California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) students attended a LinkedIn Workshop seminar on Tuesday, Feb. 13 to learn about the employment-focused social media platform.
The seminar was hosted by CSUMB’s Career Services and led by Career Advisor Thomas Rodgers.
The event was an opportunity to learn about the various ways students can utilize LinkedIn for professional networking, personal branding and career advancement.
“We use LinkedIn to promote our professional self,” explained Rodgers. “[We can] connect with people that we are in common with in terms of the work we do or the programs we are a part of.”
Rodgers kicked off the workshop with a short writing activity where he challenged attendees to write a short paragraph summarizing their educational experience, their key skills and areas of expertise and their personal objectives.
Attendees were then instructed to use that paragraph when creating their own LinkedIn profile as their “About Me” section.
The workshop then walked students through how to curate an effective LinkedIn profile for career advancement with tips like using a profile picture of a nice photo of yourself smiling, taken from the shoulders up.
More topics surrounding profile optimization, personal branding and LinkedIn’s features and tools were discussed during the workshop.
The workshop hosted around 15 attendees, the majority of whom were a part of CSUMB’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP).
EOP aims to improve the access and retention of low-income and first-generation college students by helping them gain the skills and support networks necessary to ensure their success.
The LinkedIn workshop proved to be a kickstart for students diving into the world of professional networking on LinkedIn and gave them the tools to start their own accounts.