By Amanda Freuler
YPK recently teamed up with Knox.biz to provide Knoxville’s young professionals with tips and tricks to creating a LinkedIn account that will stop hiring managers in their tracks. Guest speaker Robert Loggins, who has climbed to his current role as Corporate Human Resources Manager of Bush Brothers & Company, clued attendees in on his methods for career success- beginning with LinkedIn.
To best leverage LinkedIn as a tool for developing business connections and job leads, Loggins recommends earning All Star status for your account.
Here’s how:
1. Update each category on your profile
From recent positions to volunteer work, make sure your profile is fresh and up-to-date. Don’t forget to add your membership to the Young Professionals of Knoxville and the Alliance of Better Nonprofits to the “Organizations” section under “Accomplishments,” and be sure to add your recent YPK volunteer work! Volunteer work can include YPK committees that you’re involved with.
2. Connect, Connect, Connect
Fortunately for professionals who are just starting out in their career, LinkedIn might be the only social media platform where it’s not creepy to add people you don’t know. In fact, Loggins recommends it! All Star status requires you to have at least 50 connections. An easy way to reach this magic number, if you haven’t already, is to add your fellow YPK members! Find YPKers on the Member Directory, follow YPK on LinkedIn and join the YPK LinkedIn group.
3. Endorse each other
LinkedIn has two endorsement capabilities- skills endorsements and recommendations. Skills endorsements are easy to both give and receive and help verify a specific skill that someone is promoting; however, Loggins says skills endorsements are less effective than recommendations. He specifically suggests asking employers and mentors to write recommendations for you on your profile. And it never hurts to help a coworker out with a recommendation, either!
A few other LinkedIn basics to remember:
Add a professional headshot for your profile picture
Add at least three skills to your profile
Update your summary with your profile
Join groups, follow companies, engage!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda Freuler is a Communications and Marketing Specialist with Oak Ridge Associated Univerisities (ORAU). She graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2017 and was eager to come home to the Knoxville area and reconnect with professionals her age. Amanda has been in YPK since the fall of 2018. When she's not writing and creating content, you can find her perusing local antique stores, exploring new Knoxville eateries with friends or planning her next vacation abroad.