The Girls With Impact Guide to LinkedIn
By Jody Bell
Did you know that 6 people are hired through LinkedIn every minute?
That means that while you read this article, 18 people might have landed their dream job through the site.
What makes the site notably different than Indeed, Zip Recruiter, or other strictly hiring-based websites is that LinkedIn has an integral social media component. You connect with professionals you know to form a network – which is simply a grouping of people you know in a professional context. Once they join your network, you can maintain the connection by seeing each other's posts and activity on the site. For students, developing your network early results in connections that can see you professionally mature which could be a game changer when you are looking for internships or jobs down the road.
Regardless of where you are in your emerging career, LinkedIn can provide a huge advantage in your academic/professional development. We’ve put together your go-to guide on how to maximize your LinkedIn as a Girls With Impact student.
1. Make your profile and highlight your venture
As a Girls With Impact student you already have a huge leg-up. You’re a CEO and founder of a venture – a feat that requires leadership, public speaking, confidence, and core business skills not taught in high school.
Since these skills aren’t traditionally reflected on your transcript, you need to find a different way to showcase them. That’s where LinkedIn comes in.
Post clips of your pitch, upload your reading deck, and occasionally post reflections on material you’re learning in the Girls With Impact Academy program. You could even tag us on Linked in (@Girls With Impact) or connect with and/or tag your mentor for further visibility.
When building this out, keep in mind this question: what makes you different? There are millions of young students around the country, but what is it about you that is notably unique? For example, when I was in high school, my LinkedIn headline read: “Student, CEO, and Activist Committed to Exploring Social Entrepreneurship.”
Use Girls With Impact and the passion displayed in your business development to support this clear and concise messaging.
2. Connect with the people you know
Once you have built out a bit of a profile, you can search for people you really know and send them an invitation to connect.
Of course this can include family and friends, but you can also begin to connect with people you know professionally. This includes your teachers, faculty at your school, other Girls With Impact students, and your mentors within Girls With Impact. For people you may not know very well, it is good to add a quick note when connecting. Here you can introduce yourself, remind them of how you two know each other, and state why you want to connect.
3. Continue to build and leverage your network in strategic ways
Are you applying to college, an internship, or just looking to learn more about a given industry? Well, that’s exactly where your network could be incredibly useful.
Say you’re applying to the University of Connecticut, and you would like to learn more about their program offerings within the entrepreneurship space. If you look up “UConn entrepreneurship”, you get results for the Werth Institution for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. But what if you want to learn more, and your questions aren’t answered on the website? You can search LinkedIn for professors at the Werth Institute!
When you search these individuals, LinkedIn will display an icon saying if the two of you share a connection – if you do have this overlap in your networks, it can be a great conversation starter. You could offer to connect and send a quick message that says “Hello! My name is ___, a student at ____. I saw we were both connected to ____, and as I am a high school student interested in UConn’s Werth Institute, I was wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions I had. Thank you!”
Even if you don’t share a connection, you can absolutely try to connect and send a similar message.
Of course this same method can be applied to internships at a given organization, or just a professional in a niche space you are hoping to learn more about.
Not only is this a great way to continue to learn and build your network, but showing this level of professionalism and interest can also help your application.
Integral to this guidance is the reminder that LinkedIn is still the internet. If you are connecting and speaking with people you may not know well personally, it is always a good idea to speak with your parent(s) and/or guardian(s) beforehand. Even if you do know these individuals personally, ensure you are keeping your family involved in your LinkedIn activity.
Maybe LinkedIn isn’t as “fun” as scrolling through Tik Tok, but it is an incredibly powerful tool that can make a huge difference in your professional trajectory. By the same token, it can be overwhelming and complicated to use, so if you have any questions or want help feel free to send me an email at jody.bell@girlswithimpact.com!
Jody Bell, 20 is Girls With Impact’s Editor in Chief and a program graduate from Greenwich High School. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, business and leadership program for girls 14-24, turning them into tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.