Welcome to Professionalism 101

Introducing Professionalism 101, an online course on College Media Network that discusses the ins and outs of being a young professional during and after college.

College is a great time to start building your professional portfolio. Since you’re young, naive, and want to gain experience companies are going to be more inclined to help you. It’s tough these days though. With the world becoming more competitive it’s hard to keep up with what’s new in the professional world and what you need to do to better your odds of getting your dream position. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.

One thing that you should do right after reading this is go make a LinkedIn profile. Not having a LinkedIn puts one at a disadvantage since about 95% of hiring managers look at a candidate’s LinkedIn before making an hiring decision according to a study done by LinkedIn in 2015. Don’t believe me?

My boss here at College Media Network told me during our phone interview that he looked at my LinkedIn. Enough said.

Next, it’s not enough just to have a LinkedIn, make it good one, especially since a potential employer could hire you or offer an interview based on what they see. So make sure to include a professional profile picture, the city your based in, and a summary of who you are and what you want to do. Having a strong LinkedIn shows that you are organized and on top of your stuff.

LinkedIn also allows you to create a longer version of your resume.

Now, just because one has more room to write does not mean that they should write down every single activity or work experience “they’ve done.” You should be putting down jobs and activities that you’ve put time and energy into. Listing a bunch of meaningless experiences will be obvious to your potential boss when he asks you questions about what you listed, and you don’t have strong responses.

After that there is a skill and accomplishment section where you get to brag about yourself. The skill section allows you to have people endorse and verify your skills. Have your friends, family, and past employers endorse you. It’s one thing to say that you have these skills, it’s an even bigger thing if someone else says it.

Lastly, after you finish setting up your profile it’s time for you to look for a job or internship! The great thing about LinkedIn is that you can filter out certain positions base on what you want in a internship or job and what city it’s located in. LinkedIn can also suggest you positions based off what you’ve searched or previously applied too. I applied to 15 internships in one night all through LinkedIn. Half of them I never heard of and I wouldn’t know about if it wasn’t for LinkedIn.

Okay, I’ve given you enough reasons to go make or update you LinkedIn so I’m going to sign off here! I hope you guys come back soon for another lesson in Professionalism 101!