LinkedIn helps students connect

Candace Owens, Career Services director, said she encourages students who are on the job hunt to create an impressionable presence on LinkedIn.

“When you’re searching for a job in this day and age, with the way social media is being used, I definitely see LinkedIn as a relevant tool,” Owens said.

LinkedIn is an online website designed to connect the world’s professionals using uniform account profiles that feature a person’s education, volunteer, personal and work experience. The website currently has more than 300 million members from about 200 different countries.

The website gives students the ability to connect with professionals, peers, professors, coworkers and family.

“Today it’s not only about what you know but, in addition, it’s who you know,” Owens said

Owens said she encourages students to create and maintain active LinkedIn accounts when beginning their career or searching for a job.

She recommends students who are involved on campus should include those activities on their profile. This allows students to market themselves to alumni or anyone in their network who may have been involved in that activity and could connect them with job openings.

Recently, Owens sat in on a training session in regards to LinkedIn and what the website is moving towards.

“A lot of companies are moving to LinkedIn to substitute their recruiting efforts,” Owens said. “In many cases, LinkedIn is becoming their primary source. It’s easier for companies to search profiles that are all the same and swift through profiles for specific characteristics.”

In the session it was said they believe LinkedIn will become the primary way employers search for employees. Although many experts predict that LinkedIn will replace paper resumes, many companies today have yet to adapt to this method of recruitment.

Scott Mueller, first vice president and manger of organizational development at MidFirst Bank, said he has a different perspective on the relevance of using LinkedIn for hiring.

“Many companies use it for recruiting, but we really don’t,” Mueller said. “Smaller companies may utilize it more, but we have so many natural avenues that we don’t need it as a primary source.”

Mueller maintains an active LinkedIn account he uses primarily for connecting with professionals in his field.

He said he recognizes the website as a tool for a company’s prospects to gain more information about the company they are applying for. Additionally, he said he sees LinkedIn being used by people who are attempting to promote themselves and learn more information about people in their field.

“The way I see it, it’s the equivalent of giving out your business card,” Mueller said.

However, Oklahoma Christian students with LinkedIn accounts hope that some companies are embracing the website specifically for job recruitment.

Junior Hayley Weaver has utilized the university’s Career Service Department for her summer internship search. She recently visited with Owens, who urged her to create a LinkedIn account.

“Before I’d gotten all the emails from my peers asking me to connect with them on LinkedIn – and I used to make fun of them,” Weaver said. “I never thought I needed one to get a job.”

For two weeks Weaver had her account, she has already connected with peers in her field, students from her classes at Oklahoma Christian and recent graduates of her major.

Owens assisted Weaver in reviewing the subcategories of her resume and noted that potential employees will recognize a student’s profile based on key words that match those posted on a job application.

Weaver hopes that the creation of her LinkedIn account will give her tools to search for and searched by potential employers who may offer her a job.

Likewise, sophomore Kristen Wheeler created a LinkedIn account after many of her professors told her it was vital for networking, finding jobs and keeping up with professionals.

Wheeler has primarily used LinkedIn prior to interviews to look up the professionals who will be conducting the interview.

She is still exploring the opportunities the website may offer, but sees how it is relevant to a society driven by social media.

“I hope it becomes more of a tool for me,” Wheeler said. “I think it’s a really smart idea because it is what our generation is really good at anyway. It kind of helps us do what we do best, but I’m going to have to put a lot of time in to completely figuring it out.”

LinkedIn can be a fundamental tool in student’s job searches, although it has yet to become an exclusive form of recruitment for all companies today.

To find out more information on how to create a LinkedIn profile or how to prepare for a job search, contact the Career Services Department by email at careerservices@oc.edu.

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