Building Your Digital Avatar Using LinkedIn
Guest Post by Maitreyi Bodkhe
After more than a year of Zoom school and professors encouraging everyone to turn on their cameras, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering my social media usage and digital identity. One of my favorite pandemic activities has been creating quirky Zoom backgrounds for team meetings. This was fun until I walked into an interview with an Elon Musk meme as my background. I hope this blog post helps you avoid such career blunders and encourages you to scrutinize your digital Avatar, which you can leverage for wider job opportunities.
We constantly share snippets of our life online. Almost everything that you have ever posted, shared, commented or liked is floating out there somewhere in the `Meta`verse! If you have never Googled yourself, now is the time. What pops up on the first page of results? (I hope it’s not your old Dubsmash video on YouTube.) As you go through your time at university, and take on volunteer positions, part-time jobs, co-op positions and eventually full-time jobs, it is likely that potential employers will Google you. As you build your digital identity, it is important that your Google search results leave a good impression.
As an upper year student, I’ve spent a lot of time creating a brief reflection of my entire identity, or as I refer to it, my digital Avatar: my LinkedIn Profile. Using LinkedIn, I was able to secure an internship at one of the largest tech companies, and a full-time job at a well-known consulting firm, more than a year before graduating. From connecting with mentors to researching future employers, LinkedIn has been an important part of my professional journey. Just like Facebook rebranded to ‘Meta’ – let’s revamp your LinkedIn profile and leverage that network!
Linkedin allows recording your name in your voice for 10 seconds. Great feature to help people who may not know the correct pronunciation of your name.
My tech internship recruiter actually checked my LinkedIn before the interview and appreciated the audio clip.
Connections
You need to find, approach and connect with folks you already know, folks you would like to know and folks you should know. Pro Tip – add Santa Ono on LinkedIn and magically most of the UBC network turns into 2nd connections. As you build your network, I recommend reaching out to alumni who graduated 2-3 years ago. They have experience within the industry and also still relate to student life. Establishing mentor-mentee relationships is less awkward if you have lots to talk about (like your favorite UBC cafe and that notorious ECON final). With the pandemic, traditional coffee chats have turned into Zoom meetings so have fun connecting with those in Toronto and London (just remember to calculate time-zones accurately when sending meeting invites).
Personalized connection requests don’t have to be cold. Ensure that the digital Avatar reflects your true personality and a genuine interest in learning about the industry. I usually scan a LinkedIn profile to look for common interests, current or previous jobs, mutual connections or university courses taken, etc. Next, while writing a personalized note for the connection request, I reference a fact from the profile. Personally, LinkedIn has also helped me make new friends in cities I moved to for summer internships.
Managing Endorsements
Be proactive in managing your endorsements list in the Skills section of your profile – you can choose which skills to show, and which to hide. Make sure you emphasize the skills most important for your job search! Endorsements from your coworkers and managers add immense credibility to your profile.
Pick someone who you work with closely and can vouch for your professional or academic qualifications. An endorsement for advanced econometrics, from your friend who studies Psychology, can look questionable.
Skills Assessment
The online test allows you to demonstrate the level of your skills, and display a Verified Skills badge on your profile. Displaying the results of your assessments is entirely voluntary, and you can retake the tests as often as you like before showing that you’ve passed. A wide range of skills assessments are available including AWS, C++, Java, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, QuickBooks, WordPress etc.
Review a job description that you are interested in to identify skills your LinkedIn page should highlight. Recruiters often use skills keywords to filter candidates, so demonstrate your industry specific knowledge.
Profile and Background Photo
These are the most visual elements at the top of your profile page. It will help your page stand out and engage attention. Many UBC departments have a LinkedIn headshots event at the start of the term, do check it out.
Remember: Don’t be shy- LinkedIn is an appropriate place to show off your achievements, experience, courses, and GPA. Let the world know! A thoughtful LinkedIn presence can skyrocket your career and professional relationships. Make the most of available resources and pursue the job-search with confidence. Gen Z is a social media pro, LinkedIn doesn’t have to be intimidating.
Supplemental Resources
UBC’s Digital Tattoo Project has great resources including an Academic and Professional Life Self-Assessment Quiz to evaluate your digital identity in the job market. The Digital Tattoo Project took to the streets to find out what UBC students know about ‘cyber-vetting’, or online vetting–when potential employers vet people’s online presence or “internet reputation” on social network services such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
UBC’s Centre for Student Involvement & Careers has great resources to build your Linkedin profile, and their advisors can also help review the specifics of your profile. Connect with an advisor or co-op office in your faculty to identify do’s and not-to-do’s for the industry.
Vancouver Public Library: The VPL helps job searchers navigate the “hidden job market”, a term that applies to the 80% of job vacancies which do not get posted and can only be accessed through personal connections.
Ten Thousand Coffees: Create a free profile on The UBC Hub to join the mentoring platform, and receive monthly mentor matches specific to your area of interest. It will help you gain insight on global job markets and industries, receive feedback on job search materials and online profiles, or conduct informational interviews.
LinkedIn Alumni Tool: A free tool that lets you explore the alumni networks from more than 23,000 colleges and universities worldwide. It allows you to filter through major, company, job function, geographic location, connections, and LinkedIn skills.
LinkedIn Learning: As a UBC student, you have full access to the LinkedIn Learning tool. In this tool, you can find short courses and individual videos to help you develop employable skills and learn about career options. When you complete a course on LinkedIn Learning, you’ll have the opportunity to add a course certificate to your LinkedIn profile.
Written By: Maitreyi Bodkhe, UBC Economics Undergraduate
Edited By: Britt Dzioba & Alex Kuskowski
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