability Policy Consultant for 32 hours per week, starting on 1 September.”

Do you post a contribution to LinkedIn or react to others? Consider which tone of voice is befitting of your field of expertise. You can check with the alumni tool how formal or informal others do this. But most of all, stay yourself. You do not have to take on a very formal tone or use difficult words if this does not suit you.

Of course, you should check your text properly. Remove mistakes, make complete sentences and use the proper interpunction. It is also good to write in the first person. And upload a relevant photo or video with your post. Such as a photo of you during your graduation ceremony!