A guide for a High School Student’s LinkedIn presence. Stand out to get discovered.
High school students can follow these simple steps to create a simple yet effective LinkedIn profile that reflects your interests, aspirations, efforts, and achievements. It will also help in connecting with peers, seniors, mentors, and professionals in your field. It will expose you to many opportunities: getting discovered by the world at large and decision makers looking for talent.
Step 1: Join the Platform and Set Up a Profile
- Go to the LinkedIn website or download the LinkedIn mobile app and create an account. Use an email address that you plan to use long-term, ideally forever, and create a strong password.
- Complete the profile with your name, current education (high school grade), and location.
- You can use “student” as your current position.
Step 2: Profile & Cover Image
- Choose a professional-looking profile photo. It should be a clear, high-resolution headshot where you are dressed appropriately and looking into the camera.
- Avoid using group images, selfies, or pictures with distracting backgrounds.
- Choose a complementary mage for the cover, which reflects your area of interest and aspirations.
Step 3: Headline
- Your headline should be concise and highlight your career aspirations and interests.
- For example: “High School Student Passionate about Mathematics and Its Application in Social Justice.”
- Briefly mention key achievements and positions that you have in school clubs or outside organizations.
Step 4: About
- Write an engaging summary that showcases your personality, interests, skills, and career goals.
- Keep it concise but factually informative and remember to use keywords related to your interests and aspirations.
- Use the “Featured” section to include your work in school or project achievements. Mention the awards or titles won till date.
- Highlight any extracurricular activities, projects, competitive participations or volunteer experiences relevant to your career goals. See profile examples for students for inspiration.
- Use the “Skills” section to highlight your abilities. Choose the skills from the list that represent your true personality and achievements.
Step 5: Experience
- In this section, list any work experiences, internships, summer programs, and/or volunteer positions, starting with the most recent ones. These items feed into effective student profiling and help in improving application chances.
- Include the organization’s name, your position/title, and a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements for each of the set.
- Focus on skills like teamwork, communication, leadership, and problem-solving—whatever you learnt or showed during this experience.
Step 6: Education
- Add your high school, graduation year, and any relevant coursework and achievements.
- If you’re taking any advanced courses, such as AP or IB, highlight them in this section.
- This is the best place to showcase any certifications you may have completed outside of school education.
Step 7: Skills
- List relevant skills that you possess, both soft and technical. Examples can be youth leadership, content creation, medical social work, computer skills, language proficiency, or specific skills that you may have.
- You can add up to 50 skills. Focus on quality over quantity—reflect your personality. Colleges and businesses look for authenticity.
Step 8: Recommendations
- Request recommendations from teachers, mentors, or supervisors who can vouch for your skills and character.
- You can also ask your network and people who know you well to endorse your skills.
- Personalized recommendations add credibility to your profile.
Step 9: Networking
- Follow and connect with classmates, seniors, teachers, alumni, and professionals in fields you’re interested in.
- Send out personalized connection requests with brief messages explaining why you want to connect. Make use of the free credits every month.
Step 10: Regular Engagement
- Engage with content relevant to your interests by liking, commenting, and reposting. Stay active and engage regularly to get the algorithms to work for you.
- Express your own thoughts, experiences, or any information related to your field of interest. Try posting regularly, but not excessively.
- Join LinkedIn groups related to your interests and career goals to network with like-minded individuals. Review LinkedIn profile examples for students to see formats that work.
Step 11: Privacy Settings
- Review and adjust your privacy settings to control who can see your profile and activity.
- Make your profile visible to the public if you’re comfortable; you’ll be discoverable by the world at large.
Step 12: Stay Consistent
- Periodically update your profile with new experiences, skills, achievements, and project details. Keeping a record of example of a student profile or project notes helps maintain accuracy.
- Keep your profile refreshed and relevant on regular basis, to showcase your new experiences and achievements over time.
Conclusion
It’s never too late to start your student digital profile journey with an effective LinkedIn profile. Get ready to be discovered by the decision makers and to the world, the way you want to.
And if you are looking for professional support, connect with a team at Student Profile Pro. They are world’s leading agency in students branding and profiling services. Pro team offers student profiling and personal branding examples for students, helping them become more visible and improve application chances for college selections. Your story. Their spotlight.
Your story. Their spotlight.