The academic honors society Beta Gamma Sigma presented the LinkedIn Workshop on Tuesday afternoon.

Patricia Chastain, Texas Wesleyan University’s student employment coordinator, educated students on how to improve their LinkedIn profiles and provided free headshots before and after the workshop.

“I am a diehard LinkedIn junkie,” said Chastain.

Before her work in the university life, she was a human resources recruiter and mass recruited around the world for many companies, Chastain said.

While 94 percent of the recruiters out there today use LinkedIn to find their employees, only 30 percent of students use it. Students are missing out on a huge opportunity, Chastain said. 

If a student is going to graduate this year, they need to begin searching and applying for jobs by mid-March, that means applying to five to six jobs every month. This is where LinkedIn can benefit students, Chastain said.

“LinkedIn is a business to business networking site and that is what it is used for,” she said.

The overall profile, including profile picture, title, experience, and education, was covered in the workshop.

Profile Picture: LinkedIn is not Facebook, so a professional profile picture is the best choice. If any student is in need of a profile picture, on March 7 she has set aside to take headshots at Glick House, Chastain said.

Title: Write a title for what you want to be. Companies want to know who you are and what you can do for them, Chastain said.

“A good title will get you everywhere on LinkedIn, everywhere,” she said.

Experience: Experience comes from everything, she said.

“How many of you are in an organization? How many of you work? How many of you volunteer? How many of you are on a sports team? All of that needs to be under experience,” she said. “Everything you do can relate to what you want to do. We just have to figure out the language to make it fit.”

Even working at McDonald’s is important and significant, Chastain said.

“Here’s the thing, I would much rather hire a 3.2, don’t get me wrong I love a 4.0, who has had to work their butt off all through college than a 4.0 who has done nothing,” she said. “Because that to me is persistence, that to me is consistency, that to me is hard work, teamwork, all that above… Those jobs are important.”

Education: Under education, you want to place you major, minor and any significant course work because that is how human resources will find you, Chastain said.

Groups and Jobs: By linking to groups and companies, you are exposed to the workforce world. The information they disclose to their followers, including you, will prepare you for the interview. You will be able to reciprocate their top news and be updated on any changes when questioned about the company, Chastain said.

When searching a business or job on LinkedIn, it is recommended you use filter Texas Wesleyan alumni, this way you have a connection with an individual who currently works there, Chastain said.

“Alumni help alumni, they treat Wesleyan well, and they’re going to treat you well,” she said

LinkedIn is a student’s number one tool that they are not using efficiently, so we need to update their LinkedIn accounts to get their careers going forward, Chastain said.

“I don’t care what school you go to, a university can provide you a foundation that is what we are here for,” she said. “It is up to you how you build on that foundation. The more you connect the more information you get and the more you build your foundation.”

Jazmine Ahumada heard about the workshop from her professor, Dr. Sarah Roche.

“I actually don’t have one, so I am going to go create one after this,” Ahumada said.

Mirella Puga will make some changes to her LinkedIn after attending the workshop.

“I was interested in LinkedIn because I currently have a LinkedIn account right now, but it doesn’t look as good as I want it to look,” Puga said. “I came in to get more insight about LinkedIn and the different features that it offers so it can help me whenever I am searching for a job.”

If anyone need to help perfecting their LinkedIn profile, visit Glick House and Patricia Chastain will be more than happy to help.