LINKEDIN: A RITE OF PASSAGE FOR GRADUATES

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LinkedIn graduated today. Their initial public offering was priced at $45 and closed at more than double that. It's also graduation season for millions of U.S. college students. Are those students making effective use of LinkedIn as they enter a tough job market? I'm sure many of them are, but given the number of Facebook student faux pas, not all of them have professional control of their online reputations. This is a shout out to everyone in a position to mentor a student -- especially students getting ready to don their caps and gowns. LinkedIn has terrific resources for helping students and recent grads: LinkedIn Grad Guide Series of videos and Career Explorer. I especially love the advice given at the 2 min mark in the Step 1 Video: "LinkedIn is not for party photos or updates about your cat." Sounds obvious, but if a student's prior experience is with Facebook or Twitter, the distinction may not be clear. The Step 2 video shows how students can use file sharing applications to share portfolios of relevant work. Final projects, presentations, and the like are opportunities to show work product from classes, internships, or part-time jobs. Please, be a mentor. A Microsoft-sponsored survey showed that 70% of U.S. recruiters have rejected a candidate due to information found online (75% report that a review of online reputation is part of their formal process). 86% say a positive online reputation can be a help. The extent of online evaluation is apparently not well known amongst job candidates. The same survey shows only 7% of U.S. consumers believe that online information had affected their job search. You don't have to be an expert on the technology tool to be a mentor -- your expertise in the job market is what is of most importance. Graduation, both LinkedIn's and a student's, is a opportunity to talk about online reputations and job search.