Leveraging LinkedIn: For the Fresh out of College

On one hand there are opportunities, On the other hand there are a number of people who do not get jobs. It is also sad to see a lot of people not very happy and successful with decisions that they have taken early on in their career. When there are platforms like social media available, information divide is actually non-existent. However the onus is on every individual to harness the power of this platform. In an effort to help, the Fresh out of college, it is my endeavor to publish relevant insights in an FAQ format:

Why does a student study?

The objective is to get a job.

What purpose does a job serve?

1. Helps the student to earn a livelihood, thereby making them independent and also execute responsibilities to take care of the near and dear.

2. An avenue for the student to express themselves as a professional, giving vent to their creative and intellectual needs.

3. Facilitates the student to lay the foundations for a career, which helps them evolve continuously until the end of their professional lives.

Distractions while choosing your company

1. Brand

2. Salaries

3. Work Place close to home

4. Glamour associated with the company as perceived by the people at large

5. Position involving Overseas Travel

6. Five Day Week

7. Great Office Address

8. MNC

9. Work from Home

10. Your close friends or relatives are working in the company

Components of a Job

1. Knowledge

2. Skills

3. Attributes

4. Tasks

Irrespective of the different kinds of jobs available and the choices available, any decision to choose a job or a career has to be a function of an individual’s

1. Basic level of Knowledge, Skills and Attributes required to perform a job in the chosen area

2. Flair, Ability to easily understand, assimilate and learn Knowledge and Skills in the chosen area

3. Temperament to execute the job

4. Necessary attributes to do the job

5. Enjoy doing the job in the chosen area(one could easily do the job but still may not enjoy doing the job).

Recognizing Employer’s perspective before the Job Hunt

1. Who would pay your salary?
Please remember, always it is your prospective employer’s customers who will pay your salary.

2. Why would she/he pay your salary?
For the services rendered by your prospective employer, who in turn passes a portion of the money realized to you as a salary.

3. How competitive is it for your prospective employer to run a business?
Acquiring business can be very demanding and your prospective employer has to be extremely well organized and have a very efficient and knowledgeable work force to stay ahead of competition.

4. What would the expectation of the prospective employers be from his employees?
To be competent, skilful, knowledgeable and efficient so that the employer may serve the employer’s customers well and earn a profit to sustain and scale the business. Remember, there can be no free lunches.

What could be the impact of being hired from the colleges directly?

1. While being hired from a college, you are hired for your potential. There is an initial learning curve.

2. We are all aware that there is a gap between what the academia offers and what the Industry needs.

3. In the case of Software service organizations, it is common knowledge that Software majors, conduct training program for nearly three months, before they deploy their engineers on projects. Clearly this represents a cost for the Software service organizations which eat into their profits and profitability.

4. Irrespective of the organizations, there is a learning curve before an employee becomes productive after joining fresh from college.

Equipping yourself for your job hunt

1. Recognize emerging world order

2. Recognize technology trends and its impact on markets and culture

3. Recognize emerging markets and market trends

4. Recognize job trends

5. Recognize best business practices

Overcoming the Industry Academia disconnect

Information about technology, markets, business best practices and jobs need to be available to make informed choices

Who will provide you with Industry connect?

1. Alumni Connect, Alumni who work far and wide are the first natural choice for the industry connect and information

2. Professionals working in the respective industries

3. Human Resource professionals

4. Industry bodies like CII

5. Events and Conferences which will again allow you to network with professionals

How will you set the boundaries of your job hunt?
It is important that you identify companies which can employ you based on

1. Academic Background

2. Knowledge

3. Skills

4. Attributes

5. Temperament

The companies that you can identify is a finite set. It is imperative that you draw the list of companies

Based on your capability and expertise, after having chosen a target set of companies, what are the parameters you will try to understand about the target companies?

1. Role, which offers professional growth and means to express oneself

2. Area of work which can have an impact on the future growth

3. Growth potential of the chosen companies and prospect of the industry

4. Core values of the organization

5. Compensation and benefits

6. Location & brand

Point no. 1 through 4 are very critical, 5 and 6 are less significant

How do you think LinkedIn can help you ascertain this information?

1. Follow company: Company information gives information about the company, the employees, employee insights and their followers

2. Show Case Pages: Gives information about the company’s product and services and also about the customer experiences

3. Groups: Participation and conducting them enhances your social media experience and gives you a greater visibility and reach.

4. Sharing Updates can help you foster an ecosystem around you.

What Purpose does your LinkedIn Profile Serve?

1. You create an identity for yourself with the Linked In profile. You create a reputation and social media presence for yourself by participating in groups, sharing updates and conversing intelligently.

2. The process of creating a reputation and social media presence helps you to develop relationships through connections.

3. By developing relationships with professionals in other companies you can get a reality connect about

• Available Jobs and associated trends
• Prevailing Market compensation
• Information about growth prospects within an organization
• Local Geo political conditions at work place
• And any of the other aspects that you want to know about target companies that you want to apply

If a lot of associated information is already available on the Internet, how is the information available on Linked In different from the one available on Internet?

In Linked In, the information can be validated with reliable trusted contacts.

What are the basic hygiene factors that you will adopt before deciding to connect?

You must set up proper LinkedIn profile which showcases your capabilities well.

How does a connection get converted to a relationship?

You need to reach out to the connection and start interacting with the connection; only then seeds of relationships are sown.

As a job Seeker, what are the things that you will do to increase your social media presence?

1. Social Media presence is an activity that requires considerable application and gets established over a period of time.

2. You may write blogs, effectively participate in groups, share valuable information consistently, and converse intelligently to acquire appreciable Social media presence.

What could be the ideal network size? At what rate should it increase? Is there any specific LinkedIn regimen that you should arrive?

One cannot determine an ideal network size. However it is the quality that matters. It is important to connect with trusted sources. Your connections must happen on a regular basis. The whole world is your playing ground.

Keeping your needs and future needs in mind, you will benefit by a robust LinkedIn regimen. The regimen could include writing blogs, participating actively in groups, sharing updates, improving your connections and converting them into relationships.