Facebook is fun with friends, but LinkedIn can help you get a job!

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I know most of you are on Facebook (and hopefully have liked our Facebook page, hint hint). After talking to many technical students in the past few months, I get the feeling many of you don’t see or understand the purpose of LinkedIn. I wanted to make sure you aren’t missing out on a tool that can help you find work.

Facebook is generally regarded as a tool for keeping in touch with friends near and far, it is also used by companies to share information about promotions and offers. LinkedIn is generally regarded as more business oriented. It has become a tool used by recruiters to find potential employees and a way for professionals to network with other professionals through groups and connections.

I go to Facebook to make comments on my friends photos, I accept friend requests from people I have met over the years and former classmates.

I go to LinkedIn to share technical resources, to find out about technical events going on in the community, and to build my professional network. It is interesting how often I will be presenting a topic, and will walk around the room and spot someone perusing my Linked In Profile. Creating a Linked In account and setting up your profile is like creating an online resume. It’s free and easy. There’s a great blog that provides some stats and quotes about how employers use LinkedIn during the hiring process.

Here are ten tips to help you create a suitable LinkedIn profile in no particular order

  1. DO list your current and past positions in your profile
  2. DO fill out the summary in your profile, treat it as a mini resume that highlights your skillset and experience, put detailed information about past job positions under experience
  3. DO select some core skills in the skills section
  4. If you are bilingual, DO consider creating your profile in both languages
  5. DO set your public profile URL so you can link to your online resume in emails when you apply to jobs
  6. DO keep the tone professional in all your status updates
  7. If you tweet, DO NOT automatically have all your tweets appear as linked in status updates, use a client that allows you to select which tweets go to linked in with a #li hashtag or some other optional selection
  8. DO try to get 3 recommendations from other people on LinkedIn to help you get a 100% profile
  9. DO start building your connections and network
  10. DO join technical and professional groups on LinkedIn to stay connected and informed (I recommend Canadian Technical Students hint, hint, if you ask to connect to me I’ll always say yes if I see you are a member of that group Smile)