What’s the Buzz about LinkedIn?

If you're anything like I was in undergrad, you may have heard of a professional networking site called LinkedIn, where someone in class may have advised you to join the site to utilize its great career resources and connect with professionals. After hearing about it, I went home and created a pretty simple profile. I then let it sit as I came to the realization that hardly anyone I knew was on this site, and my list of people to connect appeared to be pretty short. It was not until years later, when I started my work in a career center that I realized how valuable this site really is.

Reasons Why You Should Join LinkedIn

LinkedIn is your online resume and more
There is a lot more information available on a LinkedIn profile than would be available on a resume. You have your work history, school history, bio, web sites and how much work you have put into networking with other professionals. Which says a lot about who you are and how serious you are about the industry you are in.

LinkedIn is like having a website
For those who don’t have a website or a means to have people locate them on Google, LinkedIn fills that void. I know that I see my personal LinkedIn profile come up in Google near the top of the results. This can help other professionals find you if they have lost your phone number or email address. It can also help other companies locate you if they are interested in hiring you for contract or full time work.

Job Opportunities
Aside from the job postings section, you can join groups and participate in discussions. Many employers will post opportunities within the discussion sections of various groups. Additional job postings for current students or recent grads can be found at: www.linkedin.com/studentgrads

Groups
Joining relevant groups on LinkedIn allows you to extend your personal brand and also reach out to more people as you can contact many group member directly (depending on their privacy setting). Groups are useful for news postings, discussion boards, updates in general, networking, questions and answers and so forth.

Stay in touch with professionals
This site helps you keep in touch with colleagues, or other professionals you may have met, whether they are prior supervisor or a recruiter you recently talked with at a career fair.

Ask for Advice
Get answers to your questions from other professionals using LinkedIn Answers. You can easily ask a question on LinkedIn to find help from other industry professionals. Their answers area is very helpful and there are always quick responses to your questions. It can even be a way for you to further network beyond the normal benefits of getting a quick and reliable answer to your questions. You can also join groups in areas of interest and ask relevant questions for members to respond to.

Get recommended by other professionals
You can easily get recommended by other professionals that you have worked with by just asking. These recommendations add a lot of power to your ability to get hired or your caliber of professionalism within your industry.

Make your interview go smoother
You can use LinkedIn to research companies and also find the people that you’re meeting. Knowing that you went to the same school, plays basketball, or shares acquaintances is a lot better than an awkward silence after, “I’m doing fine, thank you.”

It isn’t Facebook
LinkedIn is strictly professional. You can share what you want on your profile, and do not run the risk of having something inappropriate that your friend decides to post on your wall.

For more information on LinkedIn and building your profile, visit the LinkedIn Learning Center

Liberal Arts & Sciences + Internships = Info Session (2/28)

Are you a UW-Madison L&S student thinking about internships?

Attend the "Internships in the Liberal Arts & Sciences Info Session"

Tuesday February 28, 2012

4:30-5:30pm

Room 120, Middleton Building

Learn about:

• what makes a quality internship experience
• the L&S internship scholarship
• AND hear the experiences of former L&S interns!

For more information contact L&S Career Services.

Which Fork is for Salad?

Have you ever felt embarrassed at a fancy dinner when you realize you don’t have your napkin on your lap like everyone else does, or you’re not sure which fork to use?

You can learn what to do in such a situation by attending the Etiquette Dinner on Monday, February 20, hosted by L&S Career Services. Etiquette Professional Susan Richardson, owner of Etiquette Essentials, will be presenting.

At the dinner, you’ll learn about how to properly pass food to others at your table, how to signal to your waiter that you are finished with your meal, and many other etiquette necessities.

These tips are all needed in any social situation where you will be dining with someone you want to impress. Plus, business dinners will most likely occur in your life, no matter what field you go into. You don’t want to be the one to make a faux pas while interviewing or working with a potential client.

What better way is there to learn about etiquette than enjoying a four course gourmet meal in a non-intimidating atmosphere?

The meal is at the University Club from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner includes a vegetarian soup; salad; smoked Gouda, artichoke and garlic stuffed chicken served with linguini and peas; and cheesecake with assorted toppings for dessert. The vegetarian option will have eggplant parmesan.

Business casual attire is highly recommended.

Buy your tickets today on BuckyNet – they’re selling fast! Go to: http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/careers/buckynet/index.html to either sign in or create an account.

Recap of L&S Career Services Winter Break Job Shadow Program

The L&S Career Services Job Shadow Program, which occurred during Winter Break (January 3 to 20, 2012) was a very successful opportunity for approximately 95 students to visit 12 employers in major geographical regions of the U.S. The goal of the program was for students to explore their career interests and goals, learn about various types of job functions at an employer, and build a network of professionals and mentors. In turn, students were able to identify internship and full-time opportunities available at the employers.

Most of the employer hosts were UW alumni that either worked directly with L&S Career Services (as former clients and/or as current recruiters) or with other UW affiliated programs. The alumni hosts provided opportunities for students to observe meetings, go on informational interviews, do case studies, and get some hands-on practice with various job functions.


The host employers of the job shadow program included:

American Field Service (AFS-USA)
Brunswick Group, LLC
Coyote Logistics
Direct Supply
Google
GRAEF
Kohl’s
LaSalle Investment Management
Madison No Fear Dentistry
Starcom Mediavest Group
Summit Commercial Finance
Teach for America

Presently, L&S Career Services is receiving feedback from the students and employer hosts about how the program went. Included in these evaluations will be testimonials about the program, that will be featured in an upcoming blog post and included in publications about about the program. We expect to do a program during Spring Break (April 2 through 6, 2012) and other timely periods of the academic year.

For now, I close this particular blog post with the following testimonial from a student participant, a sneak preview of more to come!

“I just wanted to say thank you for providing me with the resources to partake in a job shadow this winter break. I truly enjoyed the time I spent at Madison No Fear Dentistry. Sometime as a student you can get lost in a textbook and forget why you were inspired to pursue the field you are pursuing. Shadow days like these bring that inspiration back to life and reassure me that a medical field is worth the pursuing.”

If you are a student or employer that would be interested in participating in the job shadow program (as a student) or hosting students (as an employer), you are welcome to contact Greg Iaccarino, Career and Internship Advisor and Job Shadow Coordinator, L&S Career Services, at gjiaccar@wisc.edu or (608) 265-9205.

An Interviewing Experience

I participated in Mock Interview Day sponsored by Letters & Science Career Services in the fall of 2011. I call it "an experience interview."

Before we started, I asked my interviewer to be very critical about my performance. We spent about 45 minutes discussing my resume, going over specific experiences in great detail. The interviewer covered almost every section of my resume and, thus, helped me see what kind of questions each section raised.
There were several questions that I had never thought I would be asked, even given my thorough preparation. For example:
1. What is your secret for a 4.0 GPA?
2. What was your favorite class in graduate school and why?
3. What was your favorite professional experience and why?

Now, it seems obvious to me that these questions can be asked during the interview, but at that time I was preparing for other types of questions focusing on demonstration of leadership, team work, problem solving, conflict resolution, etc.

I am really grateful to my interviewer. After 10 seconds she managed to make me feel very comfortable and open up. This way, she could really see me as a potential employee.

I highly recommend Mock Interview Day to everyone. My interviewer was REAL: a vice president of Human Resources at one of the computer software companies based in Milwaukee. I believe that everyone will benefit from a real employer's advice.

Thank you Letters & Science for providing this opportunity for students.

Daria Fedyukina is a graduate student in the chemistry department at UW-Madison.

Spring Mock Interview Day
Tuesday, February 28
1:00 - 5:00 pm
Wisconsin Idea Room, Education Building
OR
Wednesday, March 7
1:00 - 5:00 pm
Wisconsin Idea Room, Education Building

Sign up on Buckynet beginning February 13!