Making the Most of LinkedIN

by Tiffany Franklin, Associate Director

linkedincomputerAre you utilizing every aspect of LinkedIn in your Job or internship search? It’s a powerful tool that goes beyond sending and receiving requests to connect. As a recruiter, I used to post jobs on LinkedIn all the time and search for quality candidates. Here are a few ways to make LinkedIn one part of your comprehensive search.

  1. Jobs Tab – Under the jobs tab, look for the “Advanced Search” feature on the top right near the blue search button. That will allow you to specify the industry and location. Once you take that step, you can look at the categories on the left and type “intern” under job title or “Entry level” under Experience level. In many cases, you will see the name of the recruiter posting a position, so you can address your cover letter to that person. In addition, there are links to the company LinkedIn page.
  2. Researching a Company via LinkedIn pages – Go to the search box at the top of your profile and select “Company” in the drop down option at the left hand side of the box. Then, type the company name and you will be taken to the company’s official LinkedIn page. This will show you a brief profile of the company, current job postings through LinkedIn and if you have any first or second degree connections. If you have second degree connections, you could see if any are someone you know well and if they would be willing to make an introduction for an informational interview. Remember, company LinkedIn pages are helpful, but be sure to go to the company’s website, Glassdoor, and the Vault, for more comprehensive research. See http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/networking/InfoInterviews.php for tips about how informational interviews fit into your job search strategy.
  3. Networking – Speaking of informational interviews, LinkedIn is a wonderful tool to cross-reference with QuakerNet to find Penn alumni for possible informational interviews. Go to the Connections tab and “Find Alumni.” As of this spring, you will see almost 117,000 Penn alumni on LinkedIn and you can search by city, company, industry, majors, and skills.
  4. Your own Profile – Given all the activity on LinkedIn, you want to keep your profile in top shape. Be sure to update it frequently and include your academic projects, research, internships, activities, volunteer experience, professional development, and skills.

Career Services is here to help, so be sure to come in for a walk-in or make an appointment and one of the counselors will be happy to critique your profile and demonstrate the strategies outlined in this post.

Author: Tiffany Franklin

Tiffany Franklin is a Career Services Associate Director working with the team for students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

1 thought on “Making the Most of LinkedIN”

Comments are closed.