Looking for a new job? Want to connect with alumni and industry leaders? Trying to research a new industry or career path? Learn the three best ways to get started using LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional and social networking platform.
Research
LinkedIn is known for online networking and job searching, so you may be surprised to learn that it’s also a great way to research organizations, industries, and careers that interest you.
Simply go to the main search bar on the top of your LinkedIn profile and enter the keyword or careers that you want to know more about. You will see content appear including jobs, organizations, people, and groups that are related to your search terms. From there, choose which one you want to explore and start researching!
You can also update your career preferences, which include a wide variety of industries to choose from. Once selected, these preferences will be saved in your account and help LinkedIn target relevant information to share with you in the future.
Connect
The easiest way to build your network in LinkedIn is to start with who you know. Consider connecting with friends, family, classmates, professors, supervisors, and current or past colleagues. Then, use the search tool to find other professionals you want to connect with. If you have a connection in common with someone in your network, they will appear at the top of your list and you can ask your mutual connection to introduce you.
You can also find new connections through the LinkedIn groups you join. If you are knowledgeable in the group’s subject matter, consider posting questions or responding to items in the newsfeed.
Another easy way to connect on LinkedIn is through the Columbia University school page. There, you can search for and reach out to alumni based on where they work, what they do, or even what they studied in school.
Find Jobs and Internships
LinkedIn has more than 50,000 job and internship listings for students, with an easy-to-use search tool that lets you target your search by location, industry, job function, and experience level. You can set up search alerts and save jobs that interest you, as well as explore similar opportunities based on suggestions made by LinkedIn.
Since many organizations allow you to apply for positions through LinkedIn itself, you can also easily track and apply to a variety of positions in a just a few clicks.
For more personalized job suggestions and work-related content (including LinkedIn’s Student Job Hunting video series), check out the LinkedIn Students App for iOS and Android.
