Sprott Event: Launch and Leverage Your LinkedIn
As LinkedIn becomes an increasingly used tool in the professional and recruiting world, Sprott hosted an inaugural Launch and Leverage Your LinkedIn event for students. Held in September, this event helped undergraduate and graduate students understand the importance of LinkedIn in the business world, strengthen their LinkedIn accounts and learn about personal branding.
The morning session was titled Launch Your LinkedIn, which focused on the basics of getting a strong LinkedIn account up and running. John Fleischauer, COO of Pivot + Edge and LinkedIn expert, led this session with a hands-on workshop where students had the opportunity to create a profile. It was followed by a four person panel where professionals in HR and recruiting spoke about how they use LinkedIn.
“We’re not just saying this is a useful tool, we want to be able to confirm that those in hiring and recruitment capacities are relying on it and show how are they relying on it,” explained Jen Warren, the Sprott MBA Internship Coordinator who organized the event.
“I feel that the greatest takeaway of the day for students was witnessing and hearing firsthand the real world application of LinkedIn and how it does have an impact on your candidacy for an opportunity. I think some students, both at the undergrad and graduate level, might have been thinking to some degree that it’s an extra. But it’s now becoming more than that. It is becoming a necessity in terms of a tool in your professional portfolio.”
One of the panelists was Sprott alumna, Stephanie Ade, BCom/13. Stephanie worked in recruiting for four years and has seen thousands of resumes.
“As anybody who is in recruitment knows, LinkedIn is the tool. I don’t know if people understand how important it is to recruiters,” Stephanie expressed. She went on to give examples of the best ways to communicate with recruiters on LinkedIn. In a world where there is an overload of information, making the connection meaningful and memorable with recruiters helps individuals stand out.
Liam Bowes, a first year MBA candidate, said it was informative to hear from the recruiters on the panel.
“Listening to the panel speak about the importance of LinkedIn for recruiting was very helpful and illustrated the importance of using the platform to find and search for connections that may allow you to get a job or at least an interview,” said Liam. “The panel also spoke about how they use the platform as recruiters, giving us some insight into the flip side of the platform—finding candidates. This was also very helpful as it pointed out areas on your profile where they look for key pieces of information and how to tailor your profile to look more appealing to a recruiter.”
The afternoon session, Leveraging Your LinkedIn, focused on the personal branding aspect. Carleton alumna and LinkedIn expert, Michaela Alexis, was the keynote speaker. In 2016, her first article on LinkedIn went viral. She spoke to students about personal branding and how they could apply that to their LinkedIn profiles.
“It was a good discussion and eye opening that yes there are rules to follow to present yourself in a professional manner but it’s also about being genuine and your profile standing out as a true reflection of who you are,” Jen reflected on the afternoon session. “Depending on what path you intend to follow, you need to present yourself in a certain way. Finding that area where you can show a little more of your individual side will pay off in the end.”
Students left the sessions armed with new tools to strengthen their LinkedIn accounts and presence on that platform.
“After the Leverage Your LinkedIn workshop, I spent hours improving my profile,” said Yolanda Yin, a second year MBA candidate. “The tips offered by Michaela Alexis were so helpful. She reminded me of several details, which have been ignored since I registered my LinkedIn account. It was a great opportunity to learn directly from a LinkedIn Strategist about how to make our profile more interesting and attractive.”