This session was presented for the first time at the IWork conference in Edmonton, Alberta on March 18, 2017. This session is updated for the new LinkedIn UI and is meant for a post-secondary and/or graduate student audience.

1. C H R I S T I N E G E R T Z
U N I V E R S I T Y O F A L B E R TA C A R E E R
C E N T R E

3. CHANGES TO LINKEDIN USER INTERFACE
• 5 InMails
• Messaging
• Advanced search
• Filtered search
• inurl:linkedin.com
• Moving sections on your profile
• Find Alumni
Social Media Examiner, “LinkedIn Changes: What Marketers Need to Know”
USNews “Is LinkedIn’s Latest Really the Greatest?”

4. 1. Broadcast
2. Have a profile when you
aren’t looking for work
3. Resume doesn’t have
“friends”
4. LinkedIn profile could
connect you to other
qualified candidates in
the same region
5. Resume is for everyone

5. PRIVACY
P R I V A C Y A N D
S E T T I N G S
• Select what others see
when you’ve viewed their
profile
• Select who can see your
activity feed
• Adhere to strict controls
on Connections
• Crash Override Network
for additional advice

6. TARGET GROUPS
• The fastest growing demographic for LinkedIn is new grads
• 40 million students and new grads
• LinkedIn has identified “$50,000+” salaries as their “sweet spot” for job
postings
• This means they are looking for young and mid-level professionals = new
grads
• Major Edmonton employers such as Alberta Health Services, City of
Edmonton, City of Calgary, Imperial Oil, BioWare, ATB Financial, Northlands,
Voice Construction, University of Alberta, MacEwan University and Government
of Alberta are making use of their LinkedIn pages to share job postings and
information about corporate culture

7. LINKEDIN BY COUNTRY

8. HOW LINKEDIN MAKES MONEY
ATS = Applicant Tracking
System

9. KEYWORDS SEARCHING IN AN ATS
You are revealed in a search by the text, phrases and keywords, in
your submitted resume
• Job titles
• Professions
• Employer(s)
• Educational Institution(s)
• Degree(s)
• Skill sets
• Languages
• Region/postal code
• Name is also a keyword, do not use a nickname

10. FINDING KEYWORDS
• Work through a job posting
• ALIS’ OCCInfo
• National Occupation Classification
• O*NET Online

11. PHOTOGRAPH
• According to LinkedIn, profiles with photographs are 11X more likely to be viewed when found
in a search than a profile without a photograph
• Good photo:
• If I was meeting you for the first time, could I identify you in a room full of strangers?
• Context appropriate
• Graduate photo?
• Limited time only
• Poor photo:
• Inappropriate
• Obviously a selfie
• The back of your head or gazing heroically into the distance in profile
Professional photographs, a headshot, cost $150-$400 depending
on number of pictures and settings.

12. HEADLINE
Default is Education or Experience
• In what discipline?
• Have areas of specialty?
• Use specific research methods?
• Techniques?
• Software?
• Instruments?

13. How many 1st
degree
connections
should you
have?

14. FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD DEGREE CONNECTIONS
You
Accepts your
Invite to
Connect
First degree to your
first degree
(“friend of a friend”)
Second degree
to your first
degree
1st 2nd 3rd
1st 2nd 3rd
1st 2nd 3rd

16. EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION
E X P E R I E N C E
One experience
entry
Volunteer
experience has its
own section
E D U C A T I O N
Appears below
Experience
Separate section for
Honors and
Awards

17. UPDATES
• Updates last for 30 days
• LinkedIn does not maintain an archive of updates
• Events
• Conferences/ Poster presentations
• Lectures
• Student group events
• City events, such as Pecha Kucha, Nerd Night, festivals, local Kickstarters
(etc,)
• Job postings
• News articles

19. SUMMARY
C O V E R L E T T E R
Past or present
tense
Yes, you can reuse
one of your cover
letters for your
Summary
A S P I R A T I O N S
Future tense
I will, I plan, I am
beginning, It is my
intention

20. CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SUMMARY
• Summary provides context for keywords
• Keyword search: “molecular biological techniques”
• Context: “I have no experience with molecular biological techniques”
• Aspirational text is ok
• Future tense
• I will, I plan, I am beginning, I wish, It is my intention
• Does the Summary have logical flow?
• Chronological
• Does the Summary show a knowledge of the profession/desired occupations?

21. BETTER SENTENCES
Declarations
• Experienced Microsoft Office user
• Reliable
• Leadership
SKILL + ABILITY
Used Microsoft Excel features such as pivot tables, macros and report building
TRAIT + RESULT
Reliable contributor to student group e-newsletter by providing one new article
per week and consistently meeting deadlines
ACTIVITY + ACCOMPLISHMENT
As recruitment officer, developed supervision and leadership skills by recruiting,
interviewing, selecting, and training fifteen new volunteers for student group

22. LINKEDIN HOMEWORK BY TIME REQUIRED
T W O M I N U T E S
Turn off your updates
• Vanity URL
• Make some
connections
• Follow
companies
• Add information
in the
Relationship tab
for connections
• Update everyday
T E N M I N U T E S
• Find your
keywords
• Write your
Summary
• Attend LinkedIn
Training session
Turn your updates
on
• Write one
statement to add
to your
experience/job
duties
• Find a job to
apply for
• Get a good
photograph
O N E H O U R

23. C H R I S T I N E G E R T Z
U N I V E R S I T Y O F A L B E R TA C A R E E R
C E N T R E