LinkedIn Online Resumes for High School Students Complement College Applications

Most high school seniors have now completed “off to college round one” by submitting multiple college applications. The information required for a high quality college application – from academic results to extracurricular activities and community service to paid employment – provides the baseline for a LinkedIn profile.

A LinkedIn profile provides high school students opportunity to create a positive online presence which is important with Google searches providing competitive colleges another window into prospective students. Creating a LinkedIn profile also encourages students to get in the habit of maintaining an up-to-date resume. Don’t worry about whether or not your college-bound teen has had paid work experience – community service, volunteer projects and school activities are all relevant.

According to a study of LinkedIn demographics, while 67.7% of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 25-54, “the percentage of teenagers (18-24) has grown more than other age groups”.

For those familiar with LinkedIn, the site has recently made enhancements that make LinkedIn profiles more relevant to both high school and college students. New sections include Projects, Honors and Awards, Organizations, Test Scores and Courses, in short all items a college applicant would already have summarized and at their finger tips.

After building a LinkedIn profile, students should start building a network – connecting to people they know who would act as a positive reference. That could be a manager from a summer job or internship, a teacher, a sports coach or a volunteer coordinator.

Among the items you’ll want to highlight in a teenage LinkedIn profile and traditional resume:

• A succinct statement of college and/or career goals
• Education experience including AP / IB / advanced / honors courses taken
• Skills and qualifications – for example, Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), social networking,public speaking, written communication, etc.
• Academic enrichment (summer programs)
• Academic awards and recognition
• Athletic, visual and performing arts and extracurricular activities, awards and leadership positions
• Work, volunteer and/or community service experience
• If you include a photo (recommended), have a photo taken reflecting what you’d look like going into a job interview

Make sure that everything in your new LinkedIn profile is accurate and consistent with your college applications, and just like your college applications everything must be 100% truthful. The former CEO of Yahoo left the company after it was discovered his resume was not entirely accurate (read more…)

Now that you have a LinkedIn presence, start building your LinkedIn network (the ultimate benefit of LinkedIn) by reaching out to contacts related to your profile (note: only people with LinkedIn profiles can connect to your profile).

Equally important is locking down (or removing) online information you don’t want college recruiters to see – that means cleaning up and checking the privacy settings of social networking presences like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (read more…)

Related articles:

• College Recruiters Screen Applicants with Facebook Fridays – Protect Your Privacy
• High School Internships 101: How to Hire, Manage and Inspire a High School Intern
• Volunteering Looks Good on College Applications And Feels Good
• The College Admissions Process: Counselor Caroline Rubio on Getting the Right “Fit”