Social Media Presence
Why LinkedIn?
A survey of recruiters reports that overwhelmingly, recruiters who use social media use LinkedIn to post
jobs, search for candidates, contact candidates and do pre-interview vetting
(Jobvite 6th Annual Social Recruiting Survey)
We want you to have a LinkedIn presence that you can update and polish as you work toward your
graduate degree.
This assignment has two parts:
1. Create a written work document that helps you gain clarity about your profession, trends and
opportunities in the profession.
2. Create (or revise) of a LinkedIn page that reflects the analysis you’ve completed in the work
document. If you revise a LinkedIn page you need to submit a copy of the original LinkedIn page
to compare to the newly revised page. To post a copy of the original LinkedIn page to the
assignment folder create a PDF. First right click on the page. Then select “Print”, and then “Save
as PDF”.
A quick tip: While you may already have a terrific LinkedIn page, the work you do for this
assignment will help you with the last assignment: a discussion of the top three trends in your
profession!
Your Work Document should contain
A. A situation analysis of the environment
Macro-level: What is the market like for this type of career path in general? Is the industry
demand increasing, decreasing, or remaining steady? Is it better in some areas than others,
etc.?
Competitive environment: Who are the other competitors seeking positions in this
profession? Are there potentially other competitors in related industries? Can you identity
particular individuals who are your main competition (which will be the case if you are competing
internally). How do you compare to these competitors?
Internal environment: What are the needs in the particular companies/organizations that you
are targeting?
B. Establish goals and objectives. Make them specific. What particular positions do you want
and what is your time frame for obtaining them? It’s a good idea to have some steps along the
way. Include plans for expanding your skills along the way.
C. Next, Create a statement that
a. Identifies the industry and employers you are targeting.
b. Identifies the most important key skills/benefits you deliver to your industry, employer, or
customer, for example, unique insights into a particular job function, well-honed people
skills, extensive experience in a particular area.
c.
Identifies your main competitors. If you are looking industry-wide, these may be
graduates of other schools or those with similar or different qualifications; if you are
looking to be promoted within a company, the competition may be particular individuals in
your company
d. Describes how are you different from your competitors in a positive way that makes you
stand out from the other competitors in the market?
D. Finally, create a LinkedIn page: You will start to communicate your availability and value to the
target companies/organizations by the creation of a LinkedIn page. Some resources for you to
consult are listed below:
a. http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/19-setting_up_a_linkedin_profile
b. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-set-up-a-profile-on-linkedin.html
c. http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/04/23/7-steps-tocreating-the-best-linkedin-profile
Once you have created your LinkedIn page, go through the LinkedIn Checklist that is provided and then
make any revisions you think are necessary.
Finally,
1. Post the link to your profile in the assignment folder.
2. Also post the PDF of the page to the assignment folder. To create the PDF, right click on the
page. Select “Print”, and then “Save as PDF”.
