Alumni Career Services

You are welcome to schedule an appointment with our Alumni Career Services team to review your existing LinkedIn profile or to help you start one from scratch. We can help you to identify the main points to highlight from your background, top skills to include, and best practices for using LinkedIn to connect and network. Alumni Career Services also regularly offers virtual resume and LinkedIn profile reviews – check our website for details.

While it’s tempting to simply copy and paste the content from your resume into your LinkedIn profile, you’ll be better served by approaching your LinkedIn profile from a different perspective. Use a narrative and conversational writing style. For instance, you can include content like “I learned more than I ever could have imagined about customer relationship management” or “This role prepared me for my future career as a physician’s assistant because I learned how to communicate effectively even in sensitive situations.” Think about what you would like to do next in your career, and focus on including content that has prepared you for that next step.

Yes! Think of the Skills section as keywords that recruiters might use to search for you. Review some job descriptions that are similar to the next role you’d like to pursue and note the skills and content knowledge required. If you’ve developed those skills and content knowledge, be sure to list them on your profile. LinkedIn allows you to list up to 50 skills, so include a broad range.

LinkedIn has a feature to let employers know you’re open to communicating. On your profile, scroll down and click on “Career Interests.” Turn the option on, and scroll down to further narrow down your status, from “Not Open to Offers” to “Actively Applying.” LinkedIn does attempt to hide this status from your current employer, but this is not a guarantee. Also remember that LinkedIn has a robust job searching platform, so be sure to check out any posted openings.

It depends. It’s always best to connect with people who you know or have met through others. However, since LinkedIn exists to facilitate professional networking, you can connect with folks who share your career interests. We suggest you start with searching for University of Georgia alumni since you’ll have something in common. When you invite them to join your network, be sure to include a brief note that mentions your commonalities. Understand that everyone uses LinkedIn to different degrees, so you may not receive responses from everyone.

Remember that employers can (and do!) review candidate’s social media profiles. Review your privacy settings to make sure you’re sharing with your desired audience, but keep in mind that these privacy protections are far from guaranteed. Avoid posting or sharing content that is potentially controversial or inflammatory, knowing that employers have standards of conduct that could result in not being hired, or even terminated if you’re already employed.