LinkedIn

​

Step 1: Create/update your LinkedIn profile

Make sure you have updated your LinkedIn profile. Here are some helpful tips on that!

​

Step 2: Link with everyone you know

Import your contacts from your various email accounts. You can uncheck contacts if you don’t know them well or if they’re someone you only emailed once or twice.

​

Use “People You May Know” function. Click on the “My Network icon” on the top navigation bar. Scroll down slightly and you will see, “People You May Know.”

• For 10-15 minutes, send invitations to people you know in that list. For some people who you know well, you can just click connect and use the generic language that LinkedIn populates. For others, you might want to customize the invitation just slightly with something like, “How are you? Hope you’re enjoying New York!” or “It was nice meeting you last summer during my summer internship at HP.” Adjust your formality based on the contact.

• Repeat a few days later. LinkedIn will continue to recommend people based on who accepts your invitations.

 

Look in your other social networking sites to see who you are friends with there who you are not linked with on LinkedIn. Connect with them!

​

Reflect back on people you used to work with (bosses, co-workers, clients/agencies), friends, family members, favorite professors/advisors/administrators from school, anyone you know who hasn’t popped up yet in “People You May Know.”

​

Check your contacts list in your various email accounts. Is there anyone in there that you haven’t invited yet?

​

Step 3: Join groups!

Groups are different from “following” companies. When you follow a company, you receive their news in your feed. When you join a group, you can see the profiles and message anyone in that group for FREE!

• To join a group, go to the search bar at the top of the page and type in a group you are interested in from the list below. When results are provided, click on the group. Then click join to any group you’d like to join. If it asks you to “follow,” then you are in the wrong section. Make sure you are “joining” a group. Here are some that you should join:

  • Eastside College Preparatory group

  • Groups associated with your college/university

    • Alumni group for your college/university (even if you are not an alum yet)

    • Specific school you were in (business school, engineering school, etc. )

    • Sororities, fraternities, other societies, groups you volunteer with, sports teams you play on, etc.

  • Former/current employer alumni groups

  • Affinity groups: National Society of Black Engineers, LGBT, Silicon Valley Women in Business, Latinas in Tech, etc.

  • Other programs/scholarships: Students Rising Above, INROADS, etc.

  • Associations: Anything related to the industries/functions that you want to go into or organizations you have been a member (e.g. American Marketing Association)

  • Industry groups: Groups people in the industries or roles that you are targeting belong to in LinkedIn (e.g. Criminology Careers)