Uptree

My name is Robert, I’m a year 13 student taking my A levels this summer. I have spent the last 2 years attending work experience events to explore different industries. As a result of this experience, I decided that I wanted to go into finance. I became an Uptree Ambassador to help others learn more about their career opportunities.

In this blog, I'll provide some guidance on how to create a LinkedIn profile to support your career development.

LinkedIn for networking

Networking is fundamental for every industry, it’s how you meet new people, find out about new positions and build professional relationships.

It shows professionals that you're genuinely interested and eager to get involved, and it's an excellent way to showcase your personality and highlight your unique qualities. However, it isn’t always easy to engage in networking opportunities, especially due to COVID-19 which led to more flexible and remote work arrangements.

I felt the effects of this a few years back when I attended an insight event where a speaker said that if we had any further questions for him, we could ask him later during the event. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to ask the question, but he suggested that I could connect with him on LinkedIn to ask my questions. So, I downloaded the LinkedIn app, created an account and I still ask the event speaker questions to this day.

LinkedIn makes it so much easier to communicate with others and ask professionals questions, and an advantage of having an account is that it can be used by those in education, academics and those looking for employment.

Your profile

Your profile serves a number of functions on LinkedIn. It is essentially a tool to upsell yourself in any way that you can. You can use it as a means of highlighting activities that you have completed, or are taking part in. The greatest part is the fact that you can choose what you want to display.

You can make posts on your profile, to update connections on what you have been up to, causes you are passionate about or events that you have attended. It’s a good way of showing employers and recruiters that you are continually active and passionate.

There are also categories that you can complete that showcase more about the experiences and skills you have gained and when. I’ll talk through a few to help give some inspiration.

Your achievements

One category is Honours and Awards, where you can show off accolades that you have won, such as The Duke of Edinburgh Award, academic Olympiads or awards from your college/school/university.

Another is Licenses and Certifications, where you can advertise any certificates you have gained from completing online courses, MOOCs (massive open online courses), industry qualifications or practical qualifications, which in my case involves lifeguarding. This area is useful because it allows you to tag your certificate to the section.

You will have to be cautious with certain online courses set by businesses online as they may request that if you are to advertise your completion of the course, that you class it under specific categories, such as certifications.

Your experience

Arguably the most important section is your experience, which is where you can display all the industry experience you have gained or events that you have organised. However, simply listing the businesses you've worked for won't demonstrate what you've learned or contributed to your experiences. Therefore, for each experience listed, take the time to explain your role, the skills you developed, and what you contributed to the project or tasks.

You will have to be cautious with certain online courses set by businesses online as they may request that if you are to advertise your completion of the course, that you class it under another category such as certifications.

Volunteering

Another important area which is worth spending time on is the volunteering section. This is because volunteering your time for a cause highlights that you are willing to give up your time for others. It shows your willingness to put others before yourself, which is a quality that employers look out for as they want to employ people who can work well in a team and are happy to help others.

Education

The Education section is another area for you to include certifications that you have completed, the schools/colleges you attended and your grades. If you are currently at university, you can add modules that you have taken to showcase what you're studying.

A more useful area of your education section is noting down activities and societies that you have been a part of because this is evidence of you collaborating with others and networking. Again, you can use this area to explain how you added value to a group task, event or activity.

Next steps

Make sure to maximise the resources that your LinkedIn profile can facilitate as they will come in useful, especially when networking!

If you do have LinkedIn, please consider networking as much as you can by connecting with people you meet at events or admire as you will gain new perspectives on professions and the workplace. Networking may seem daunting, but don't let that hold you back. People are often willing to help when you show genuine interest in their work.

Since having LinkedIn, I have managed to talk to many different individuals from a variety of sectors, allowing me to learn more about their roles and opportunities available, as well as the best ways to gain experience and get hired.

Thanks to Robert for sharing his LinkedIn guidance. If you're looking for further career support, check out our Student Resource Hub for help with writing CVs, preparing for interviews and more.