Undoubtedly, LinkedIn is one of the largest professional platforms where you can connect, network, hire, or build your brand. There are lots of benefits of being on LinkedIn but what about a situation where people misuse the app? This is the reason this article gives more insight into the advantages and disadvantages of LinkedIn for students. Not only that but it also provides you with other useful information relating to this topic. So without further delay, we will begin by briefly looking at an overview of LinkedIn and then we delve deeper, shall we?
Overview Of LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social networking service that operates via the website and mobile apps. It is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. It has evolved so much over the years since it was launched on May 5, 2003. LinkedIn helps you find the right job or internship you’re seeking. Also, it connects you with prospective suitors in your field and also strengthens professional relationships. LinkedIn primarily focuses on professional networking and career development. It can help you grow a home business.
Open a LinkedIn account
As a student, you can make use of LinkedIn to search for your dream job. Also, stay connected to a particular industry, enhance your professional reputation, and get a platform to showcase what you can do for others to see. LinkedIn is a professional network community, unlike other social network websites. LinkedIn is designed to help students and employees make business connections, share their experiences, and showcase their resumes to find and apply for jobs.
Advantages of Using LinkedIn for Students
With this large audience on Linkedin come great benefits, which we will be sharing with you here.
1. Stay Connected and Get Employed
LinkedIn started with the primary aim of linking employers with potential employees. That is, to provide or create a platform for individuals either as a student, a graduate, or even as an undergraduate, to post their resume. Also, employers to post current job openings.
LinkedIn has a decent search tool or feature that can help you find people in your industry, and keep you up to date with things happening around you. With LinkedIn, you can’t miss a thing. Moreso, you get to connect with like minds and build relationships with influences in your environment.
2. Give Prominence to Your Brands
LinkedIn as a social networking platform has tons of relevant groups. You can join any of these groups and discuss relevant topics. Also, you even get to share your interest. By doing this people tend to notice you, pick interest in your skill or your brand then get to know what you can offer, know your strength, and in no time services will come on their own. With all these said, LinkedIn is a great and useful networking tool.
3. Promote Your Skill Set
Another advantage of LinkedIn is that it promotes your skillset. This feature helps greatly in building a good online presence for students and under-graduates if harnessed correctly. If you are creating great content about your industry make sure to put it on LinkedIn. Because millions of people are interested in your particular skill set, this could become a means for you to become a trusted source of insight into your industry.
4. Gain Exposure to Prospective Employers/Recruiters
It’s no longer news that LinkedIn is the largest professional networking website in the world. According to statistics provided by LinkedIn; 93% of recruiters use LinkedIn to research and recruit candidates. This means that job seekers stand a great chance of landing their dream job.
Also, get exposed to the world of employers and people who might be interested in recruiting. LinkedIn makes you visible to key decision-makers. This means that when your name is put into a search, your profile pops up in the results so you must similarly treat your LinkedIn profile as your CV.
5. Demonstrate Your Knowledge
This is similar to promoting your skillset. As a student, undergraduate, or graduate, with LinkedIn, you can demonstrate or show off what you know or what you can offer your basic strengths and ideas. Recruiters see your recommendations, connections, and evidence of where you have added value before.
So it’s important to ask for reviews, do a good job for people you have worked with, and ensure to get nice recommendations as all these will go a long way in showing your prospective employers what you’re bringing to the table.
6. Follow Companies or Industries As a Search Tool
Having a LinkedIn account gives you the outright privilege to follow up with companies and industries that are of interest to you LinkedIn can be used as a search tool to research the company, interviewer, recruiters, and/or hiring managers as this can give you important hint about things you should know before.
Keep up with a certain industry; having a LinkedIn account gives you the premium benefit of staying up to date with the industry of your specialization you set to receive first-hand news about the industry of interest
7. Vast Job Listings
With the current situation of the country and the ever-growing margin of unemployment rent in Nigeria. LinkedIn gives you that extra opportunity as an undergraduate or as a graduate to explore the millions of job listings that are available for vacancies. Because 93% of recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn.
As of February 2021, LinkedIn had 740 million registered members from 150 countries according to Wikipedia.org. This means that there are countless amounts of job listings flooding LinkedIn daily. This can be of great benefit to every prospective employee and student.
8. Publicity
LinkedIn can be used to great benefit when harnessed efficiently. Imagine yourself having an audience with over 740 million users. And a considerable high amount of people who would be interested in your skill. LinkedIn can announce you to the world in terms of publicity and advertisement.
9. Ease of Resume Update
With LinkedIn, you don’t have to worry about hiring a professional CV writer. All you have to do is click the edit button and put in your desired information. Then, the formatting is done for you.
Recommended: LinkedIn Job Search Benefits for Professionals
Disadvantages of Using LinkedIn
The disadvantages of LinkedIn are provided below;
1. Risk of Identity Theft
There are loads of personal information that you have to display on your profile for prospective employers to see. Hence, in a case where LinkedIn servers develop an issue, you stand a risk of losing important information to the public, resulting in identity theft.
2. Incomplete Profile Challenge
LinkedIn like other social network websites requires you to put up an attractive profile. That is a profile that is appealing to employers and prospective recruiters. People however find it hard to fill out profile details completely due to one reason or the other.
3. Tons of Spam Messages
There’s a saying that “Among 12 disciples there will always be a Judas”. Think of how many Judas will be available on a website with over 1200 million people. LinkedIn is filled with spam messages from recruiters, employers, and even job seekers. All just to seek attention, mislead, and extort money, etc.
4. Time Consuming
One of the biggest downfalls and turnoff of LinkedIn is time consumption. The required amount of time you have to invest before you can learn to use it efficiently. Unlike other sites, for you to get the most out of LinkedIn you have to be willing to set aside some of your precious time every day.
5. Premium Package Can Be Expensive
Good thing they say doesn’t come cheap. Although, LinkedIn allows you to join the platform without paying. But the LinkedIn premium packages are charged for. For example, the “medium-sized career” price is just about $29.99/month. There are so many added benefits that this offer brings but can still be very costly for a starter or medium-sized business.
How To Standout On LinkedIn
There are over 1billion users on LinkedIn, each with his purpose and motivation for being onthe platform. So if you desire to be relavant on the app, here are three strategies you can implore.
1. Optimize Your Profile:
Regarding your LinkedIn profile, Karen Yankovich, a well-known LinkedIn evangelist and social media consultant with an international reputation who specialises in assisting businesses in using LinkedIn and a variety of other social spaces profitably, says: “Your LinkedIn profile is your online business card. Make it a good one.”
This statement highlights the significance of having a strong LinkedIn profile—it can represent you even when you’re not there. Optimising your profile can also help you get noticed more quickly.
2. Continue Using Effective Content Strategy:
This method focuses on taking measured risks or using a strategy while posting on LinkedIn. Posting frequently does not imply a well-planned content strategy.
Recommended: Strategies Used for LinkedIn Optimization
3. Be Consistent:
It’s a well-known adage that consistency is key. Therefore, maintaining consistency on LinkedIn is essential to developing your professional identity and keeping your connections aware of you.
Conclusion
We have just discussed the advantages and disadvantages of LinkedIn for students and we are confident that if you are thinking of opening an account with them before reading this article or you have already opened an account with them but still contemplating whether or not you should leave or stay on the platform, you would have gotten convincing answers to leverage the app. Let us know in the comment section what new thing you learned from this article.
The earlier, the better. You can create a LinkedIn account for yourself today. Although using LinkedIn can be time-consuming, having a LinkedIn account, even as a student, will bring you more benefits than harm. When you start reaping the rewards, you will be amazed by what you have achieved.
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