5 Minute Guide to Kickstart your LinkedIn Journey

Hear from Sana Medileh who is an Early Careers and Employer Brand Advisor at Clyde & Co. She has extensive graduate recruitment and teaching experience. Read on to learn from her 5 Minutes Guide to Kickstart your LinkedIn Journey.

LinkedIn has emerged as a powerful tool for professionals seeking to advance their careers, connect with industry peers, and showcase their expertise. Even if you’re just starting out, mastering LinkedIn can significantly enhance your professional journey. This article will guide you through the essential steps to make the most of LinkedIn, focusing on two key areas: completing your profile and building your network.

Complete your profile

Your LinkedIn profile is more than just a digital resume; it's your professional brand. In this section, we will explore how to craft a compelling profile that highlights your skills, experiences, and achievements. From choosing the right profile picture to writing a captivating summary, we will cover all the elements that make your profile stand out.

Step 1: Your headshot

To start with, let’s make sure you are using a professional looking headshot for your profile picture. We usually recommend wearing formal clothing, with no logo on, something that you would feel comfortable wearing at a job interview. The great picture you took on your summer trip last year should not appear as your avatar, no matter how good the picture is!

Just like any ID picture, we recommend asking one of your friends to take a close up shot of you rather than using a selfie – featuring yourself head to shoulders is usually the norm. Stay clear of filters and use a plain background. White is preferable but anything from light grey to beige or even pastel pink can work. If you are confident, you can make yourself pop out a little by contrasting the colour of your clothes to the colour of your background. Nonetheless we recommend to not let that be a distraction from what should be the focus of the image: you.

It is of course good to smile, and to be relaxed in your picture.

Step 2: Your work experience

List your work experience. What is LinkedIn if not a resume bank.
For each experience, before writing your bullet points, write a short description – a couple of lines maximum – to make reading through your experience easier.

You will need to state your role in this work experience (ie. Vacation Scheme), what type of company it is (ie. English City Law Firm), how many people were selected if applicable, and what was your responsibility (ie. Shadowing solicitors and attending talks). This will make it easy for anyone wanting to read your resume at a quick glance to understand what you were doing and where.

“In this role, I had the privilege to be selected for a Vacation Scheme at Clyde & Co London along with X other students. I observed and shadowed solicitors of this esteemed English City law firm for two weeks.”

Under this summary, list bullet points to give a more detailed description of your work experience. Using action verbs for each point will make your resume more impactful. Try to also bring a level of detail to enhance your resume (how many people were in your team? Was it done in autonomy? Do you have numbers to provide?). Look at these examples below and see how they compare:

“I helped pupils with my colleague in the canteen hall during their lunch break.”

OR

 “Supervised lunch time of over 60 pupils in a kindergarten along with one junior colleague.”

While it is obvious to write about work placements or internships, you may be pondering whether you should add these part-time student jobs you held to your virtual resume. The answer to this question is always yes. At this stage of your budding career, this will help you populate your LinkedIn profile. It will also show that you are hardworking, resilient and able to manage both your studies and a job. Make sure you frame your description in a way that highlights the transferable skills you acquired in this experience to your target job.

Step 3: Finish your profile

Fill out your education section thoroughly. Enter your graduation year, your expected degree classification, and list a few relevant modules.

If you have any volunteering experience, sport achievements, if you are a part of a university society or presiding one: add it too, as it helps to create a more complete picture of yourself.

In addition, don’t forget to complete the “About” section at the top to introduce yourself and what job you are aiming for. Make it concise and impactful.

Build a network

Building a robust network on LinkedIn is essential for amplifying your personal brand and unlocking new opportunities. In this section, we will delve into effective strategies for expanding your LinkedIn network. By the end, you'll be equipped with the tools to cultivate a diverse and influential network that supports your professional growth.

Step 1: Identifying professionals you can add to your network

Once your profile is ready to go, you will probably sit facing the LinkedIn search toolbar at the top left of your page wondering who you could possibly add to your network.

To start easily, you can enter the name of your classmates who will also be at the start of their own LinkedIn journey. You may think now that just like you, your classmates are not professionals yet so there is little added value to add them to your network. However, you need to remember that today’s classmates are tomorrow’s professionals and that you might even end up working in the same field as them if you are undertaking the same studies. You might find one of your former classmates become one of your colleagues in your future firm one day. Networking starts today on your university bench.

Secondly, use university fairs to connect with people you meet there. Whether it is professionals you meet behind the stands (solicitors or HR alike), or other students. While you are at the fair, do not hesitate to ask for permission to connect: professionals attending these fairs will expect it.

Last but not least, play with the filters on the LinkedIn search tool to target someone who works for a firm you are aiming for.

To make the search tool filters appear, start by entering something in the search box at the top of your home feed, like the firm you are aiming for (ie. Clyde & Co). Once your search is launched, you will have more filters appearing at the top. They offer you the possibility to look for anything from people to desired location or what position the person you are looking for occupies.

While we understand that it can be tempting, don’t overdo it and add too many people from the same company. Furthermore, if you are adding one or two people you don’t know from a firm, it needs to make sense. You need to have a reason for it.

For example, it might be that you would like to have a better understanding of the day to day of a trainee or of a junior solicitor in a specific firm. Having a short conversation with one of them could help you consolidate your career choice and further your understanding of the role you target or the culture at their firm.

It sometimes helps as well to add someone you have a connection with at some level: it could be an alumnus from your university, or someone who attends the same swimming club as you. This could help you in the next stage which would be sending them an invitation to connect.

Step 2: What message to write as you connect

When connecting with anyone but especially with someone you don’t know, like in any other life situation, politeness is key. Make use of the 200 characters to send a concise introduction of yourself and why you would like to connect. This will maximise the chances of your request being accepted. Bear in mind that not everyone checks their LinkedIn regularly and that no one is obliged to accept your invitation. Professionals often receive dozens or more invitations on a regular basis.

Ok, now you have made it. You have completed your profile, targeted a professional in the firm you aim to work for, and they have accepted your invitation to connect. It is now time to invite them for a virtual meeting, which means you will have to craft them a direct message.

To respect correct etiquette, you should start your message by thanking your connection for accepting your request. The rest of your message should contain a brief introduction of yourself, the reason for your invitation to connect (i.e. Where they work/ what they do), suggesting a virtual meeting, and if you have something in common, now is the moment to mention it. Offering a short time window for the virtual meeting could help someone accept to add you to their already busy schedule, 15 minutes is ideal.

“Hi X, many thanks for accepting my invitation. I am a 2nd year law student at X and I am very interested in starting a career at Clyde & Co. I saw that you were undertaking your training contract there and wanted to ask you a few questions about it if you had 10-15’ for a virtual meeting. I also saw that we are both alumni of the same swim club and thought it would be interesting to connect. Thank you for taking the time, Your Name”.

Once you have set up a date with your connection, it is now time to prepare for your meeting.

Step 3: Prepare for your virtual meeting

Meeting with someone from the firm you would like to target or who works in a position you dream of is an invaluable chance to gather knowledge you would not have access to otherwise.

Your aim will be to make the most of your experience by not asking them questions you can easily find online. It will both show your seriousness and that you respect your connection’s time.

This means that ahead of your meeting, you want to thoroughly research the firm, and the job you would like. Researching the competition is also an asset, as having a comparison point is a great way to speak more specifically about one company, as you understand how they stand out.

In short, use this meeting opportunity to bridge the gap in knowledge you may still have after your research or to validate your understanding.

Asking questions about the day to day of the job or the culture of the firm could also be interesting to you as these are difficult bits of information to find online. Although, it is always good to bear in mind that each employee’s experience is individual and that the type of work can widely vary from one department to another.

Besides, it is paramount you respect the pre-agreed meeting time by keeping an eye on the clock unless actively invited otherwise. Similarly, be mindful of time while selecting the questions you would like to ask. You might want to write your questions in order of priority, so if time runs out you do not have to skip the most important ones to you.

Finally, make sure to tailor your questions to the person you are meeting. For example, a solicitor won’t be able to tell you much about the specifics of the recruitment process, this would be a question for a HR recruiter.

To sum up

In conclusion, leveraging LinkedIn to build a professional network is a strategic move that can significantly enhance your career prospects. Remember, the key to successful networking on LinkedIn is consistency and authenticity. Regularly update your profile, reach out to new contacts, and nurture existing relationships. With dedication and the right approach, LinkedIn can be a powerful tool to expand your professional horizons and open up new opportunities.