May 2, 2023, by ahyeo2

Make Yourself Stand Out on LinkedIn

By Emily Oxbury, MA History student blogger 

Entering the professional world can seem rather daunting, especially with background checks on social media accounts becoming more and more common. Don’t get caught out by ensuring you have a formidable LinkedIn profile – the first place many employers will look to find out more about you.

Here are my top tips on how you can stand out from the crowd. 

Select a professional photo

It may sound obvious, but ensuring you choose a clear and professional photograph for your profile is crucial. If you have a photo showing you involved in something related to the industry you’re looking at going into, great! If not, perhaps pop on some smart clothes and give yourself a photo shoot opportunity. Having a clear background and an individual photo of yourself will instantly show potential employers who you are. As they say, a photo speaks a thousand words! 

Interact with people and organisations

Keeping up to date with what the companies you’re looking at applying for will certainly stand you in a good position should you reach interview stage. Interact with these posts through comments and reactions to keep your followers up to date with your interests, and connect with like-minded professionals. When writing posts, be sure to tag the relevant groups and people involved to boost interaction further. 

Volunteer opportunities and societies

Whilst listing paid work opportunities is great, there’s so many other things you as a student can add to your profile as work experience. From volunteering with a local Girlguiding unit, to taking on a role within a university society committee, all of these unpaid roles demonstrate great skills too. Activities run within your societies can also offer a valuable insight into your interests and abilities – perhaps you organised a trip abroad, or created a podcast.

Complete online courses

If you’re looking to show off and gain extra skills, there’s plenty of free online courses that you can complete to add extra sparkle to your profile. One such example is the Google Digital Garage ‘Fundamentals of Digital Marketing’ course. Completing these courses shows initiative to independent study, as well as allowing you to broaden your skill set. 

Connect!

Probably the most obvious piece of advice! If you attend any networking events, conferences or volunteering schemes, be sure to connect with those you worked alongside. I’ve had a number of friends (and myself) contacted and offered further work and volunteer opportunities simply through being active on LinkedIn. Don’t be afraid to message people you’ve met for further advice, and if you’re feeling particularly brave ask if there’s any upcoming opportunities you could get involved with. 

Find out more about setting up a professional LinkedIn profile.

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