Smart Social Podcast: Keeping students safe so they can Shine Online

#62 The Power of LinkedIn: Why Every High School Student Needs to be on LinkedIn with Caroline Leach - SmartSocial.com Podcast with Josh Ochs

Episode Summary

This week we sat down with Caroline Leach who helps people tell their stories and embrace the future. Caroline writes, researches, and speaks about why professionals need a social media strategy for their career… and how to use social to build a career. She posts weekly to her blog and on LinkedIn. Caroline also works in marketing and communications in the Fortune 500. The opinions she expresses on our podcast are her own and are not those of her employer.

Episode Notes

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Key Takeaways on The Power of LinkedIn: Why Every High School Student Needs to be on LinkedIn

Whether you actively define your personal brand and live by it or not, you have a brand
How you live your life and what you post on social media can reshape your personal brand
On LinkedIn, students can post about accomplishments and areas of interest in the “3 A’s” – academics, athletics and activities
You don’t know if colleges and employers will actually look at your LinkedIn profile or not but students should assume that they will

1. Why is LinkedIn important to include in your digital footprint?

More than 560 million people are on LinkedIn
For students, that includes college admissions officers, college application readers, and internship recruiters
That makes LinkedIn the perfect place for a high school student to tell their unique story
LinkedIn is the home base for your professional network for your career
LinkedIn is for professionals and people post work-related content. It’s more positive than other social networks. You don’t see trolling or much political commentary
It’s a great place to establish your personal brand
What is a personal brand? Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says it’s what people say about you when you aren’t in the room
Whether you actively define your personal brand and live by it or not, you have a brand
Here’s an easy way to discover what your personal brand is today: Ask friends and teachers for 3 words that describe you. Look for patterns in what they say. Is that what you want to be known for? Or not? If you want to change it, how you live your life and what you post on social media can reshape your personal brand
On LinkedIn, you can …
Connect with fellow professionals: Students can connect with teachers and professors, college officers, other students, and people at companies of interest
Access news and information about your career field, your company and your industry:
Students can access information about schools of interest and companies of interest for internships
Share your knowledge and become a thought leader: Students can post about accomplishments and areas of interest in the “3 A’s” – academics, athletics and activities
Even when you finish high school and college, your education is never complete: The world is changing so quickly that we all have to learn something new every day
- LinkedIn is a great place for lifelong learning
- Your “home” feed shows you content from your network about the working world
- “What people are talking about now” has the 10 current hot topics on LinkedIn
- With a paid subscription, you can access thousands of online classes, webinars, and videos on almost any topic to build your skills

2. Why should students start a LinkedIn profile?

Among those 560 million people on LinkedIn are college admissions officers, college application readers, and recruiters for internships and jobs
By establishing a presence on LinkedIn, you make it easier for people to find you
You make it easier for people who want to learn more about you online when you apply to college, internships, and jobs
The Kaplan Test Prep people do a survey every year of college admissions officers. This year, more than two-thirds (68%) of colleges say it’s “fair game” for them to visit applicants’ social media profiles to help them decide who gets in
And in last year’s Kaplan survey, more said that social media had helped a student’s admissions changes. Forty-seven percent said “what they found had a positive impact on prospective students.” That was more than the 42% who said “what they found had a negative impact.”
Another group, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars Admissions Officers, says more than 75% of colleges are looking at social media
Now, you don’t know if they’ll actually look at your profiles or not but students should assume that they will
And why not make it easy for them? Students can put a link to their LinkedIn profile in their college application
This expands the 650-word limit to your essays in the Common Application for colleges
You can think of LinkedIn profile as your online portfolio of work and everything you’d want a college admissions officer to know about you – unlimited by any word count
Of course, you want to make your LinkedIn profile easy to navigate, visually appealing, and easy to read. Include lots of work samples including photos, videos, and links that are appropriate
Students should personalize their LinkedIn URL. That way, you have a personally branded link with your name, rather than a jumble of automated letters and numbers
It will appear as linkedin.com/in/yourname
You can format your name the same as your handles on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter
You can include your LinkedIn URL in things like an email signature, a bio, or a resume if you have a separate one from LinkedIn

3. At what age should students get started?

At this time, anyone 16 or older can establish a LinkedIn profile
As soon as you’re 16, you should start your profile but before that, when students are 14 or 15, they can:
Keep a digital file of accomplishments in academics, athletics, and activities
Take pictures and videos. E.G. A Model UN competition or a science fair, your sports team in action, and your leadership of a group or volunteering in the community at your favorite charity
Josh encourages younger students to be active on Facebook and Instagram, which you can join at 13. Your activity on these platforms can help when you’re old enough to join LinkedIn
When students turn 16, they already have a record of items to start their LinkedIn profile
Speaking of age, I know it’s hard for students to look far into the future. But here’s an interesting stat. More than half of babies born in developed nations in the 2000s can expect to live to 100 or beyond, according to the medical journal The Lancet.
That means a lot of years will be spent working. And for younger workers it could mean 12 or 15 different jobs over a lifetime, according to Forrester Research.
To transition from job to job, your reputation is important to recruiters and hiring managers. Your reputation builds over time, and it’s something you can shape
As Josh speaks about so compellingly, you can influence those transitions by a strong and positive presence on social media, including LinkedIn

4. What should students do on LinkedIn?

Start with completing your profile – complete each field until LinkedIn says you’re an “All Star” (from Be Bold In Your LinkedIn Profile). You don’t have to do it all at once. Work on it over a series of days or weeks. Your profile is always a work in progress. As you do new things, you add them to your profile.

Here are some tips from Catherine Fisher at LinkedIn from a conference I attended:

Include a professional photo. Your profile is 14 times more likely to be viewed if you have a photo. It should be a closeup of you, and it should look professional. Your senior portrait might work. If you don’t have a high-quality recent headshot, get one done. There are even photo analyzers out there that will tell you how your headshot portrays you. And while you’re at it, customize the background photo. Rather than the default blue with dots and lines, choose a picture that tells your story
Personalize your headline. Don’t use the default, which is your current job title. Show what you do and what makes you unique. Look at headlines for other students and young professionals to find inspiration and see what catches your eye
Add visuals. There are more than 20 million pieces of content on member profiles. Is your content among those? Post videos and pictures of your best work. Upload relevant presentations that are appropriate for sharing with the public. Science fair project? Sports team playoffs? Community service event? Think about what you’re doing that you can share on LinkedIn
Post a compelling summary. Make it 40 words or more. Include “keywords” for your interests, so people can find you in a search. Read other summaries by students and young professionals to see what appeals to you. Writing in first person is stronger and bolder than third person
Try to show at least 2 “positions.” You can include any paid work. Maybe you’ve started an online business. And small jobs you may have done for neighbors count, like dog walking, babysitting or house sitting
Include volunteer experience and causes. This information increases profile views 6 times. If your community service interests and activities happen to align with those of your top colleges of interest, be sure to highlight those
Check out LinkedIn Learning. We all get to be lifelong learners, and this feature offers hundreds of online courses. It’s a great reason to become a premium subscriber as a young professional. You also get access to analytics, or data about your activity on LinkedIn. This is super helpful for insights about your profile views and how your network engages with your content
Share your contact information, as appropriate. Include your email address and if you have them, your blog and/or your Twitter handle. For privacy and safety, there’s no need to share your mobile number
Customize your public URL. For consistent branding, use your name in the URL the same way you use it in other social profiles. Put it on your email signature and your resume
Add skills and get endorsements. Be deliberate about skills you list. What do you want to be known for? Your top 3 skill endorsements display in mobile search, so reorder them to show the ones that best tell your story. Give back to your network by endorsing others’ skills
Follow and engage with University pages for colleges of interest
Beyond visiting a college campus, being active on a University Page shows your interest in a school
Students can engage in content on a university page by liking and commenting on posts, as well as asking questions. Leave thoughtful comments that give your point of view and add to the dialogue. Keep Josh’s Light, Bright and Polite™ mantra in mind
Just don’t overdo it. Once a week maximum. Take cues from how often others are posting and what they are posting, both the good and the bad
Look for people from the college who are active on the page and consider following them or inviting them to join your network with a personalized invitation about why you’d like to connect. Again, keep your messaging Light, Bright and Polite™

Here’s what LinkedIn says about University Pages (also, the LinkedIn Help Center is a great resource with lots of valuable info):

University Pages can help you connect with a school’s administrators and student community, explore what alumni are doing now, and join conversations with those who can inspire your career. Here’s a list of University Page sections and how you can interact with them to get the information you want:
Explore the careers of alumni – Find out what students and graduates from your school are doing now. Click the bar graphs to select filters and see what they’ve studied, where they work, and what they do. Find inspiration from the career paths of your peers to help shape your own
Activity feed – You can share updates and join conversations on your University Page feed. Reach out to students, alumni, and school leaders to find out what schools are really like and get valuable insights to help guide your career. Be sure to follow the University Pages you’re interested in to receive updates on your homepage
Notable alumni – See which alumni have achieved something particularly noteworthy and get a sense of what’s possible for you in the Notable alumni module and on the Notables tab. Click the person’s picture to learn more about their background
General Information – Expand the General Information section to find key facts about the school such as the student population, community information, location of the campus, and more
Students & Alumni – The Students & Alumni tab allows you to see your current LinkedIn connections who attended the school. You can also grow your network by connecting with peers with similar interests
Recommendations – Post a recommendation on your University Page to share your college experiences with future students and school administration. Have conversations on your academic program, professors, and campus life
Build your network (from Be Bold in Growing Your LinkedIn Network)
This can include friends, friends’ parents, community leaders from activities like scouting and athletics, and many more. Be aware that sometimes teachers must wait until a student is 18 before they can connect with them on social media
Every time you meet someone new, you can add them to your LinkedIn network
You can follow and/or connect with speakers who come to your school and college reps who visit your school
Tip – always personalize your invitation. In a few short sentences, say why you’d like to connect. This will make you more memorable and increase the likelihood that your invitation will be accepted
Take advantage of the “People You May Know” algorithm in LinkedIn for other ideas
For colleges of interest, you could connect with alumni who your parents know
Share content (from How to Get Started with LinkedIn Updates and 11 Engaging Topics for LinkedIn Updates)
Share your interests, passions, and accomplishments … in words, images, videos and links. And on topics that are appropriate for a professional network
Focus on leadership, on teams, and how you’re making the world a better place. That can include sports teams, school clubs, and community service. What you are doing in academics, athletics, and activities that would be good to share?
Are you attending interesting events? Going to cultural destinations like museums? Traveling and being exposed to different parts of the world? Share your experiences and what you’re learning
Add a relevant hashtag or two to your posts. This makes is easier for people to find your content. You may want to use a consistent group of hashtags that are unique to your areas of interest, whether it’s science or the arts
Social media is all about reciprocity, so “like” others’ content that fits with your interests and leave thoughtful comments
Remember to always read links before liking, comment on, or sharing them. Make sure you agree with the content and that you’re comfortable with how that content reflects on you. Or in other words, “look before you like,” and “look before you link”

5. What are good things that can happen on LinkedIn?

You can virtually “meet” people you might not be able to meet easily in real life. Think of college admissions officers, hiring managers, and people who are thought leaders in your area of interest
You can influence people’s perceptions of you. You can actively shape your personal brand by what you post and who you connect with
You can be found by people you might want to know by posting good content on your LinkedIn, with hashtags and key words that make you easy to find

6. Who should you trust to give you feedback on your LinkedIn activity?

Your mom or dad
A friend or colleague of your mom or dad who is active and well-connected on LinkedIn – maybe they know someone who is a college admissions officer, a corporate recruiter, or a hiring manager who would be willing to give feedback on your LinkedIn
A trusted teacher – maybe an English teacher in junior year of high school while the class is working on college essays
A community leader – maybe your sports team coach, or your Girl Scout or Boy Scout leader