The number of students on LinkedIn has doubled in the past year, which even in-line with LinkedIn’s rapid overall growth (it recently surpassed 15 million UK users, a 5 million increase on the 10 million in 2012 and a 13 million rise from the 2 million in 2010) was something of a dramatic rise.
This has led to LinkedIn’s new student hub, which was formally released this week (Wednesday 12 March).
Though details of the new ‘hub’, which has been tailored to meet the needs of the 30 million+ students on LinkedIn, remain scarce at the time of writing, it’s undoubted that more and more students are seeing the value in maintaining an active profile on the professionals’ social network.
A recent survey commissioned by LinkedIn revealed that two thirds of students feel unprepared for the working world. There are three ways in which LinkedIn offers a bridge from campus to career.
Wider Opportunities
Just as it does for professionals looking for career progression, LinkedIn offers endless opportunities to students starting their working lives.
Whether that is through gaining knowledge through some of LinkedIn’s 2.1million groups, connecting with some key industry experts or simply maintaining a visible profile to enhance their ‘online brand’, LinkedIn offers opportunities to students to become known in their industry before they’ve even started officially working in it.
What’s more, there’s LinkedIn’s wealth of jobs for graduates that, in line with the network itself, continues to get bigger and bigger.
University Pages
LinkedIn launched its specialist University pages in September 2013 to continue its quest to help students at every critical milestone from University to finding fulfilling, successful careers.
These pages provide a valuable tool for students making their first, big decision about where to attend University and give a head start to those wanting to build a network of family and friends from their new place of study.
Once there, these pages also provide a great opportunity to get regular news updates, ask questions, and engage with both the campus community and alumni of schools.
Internships and Experience
Many students look to build their working portfolio seek unpaid internships and work experience. It’s not just job recruiters who scour LinkedIn profiles for the right candidates; by maintaining a searchable profile, students can give themselves a great chance to be seen by larger organisations who are looking for interns.
And a successful internship can – and has – ultimately led to a permanent job.
Career Ambitions is hosting a LinkedIn and Career Networking Masterclass on Friday 28 March in Cambridge which will demonstrate effective ways of networking both online and offline. For more information, please visit the Eventbrite page.
_____________________________________