{"id":622,"date":"2021-06-16T07:45:56","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T06:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/?p=622"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:07:08","slug":"how-to-get-started-on-linkedin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/06\/16\/how-to-get-started-on-linkedin\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get started on LinkedIn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Skills Co-Creator Ciara explains how she has used LinkedIn to build her digital identity, network with others and search for a placement.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@uniofbath\/video\/6979989960418086149\" data-video-id=\"6979989960418086149\" data-embed-from=\"oembed\" style=\"max-width:605px; min-width:325px;\">\n<section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@uniofbath\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@uniofbath?refer=embed\">@uniofbath<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Join Ciara from the Skills Centre to learn about the importance of Digital Identity Management <a title=\"learnontiktok\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/learnontiktok?refer=embed\">#LearnOnTikTok<\/a> <a title=\"uniofbath\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/uniofbath?refer=embed\">#uniofbath<\/a> <a title=\"bathuni\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/bathuni?refer=embed\">#bathuni<\/a> <a title=\"skills\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/tag\/skills?refer=embed\">#skills<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c original sound - University of Bath\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/original-sound-6979989860593535750?refer=embed\">\u266c original sound - University of Bath<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Although it's hard to test, I believe my LinkedIn profile played a role in my placement search. There are a few tips I'd give you to make sure you\u2019re making the most of it. Feel free to add me and reach out if you want any help! (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ciara-sherlock\">www.linkedin.com\/in\/ciara-sherlock<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Digital identity management<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Although we've always been warned about how we post and come across on social media, most students forget how social media can be used to build your online identity and help with your job search.<\/p>\n<p>I started to develop my LinkedIn profile in my first year. LinkedIn is a great example of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/unihub.bath.ac.uk\/students\/workflows\/detail\/66\">digital identity management<\/a>\u00a0and has made a huge impact both on my career prospects and building my network.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Top tips to set up your profile<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-608 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3-1024x555.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of my LinkedIn banner image showing my profile picture and headline.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3-768x416.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3-397x215.png 397w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3.png 1240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Profile picture<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Employers like to put a face to a name, so when you submit your CV, whether the link to your profile is on it or not, they will most likely search for you to see what you look like and to see what you post.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve used two main images for my profile picture - one is the one pictured, and the other was where I was dressed casually and was smiley and it had the campus lake in the background. As long as it\u2019s appropriate and professional it will be perfect.<\/p>\n<p>For reference I used the digital platform \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\">Canva<\/a>\u2019 to create the heading image pictured. Canva is free and a great tool for digital creation!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Headline<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>On LinkedIn you can put a \u2018headline\u2019 under your name, which is designed to tell your connections key information about you. You want a good headline as this should help catch people\u2019s attention and communicate to possible connections who you are.<\/p>\n<p>So, this should include what year, course and university you are at, any current roles you hold in a job or society, and any other key information you think is relevant.<\/p>\n<p>For example, mine is:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<em>Incoming placement student at SAP | 2nd Year Management student at University of Bath | Recipient of The Susanne Admiraal Scholarship | OYW Delegate | Co-Chair of the OYW Student Organising Committee |\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Networking<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Of course, you should add people, but for LinkedIn to make an impact on your placement search, you need to add relevant people.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning you\u2019ll probably add people you already know, students doing the same course as you, lecturers and so forth.<\/p>\n<p>But what I did, if possible, was add the people who were interviewing me before the interview, or after if I didn\u2019t know who they were beforehand. Not only do they get a notification when you view their profile but by adding them it forces them to look at your profile which is exactly what you want.<\/p>\n<p>I used my LinkedIn to get my personality and passions across, which were from the posts I share. I also used it as a digital CV; if any work experience wasn\u2019t relevant enough to put on my CV, I\u2019d put it on LinkedIn and that way employers can still see it and keep it in mind.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any more tips for setting up your LinkedIn profile, please share them in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skills Co-Creator Ciara explains how she has used LinkedIn to build her digital identity, network with others and search for a placement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1423,"featured_media":608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[61,63,81,103],"tags":[116,117,113,118],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-skills","category-employability","category-online-learning","category-student-skills-ambassador","tag-digital-skills","tag-employability","tag-linkedin","tag-networking"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture3.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":621,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/06\/16\/why-theres-more-to-digital-skills-than-microsoft-office\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":0},"title":"Why there's more to digital skills than Microsoft Office!","author":"Ciara Sherlock","date":"June 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In this blog Skills Co-Creator and 2nd Year Management student Ciara Sherlock shares\u00a0how\u00a0she has been developing her digital skills to support her studies and her future career. https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@uniofbath\/video\/6979554485664337158?lang=en&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6979609393483548165 You may be aware that the University is encouraging students to assess their digital skills because of their growing importance for studying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Collaboration and group working&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Collaboration and group working","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/capabilities-framework\/group-working\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cartoon of Microsoft Teams with a laptop in the middle showing the Teams logo. Includes avatars connected in a virtual network and other icons depicting Teams functions.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/Picture1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1376,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2024\/12\/07\/exploring-linkedin-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":1},"title":"Exploring LinkedIn Learning","author":"Lola Osinoiki","date":"December 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While my lectures provide core subject knowledge, LinkedIn Learning offers focused, practical courses that have already helped me approach my studies and build employability skills. How LinkedIn Learning Works LinkedIn Learning courses typically begin with an introductory section, followed by chapters broken into bite-sized video lessons. These are often accompanied\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":633,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/06\/16\/how-to-get-your-head-around-digital-skills\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":2},"title":"How to get your head around digital skills!","author":"Asha Dey","date":"June 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Skills Co-Creator Asha Dey explains how the Jisc self-assessment tool helped her reflect on and develop her digital skills. Having grown up with technology as part of our lives, it\u2019s easy to believe that our generation has all the digital skills we need for both our courses at University and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Collaboration and group working&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Collaboration and group working","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/capabilities-framework\/group-working\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"People working at laptops on a desk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/06\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":497,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2020\/09\/14\/dont-get-left-behind-in-the-digital-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":3},"title":"Don\u2019t get left behind in the digital revolution","author":"Kevin Renfrew","date":"September 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Today\u2019s Generation Z students are referred to as \u2018digital natives\u2019 \u2013 those born in the digital age who have grown up around smartphones, social media and a host of other technologies that simply didn\u2019t exist until relatively recently. Whilst you may feel reasonably confident about your digital skills at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Digital &amp; GenAI literacy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Digital &amp; GenAI literacy","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/capabilities-framework\/digital-skills\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Group of five students working on laptops and smartphone.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2020\/09\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2020\/09\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2020\/09\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2020\/09\/digital-skills.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":576,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/04\/22\/our-writing-tutorial-experience-the-benefits\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":4},"title":"Our writing tutorial experience: the benefits","author":"Ciara Sherlock","date":"April 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In this blog, two student ambassadors, Mackyla and Ciara, share their personal experiences of writing tutorials. A writing tutorial is a 50-minute session with a tutor from the Skills Centre, where you get one-to-one feedback and advice on a specific piece of writing. The piece of writing does not need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academic writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academic writing","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/academic-skills\/academic-writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Student taking part in a one-to-one writing tutorial with a Skills Centre writing tutor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/04\/one2one-support-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/04\/one2one-support-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/04\/one2one-support-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/04\/one2one-support-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2021\/04\/one2one-support-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2025\/06\/04\/digital-sustainability-and-employability\/","url_meta":{"origin":622,"position":5},"title":"Digital sustainability and Employability","author":"Lola Osinoiki","date":"June 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Digital sustainability\u2014sounds like a buzzword, right? It's about keeping our online lives environmentally friendly, managing technology responsibly and reducing the negative impacts of techn. Every Google search, TikTok scroll and ChatGPT conversation uses energy. The tech industry is one of the biggest energy consumers worldwide, data centres overconsume energy and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employability&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employability","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/category\/employability\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image with technology elements nd blue that reads Digital Sustainabili","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/06\/sus.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/06\/sus.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/06\/sus.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2025\/06\/sus.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}