Link In and Develop Your Online Presence

Is LinkedIn an appropriate tool for YOU, as a college student?  YES!

Develop your Professional Presence Online, Not Just Your Resume on Job Sites!

Did You Know? LinkedIn Ranks High in Search Engine Results and is Publicly Viewable, So Employers Can Find You!

What You Can Do To Brand Yourself Using LinkedIn:

1.     Google Your Name.  How High Do You Rank? – LinkedIn provides a place where you can list three clickable Web sites.  Use these three opportunities to link to other social media sites that help you put your best face forward.

2.     Blog Your Career-Related Experience and link it to LinkedIn. Blog about class assignments, what you are learning, industry, trends, etc.

3.     Create a profile on Digg.com and Digg articles that you feel are relevant to your profession and link your and Digg and LinkedIn profiles.

4.     Shelve your books at LibraryThing.com; create a profile there and list the books that you have read that you feel are important to your profession. Link your LibraryThing and LinkedIn profiles.

5.     Star in your own professional YouTube video. Have a friend videotape you as you demo a task you know and do well—demonstrate your knowledge and speaking skills.

6.     A picture is worth a 1,000 (resume) words, LinkedIn allows you to post a professional, work-related photo. Feel free to use Flickr for other photo management opportunities and link to your LinkedIn profile.

7.     Making your portfolio portable...online. Some industries require a portfolio of work, i.e. art, design, education—create an online portfolio and link it to your LinkedIn profile. Let your work be your calling card.

8.     Be a newsmaker. Let your local university newspaper know what you or your fellow classmates are working on academically and in the community. Use LinkedIn to promote yourself and your mission.

9.     Become a published author. Write an article for your school paper, Journal of Student Research, hometown newspaper, industry trade journal, etc. If you get a byline, link to it on LinkedIn. If it’s not online, you can publish it on your Blog or Online Portfolio.

10.  Become a JMU Expert– join the alumni group, ask questions to the JMU network and promote your blog and online portfolio with other JMU contacts. They could be more willing to help you in your networking and the building of your brand.

11.  Answer Questions From Your Network- on LinkedIn, people can ask their network questions and by answering these questions, you can develop a reputation for sharing your knowledge and opinions about popular work-related trends and issues.

For More Information: Visit LinkedIn For College Students Online

Gain Access to Awards & Scholarships with Student Competitions!

What is Student Competitions.com?

StudentCompetitions.com was founded in 2009 by students who wanted to save time searching the globe for student challenges.  The website is a gathering point for events and challenges targeting students and young professionals. It is the only platform where students, regardless of field and level of studies, can find major competitions all in one place.  These competitions are broken down into five main categories:  Business, Arts & Design, Social Sciences, Tech & Engineering and Natural Sciences & Math.

Competitions are ways to get involved in your field of interest and to compete with other students to gain awards, scholarships and exposure to employers. Competitions can be used to drive change, spur innovation, identify excellence or promote a cause – globally and locally.

Participating in competitions gives you the edge:

·      Provides recruitment opportunities by getting your name and skills in front of employers

·      Challenge yourself to apply your education to real-world problems

·      And, prizes, of course!

Check out some of the exciting competitions currently on StudentCompetitions.com:

·      Global Design Competition of Seattle: The Global Design Competition of Seattle calls for entries of integrated function, high efficiency, low carbon restaurant designs.  Help grow a new sustainability resource in Seattle, WA and compete for a $10,000 prize!

·      Google Data Viz Challenge: Visualize how your individual federal income taxes are spent.  Google challenges you to create a data visualization that will make it easier for U.S. citizens to understand how the government spends our tax money.  The jury will be awarding $10,000, including $5,000 for the top submission. 

·      Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011: The Software Design competition is all about you (yes you!) creating real-world applications and solutions that can help people and communities around the globe.