In an initiative to alert and engage members of the forum, the Career Support Group (CSG) for STEM PhDs had started an awareness campaign in August (2016) to improve their networking, presence and appearance on LinkedIN. We thank our members who have contributed for various suggestions and posts. Here is a briefing of all that was shared.
Are you new to LinkedIN? Want to know how to organize the profile and get the competitive advantage. We list a 15 points which will be helpful in creating and maintaining a competitive LinkedIN profile.
- Profile Picture: Don’t use profile pictures wearing shades, no full-size profile picture, use your single portrait image for the profile, not with your pets or friends. More info at https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/2014/12/5-tips-for-picking-the-right-linkedin-profile-picture
- Name: Include your full name, followed by degree or your specialization. Make sure your name appears when your name types on google, at least along with the specialization.
- Profile (include education, experience, honors, awards): Keep an up to date profile-avoid being unscrupulous. http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/professional-linkedin-profile/ Under each section of your degree, summarize what were the major achievements. Year gaps are unavoidable at times, but be honest. If you are anticipating a gap in near future, enroll for a course or internship – create an impression that you are engaged and targeted towards your goal. https://www.themuse.com/advice/17-musthaves-for-your-linkedin-profile
- Courses, volunteering and other interests: List all the courses and volunteering you have done at undergraduate, graduate and at any level. Everyone must have done some volunteering at any level, make sure to include.
- Skills: Add all the skills you have. Move the best skills to the top. Request people to endorse you for the skills which would help attracting the recruiters. Write a formal mail or short message or post on social media. Don’t forget sending a ‘thank you’ note for people who endorsed you.
- Recommendations: Ask your peers, mentors, colleagues or your mentees to recommend you on LinkedIN. Write to them asking you to recommend, in turn you can recommend them. Be honest in recommending, unlike a regular quid pro quo. http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/write-linkedin-recommendation#sm.001fla1vzp6gd1e11i612u5bfnwxs
- Connections: Connect with colleagues, peers, mentors and mentees. Try to connect with people who are in your area of interest; send them a formal request rather than just sending a request as friend.
- Sharing and following on LinkedIN: LinkedIn is not Facebook; please don’t share unnecessary things. If you “like” some post on LinkedIn, it would be visible on the wall of your connections. So think before you like. Follow peers, companies and organizations of your interest.
- Premium account: More job postings are visible/available on premium account. What if you don’t want to buy premium and still want to take advantage? Premium account is free for a month; you can apply as many jobs as possible by using this facility in that month.
- Keep your momentum going: Keep in mind if you “like” some post at LinkedIn that would be visible on the wall of your connections. So think before you like. Same for making a comment which is also visible to your connections, think before you write a comment.
- Keep “who viewed your profile” option on, if you visit someone’s profile they should know you have visited and vice versa. Hiding the profile and stalking someone is not recommended.
- Send invitation requests, but if not accepted do not send repeated request.
- Read 10-20 minutes on topic of your choice on LinkedIN
- Try to learn at least one new thing in a week. In interviews it is not an uncommon question.
- Reach out to at least one connection per week
About the Author:
Srinivas Aluri is postdoc at Albert Einstein College, NY. He is a fitness enthusiast, exercise and diet expert. He is also an international sports science association certified fitness trainer as well as American Heart Association’s CPR/AED certified professional.
Edited by Abhinav Dey
Photo source: Wikipedia
This work by ClubSciWri is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
