LinkedIn is a professional networking website that helps you to connect with alumni and prospective employers.
Your LinkedIn profile is your connection to more than 75,000-plus St. Cloud State University graduates and more than 800 million professionals in more than 200 countries and territories.
Set up your profile:
- Use a professional photo.
- Have a "keyword rich" "headline" and "summary," as those are the first three things employers will see in their search results.
- Your Experience section will be much like your résumé, but be sure to include related unpaid experiences as well as employment.
- Customize your profile URL to include your name. (see right menu for "Edit public profile & URL)
- List your e-mail(s), Twitter, etc. accounts to give employers multiple ways to reach out to you.
- Let employers know you are seeking employment by creating Job Preferences.
- To do this, click on Jobs on top menu bar, then on Career Interests and customize to indicate locations, industries, etc. you seek. Remember to Save.
Searching on LinkedIn:
- Use the main search box (left of top menu bar) to find people, companies, groups, schools, etc. For example, search for "St. Cloud State."
- On menu bar below the search box, click on People, Jobs, Companies, Groups, etc. to narrow your search.
- To further narrow your search, add search criteria on the right side of the screen such as level of connections, keywords, locations, companies, industries, etc.
- Once you’ve exhausted your personal network, search on “St. Cloud State” to identify alumni. Alumni are most likely to respond and offer advice.
Using the Alumni Tool:
The alumni tool is the BEST way on LinkedIn to find grads with your major, see what they are doing now, learn from their career path, etc.
- In Search Box, enter "St. Cloud State."
- Click Schools then St. Cloud State.
- Click Alumni.
- Click "Show more" to see Top 25 locations, employers, and industries.
- Click "Next" to search majors, skills and connections.
Want to add two million people to your network?
- Search for “Lonny Gulden”, a St. Cloud State alumni and LinkedIn expert.
- Ask to connect to Lonny and let them know you are an SCSU student.
Join groups
This is HUGE as you can directly email anyone you share a group with. To find groups:
- Type a subject in the main search box, e.g. "St. Cloud State" and search.
- On the menu bar below the search box, click "Groups."
- This will give you a list of all St. Cloud State groups.
- Join all on the list that apply.
- Request to join the main St. Cloud State University Alumni group, as once you are accepted you can directly email any of the nearly 12,000-plus alums in the group.
- To find other groups to join, look at the profiles of people in jobs or companies that interest you and join some of those groups.
- See the "Use shared groups" section below on how to find and use groups to send a message to people directly without needing to be connected.
Ask for an introduction.
- Search for people at a company or job that interests you.
- For 2nd degree connections you’d like to be introduced to, click their name to access their profile.
- On their profile, click "Mutual Connections," identify the connection you know best and click their name. Then click Message.
- Write a message that asks if they would be willing to introduce you to the person with whom you’d like to connect with.
- Be sure to indicate their full profile name.
- Follow up accordingly depending on the response from your 1st level connection.
Ask people to "Connect" with you.
- You can ask anyone to "Connect" with you but keep in mind that many people will not connect with someone they don’t know.
- To increase your chances of having your connection request accepted:
- Make sure your profile includes your photo. Most people will not connect if that is missing.
- On the main "search results" page, click the Connect button to right of the contacts you’d like to reach.
- On next screen, click "Add a note" to customize your message. Mention you are a student seeking advice.
Contact through shared groups.
- Search and find people you would like to contact.
- Scroll through their profile to the "Interests" section. If they belong to any Groups, you should be able to click "See all" at bottom of section.
- On top of menu bar on next screen, click "Groups."
- To direct message the contact, you’ll need to join one of those groups.
- Once you are accepted into the group, open the group and click the number of members in the group.
- On next page, click "Find a member…" and type in the contact's name.
- To the right of that person's name, click on "Message" and send them a note.
What to say when you have contacts to message.
- Hi, my name is... I am a student (mention SCSU if contact is an alum).
- I will be graduating this May with a major in... and my goal is to...
- I noticed on LinkedIn that you are a St. Cloud State alumni who is working in/at...
- I’m hoping you can give me some advice.
- If you were me and wanted to (your goal), what would you do?
If they respond, you can ask more questions, e.g., where would they be looking/who would they contact?
