Linkedin Profile Creation

Gratisol Labs (Learning Division of Andronovo Labs Pvt Ltd) is ISO 9001:2015 Certified Organization providing Customized Enterprise solutions for Life-sciences & Pharma Industry, Bioinformatics services, Clinical Research Services and also involved in development of Bio-pharmaceutical Technology products. Gratisol Labs is collaborated with Research Centers for promoting research under the aegis of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

In this digital world, a large number of organizations are looking for talented candidates for the job on a social networking platform like LinkedIn. So if you have a good and detailed LinkedIn profile, you’ll grab the attention of potential employers.

If you’re a college student, keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile is not a resume, but a medium to create a presence among professionals.

LinkedIn is a platform to showcase your skills and establish communication with top professionals from all around the globe. It can help you land directly for internship and job opportunities through the reference of your connections.

So to leverage the power of LinkedIn as a student, you must have a compelling LinkedIn profile that can grab the attention of professionals available on the platform.

18 steps to create a perfect LinkedIn student profile

In this article, I’m going to show you a complete checklist of 18 steps to create a professional LinkedIn profile for a student. Make sure you follow each step and don’t lie about yourself in any section.

Keep in mind that whatever you fill in each section of the profile must resemble your reality. So, don’t exaggerate about yourself.

Let’s begin with the most compulsory element of any social profile.

1. Add a decent Profile Photo.

A LinkedIn profile with a relevant profile picture is 11 times more likely to be viewed. Profile picture doesn’t need to be professionally taken, just make sure the background is clear with your face in the center.

LinkedIn isn’t Facebook, so don’t use party shots, cartoon avatar or group photo. Just keep it minimal & professional with a recent photo of yours alone.

2. Craft an attention-grabbing Headline.

The headline is a place to tell people what you’re pursuing and what you want to do in future. Here is the best example of headline crafted by Brenden Moran highlighting his interest and profession together.

If you’re fresher in college, you can highlight your current area of study also. For example, you can keep it as simple as -“Student of Mechanical Engineering”.

3. Develop a professional Summary.

Your summary should provide an introduction about you and an overview of achievements in academics and extracurricular activities. Also, describe what you’re skilled at and where you want to see yourself in future.

Here’s the summary of Jeff Weiner –

If you’re in the final year of your graduation or looking for stepping into the professional world, enrich your profile summary with industry-relevant keywords. This will make easier for recruiters and hiring managers to find you in search results.

• Read: 5 tips to create a highly effective LinkedIn summary.

4. Show off your Education.

List all the schools and colleges you’ve had joined along with descriptions and activities you participated in.

Adding college names to your LinkedIn profile helps you find college alumni, faculties and friends available on LinkedIn. This way you can stay in touch with each other and keep a track of what they’re up to.

5. Emphasize your Volunteer Experience.

Your profile must show that you’ve got a social life too. Volunteering for non-profit organizations shows others that you love to help others.

Go ahead and feel free to describe your volunteer experience in detail with your role in the event, name of the organization and causes you support.

6. Showcase your Skills.

Add skills to your profile under featured skills and recommendation section to showcase your abilities to others on the platform.

LinkedIn allows you to add a maximum of 50 skills. But, I recommend you to fill the entries only with the skills you want to be found for. Managing a relevant list of skills on your profile helps you find better matches for internship and job opportunities.

7. Display proficiency in Languages you know.

In today’s era, knowing languages other than your native language is extremely beneficial because being able to communicate in multiple languages helps to establish real communication with people.

So if you’re fluent in multiple languages, add those languages under accomplishment section. Also, select your proficiency level in that language.

8. Add Certifications, Honors and Awards you’ve earned.

If you’ve earned awards in sports or any extra-curricular activities from the recognized authority, just reveal it in the honours and awards section.

And if you’ve achieved certifications in designing, engineering or any specialization, you can list it in the certifications sections. Also, add a link to it so that visitors can verify the authenticity of your certifications.

9. Publicize your Test scores.

You may not have extensive working experience but you may have appeared in various competitive exams. Good test scores indicate good problem-solving skills, which you can utilize to attract employers.

So if you ever excelled in competitive exams, make sure you add these scores to your profile.

10. Highlight the Courses you’ve taken.

If you ever participated in coursework, you can include them in your profile under Courses section.

Professionals on LinkedIn are aware of school and college courses, so include courses which are out of this scape. Add courses you took as training or offered by recognized organizations.

11. Share the Projects you worked on.

You might not have working experience, but you may have had worked on various projects in your school and university. You can list them in the Project section to show your skills and experience.

Additionally, you might have worked on a project while you were interned in a company, you can list it too. Also, make sure you add team members and keyword enriched description to each project.

12. Feature the Organizations you support.

You must have a life apart from your academics too. Participating in activities organized by other organizations shows your life outside the classroom.

So, if you ever partook in any activities apart from your academics, list them all in the Organizations section. This section reflects your leadership ability which makes a positive impact on the employers.

13. Collect Recommendations and skill Endorsements.

Recommendations and endorsements on your profile back the claims you made on your abilities and skills. Employers always seek to know what others think about you and your skills.

So, adding recommendations from genuine and higher officials of an organization enhances your profile and build trust in the eyes of employers.

So request your professors, project manager and internship supervisors for a recommendation and skill endorsements on your profile. This way you can build credibility with your profile visitors and employers.

14. Claim your unique URL.

The URL that LinkedIn assigns to your profile will be full of random numbers and alphabets. The problem with that URL is that it is uneasy to remember and share.

So you can create a short and unique URL for your profile which can be easier to share and remember. Having a customized URL for your profile increase the probability of appearance in search result with keywords of your name.

For the step-by-step guide to claim your unique URL, navigate to this official help page – Customize your LinkedIn profile URL.

15. Join LinkedIn Groups.

LinkedIn groups are the hub of like-minded people and professionals from a similar industry. Also, there can be thought leaders of the industry, so you can have the opportunity to interact with them and establish lasting connections.

Merely, joining LinkedIn groups is not going to work for you. You must engage in group discussions and share industry-related updates and posts. This way you can create your presence among the rest of the members.

16. Follow LinkedIn Influencers and Company pages.

Like other social platforms, LinkedIn has also some great thought leaders and influencers in the industry. Follow them to learn from their experience and daily updates.

You can also follow company pages of the firm you want to join. This way you can stay updated with the job vacancies and developments within the company which will make you interview-ready.

17. Connect with friends and professionals.

Classmates, professors, and alumni should be on the top of your priority list to connect. Later, you can find other professionals from the industry and establish communication with them. Keep in mind to always engage with your connections’ posts and ask relevant queries politely and professionally.

18. Share Industry relevant updates regularly.

In order to attract more potential connections and employers to your profile, you should share informative and industry-relevant contents.

LinkedIn allows you to share text updates, pictures and video contents too. Additionally, you can publish articles on the same platform. So, make sure you regularly share informative contents regularly. This way you can prove the proficiency of your knowledge among the professionals and employers.

Wrapping up

LinkedIn is a great platform for every student from every niche, there’s a lot to learn irrespective of your niche and industry.

So, now it’s your turn to implement these tips while creating your LinkedIn profile and create a presence among the world’s top professionals. Here is a complete checklist of all the tips discussed above –

1. Add a decent Profile Photo.
2. Craft an attention-grabbing Headline.
3. Develop a professional Summary.
4. Show off your Education.
5. Emphasize your Volunteer Experience.
6. Showcase your Skills.
7. Display proficiency in languages you know.
8. Add Certifications, Honors and Awards you’ve earned.
9. Publicize your Test scores.
10. Highlight the Courses you’ve taken.
11. Share the Projects you worked on.
12. Feature the Organizations you support.
13. Collect Recommendations and skill Endorsements.
14. Claim your unique URL.
15. Join LinkedIn groups.
16. Follow LinkedIn influencers and Company pages.
17. Connect with friends and professionals.
18. Share Industry relevant updates regularly.

Why choose Gratisol Labs?

• Industry Accreditation: Delivered in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Information and Pharmacovigilance Association.
• Teaching Excellence: You will learn from expert Drug Safety specialist teaching staff who work with the Eu2P European/ US Programme in Pharmacovigilance.
• Strong Industry Connections: Benefit from networking opportunities with our alumni  based Pharmacovigilance events and connect with our supporters including TCS, Cognizant, Wipro, Bioclinica, Roche, Novartis, and GSK.

We Work with Dedication and Commitment

Gratisol Labs established in 2004 with the vision of training the candidates in various Healthcare, Life-sciences, IT & Pharma fields including clinical Research. One of the Best Training Institute In Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai & Delhi offering various training programs in Clinical Research.

For more information, please contact Gratisol Labs at info@gratisol.com