Level Up Your Future: LinkedIn Profile Tips for High School Students

In today's digital age, establishing a strong online presence is crucial, even for high school students. LinkedIn, often perceived as a platform for seasoned professionals, can be a powerful tool for teenagers to start building their personal brand, explore career interests, and connect with mentors. This article provides comprehensive tips for high school students on how to create and optimize their LinkedIn profiles.

Why LinkedIn Matters for High School Students

While the professional world might seem distant, starting early on LinkedIn offers numerous advantages:

Early Career Exploration: LinkedIn helps high school students explore different career paths by researching professionals in their fields of interest and understanding their career trajectories.
Networking Opportunities: It provides a platform to connect with professionals, college representatives, and alumni, expanding their network and gaining valuable insights.
Showcasing Achievements: Students can highlight their academic achievements, extracurricular activities, volunteer experiences, and skills, creating a positive online presence for college admissions and future job opportunities.
Building a Personal Brand: LinkedIn allows students to actively define and shape their personal brand, showcasing their unique skills, interests, and aspirations. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says it’s what people say about you when you aren’t in the room. Whether you actively define your personal brand and live by it or not, you have a brand. Here’s an easy way to discover what your personal brand is today: Ask friends and teachers for 3 words that describe you. Look for patterns in what they say. Is that what you want to be known for or not?

Getting Started: Setting Up Your Profile

Age Requirement

As soon as you’re 16, you should start your profile.

Completing the Basics

There are several required fields to fill out like: first and last name, your headline, current position, industry, education, and location.

Professional Profile Picture

Your profile is 14 times more likely to be viewed if you have a photo. It should be a close up of you, and it should look professional. No need for a professional headshot. All of our mobile phones have sophisticated cameras. Get a friend to help you so it doesn’t look like a selfie but it’s a higher quality worthy of being your profile picture. Where a nice top, stand in front of a simple background, and take the picture close up to capture your face. It’s typically called a headshot, so you want a good picture of your head! Don’t use a photo from one of your other social media accounts. Dress in clothing appropriate for an internship interview, look straight at the camera, and smile. Crop the photo around your face.

Background Photo

While you’re at it, customize the background photo. Rather than the default blue with dots and lines, choose a picture that tells your story. The background image appears at the top of your profile. It’s the strip that appears behind your profile pic and above your name and headline. It’s one more detail to help you make a good first impression and stand out from the others. It also makes your page more visually appealing. If you click on the little camera icon in the top right-hand corner, you open up the widget that allows you to customize your image. You should note this is part of the profile that many adults don’t take advantage of. There is a lot of flexibility with these. Landscape pictures, quotes, and graphics with descriptive adjectives can all show a little of your personality and help your profile to stand out. Use a photo of you participating in an event that is relevant to your future career or current interests. An athlete could use a photo from a game. An artist could use an original drawing. Whatever you choose, use an image you own or get one from a free stock photo site like Pixabay.

Headline: Your Professional Slogan

Personalize your headline. Don’t use the default, which is your current job title. Show what you do and what makes you unique. The headline is a short, memorable professional slogan. Your headline (the line of text directly under your name) should tell people about your career goal or what you plan to study in college. You can also mention awards, immediate job goals (such as “Looking for a summer internship”) or causes you care about. Think about what makes you unique. What do you do now? What are you looking for? Have you figured out your career goals? What are you excited about in the future? What makes you different from the other high school students? Try to use words that will appeal to prospective employers. Your headline is one of the first things a recruiter will see.

Headline examples that might work for a high school student:

Creative high school sophomore seeking marketing internship
Resourceful, honor student looking for entry-level sales position
Motivated | Willing to Hustle | Grit
Honor Student | Strong Work Ethic | Creative Writing
Dependable | Determined | Driven

About Section: Tell Your Story

This is where you write about yourself. It’s common for people to write a brief description of their years of experience, accomplishments, and any notable skills they possess. The About section is similar to a college essay; this is where you can highlight your experience and qualifications while also expressing a bit of your personality. The “About” section is an opportunity for you to summarize your education, experience, and passions. A good “About” section showcases your information in a clear and concise way. Share your goals - what do you want to do or accomplish? Talk about what you like do after school. Where your passions lie and why. Tell a story. This doesn’t need to be super long, but it needs to say something about you as a person.

I am {your name} and I am a student at {your high school}. I am involved in ABC club/team/activity and would love to find a related job in XYZ industry.

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I have been playing elite volleyball for eight years and I love science. I hope to pursue a career in physical therapy.

I am actively involved in student council and Spanish club and hope to work in business.

I help manage my household and care for my siblings in support of my single-mother. I hope to find a job in the restaurant industry to assist with financial support as well.

You can also write more conversationally and candidly if that makes you feel more comfortable.

I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. I have been learning C++, Java, HTML5 and CSS3. I would love a job as a video game tester and eventually I would like to create my own game Zombie Cobra Slayer.

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I love being part of the cheerleading squad, performing, and promoting school spirit. I think this experience will eventually help me find a job in marketing. I would love a job where I could use my public speaking skills.

Experience: Showcasing Your Achievements

List the jobs and volunteer positions you’ve held, whether they were full-time, part-time, or unpaid.

Do your best to choose the appropriate industry for your employer.

When you click to edit your experience, you will get a pop-up window for each job.

You will need to enter:

Title: This is where you type in your job title. Food server, landscaper, cashier, etc.
Location: This is the city, state, country where you work.
Do you still work here? You will be given the option to check the box if you are still employed with this company.
Start and end date: You will be given a calendar widget to enter the month and year of your employment. If you checked the box that you are still working for this employer, it will display your start date to present automatically.
Industry: Do your best to choose the appropriate industry for your employer.
Description: This is a large, open field where you can type up to 2,000 characters. You can follow the same format as on your resume and convert your bullet points into bullets in this section. You can also write a narrative in paragraph form. Try to use the same keywords that might appear in a job description. And don’t stress out if this section looks a little scarce. It’s ok! You are taking early steps towards your own career development.

Mention all your current work experience. For high school students, it’s common to not have worked too many jobs. List what high school you are attending. Any volunteering experience you have done, mention it in this section! Without a lot of real work experience, this is a place to stand out if you do have experience with volunteer work and community service. But then again, it’s ok if you don’t have anything here yet too. If you are working your way through school, you don’t have time to volunteer. That is ok! Highlight any special recognitions you’ve received. Have you taken part in any projects that demonstrate your leadership abilities or initiative? Include information about what you worked on and how you got it done.

Education: Highlighting Your Academic Journey

Of all the fields that are available in the education section, the only one that is required is the School Name. It’s up to you how much other detail you want to include. If you took my advice in the blog about writing your first resume in high school, and you created a worksheet with all the items you might want to include in your resume, you are already a step ahead! I would put everything you can in this section. If you decide to go to college, many schools have university pages as well.

Degree: You can just write high school here.
Field of Study: You can write “General Studies” here or if you have taken electives in a specific field you want to highlight, go ahead and type.
Think about all of your extracurricular activities. You may want to do a draft of this in a separate Word or Google Doc so you can edit it to meet the character limit. Then copy and paste.
Description: Another open-ended field with 1,000 character limit. You can tell more of your high school story and talk about your favorite electives and school projects, and how they relate to your future job or what you may want to study in college.

Please note the fields with character limits do not require you to meet that maximum. You can write a sentence or two. Don’t feel the need to fill the space. Just write what you think is relevant to a future boss.

List the classes you’ve taken, either in or outside of school, that are most relevant to your future career. You can include AP/IB classes that you particularly enjoyed or where you excelled. If you have experience with programming, for example, include the languages you know.

Volunteering: Showing Your Commitment

This widget is similar to Experience and Education mentioned above. You can simply write the organization and your role with no description. It’s up to you. Without a lot of real work experience, this is a place to stand out if you do have experience with volunteer work and community service. But then again, it’s ok if you don’t have anything here yet too. If you are working your way through school, you don’t have time to volunteer. That is ok!

Skills: What Are You Good At?

This skills section is an optional section you can add to your profile. You will get a pop-up window that will make some suggestions about skills based on the information you have already added. It’s pretty cool artificial intelligence to help you get started. If you don’t like the suggestions, you can begin typing in the open field. The system will show you the options you have to choose from. As a high school student, I could see a few of these being potential skills:

Teamwork
Time Management
Collaborative Work
Communication
Graphic Design

Be deliberate about skills you list. What do you want to be known for? Your top 3 skill endorsements display in mobile search, so reorder them to show the ones that best tell your story. Give back to your network by endorsing others’ skills.

Organizations

Have you joined any clubs at school or outside? Have you participated in any clubs, teams, or groups?

Honors and Awards

If you earned a prize in or out of school, don't be shy.

Recommendations: Building Credibility

These recommendations are brief referral stories people write about their colleagues, their bosses, employers, and vendors. Like a reference. If you have applied for a job, the employer may have asked you for three references. Your future boss was planning to contact those people to ask them questions about you, your work ethic, performance, and personality to see if you might be a fit. Usually, you have to ask someone to write a recommendation for you. Most people don’t do that proactively. It’s not going to hurt to ask a couple teachers to do this. Or a coach or boss from a current job. This process is often an exchange. I write one for you and you write one for me. You might offer to write one for your teachers.

Then, moving forward, you will have to remember to ask people to write one for you in each new role. I have done this with past bosses, my co-workers, my vendors, and people who have reported to me. They can write better recommendations and continue to support you.

Ask managers, professors, or classmates who've worked with closely to write a recommendation.

Contact Information and Custom URL

Share your contact information, as appropriate. For privacy and safety, there’s no need to share your mobile number. Customize your public URL. For consistent branding, use your name in the URL the same way you use it in other social profiles. Personalize your URL. Remove the numbers.

Expanding Your Network and Engaging on LinkedIn

Connecting with Others

Use the search bar at the top of the page to type in their name. If they come up, you can click to view their profile. And then click the blue button “Connect.” Another pop-up window will give you the option to add a personal note to your connection request. I always suggest you add the note. It can be simple. “Hi Miss Smith! I am starting to build my professional network, and I would love to connect with you. Make these friendly connections, with no immediate ask.

Follow and engage with University pages for colleges of interest. Beyond visiting a college campus, being active on a University Page shows your interest in a school. Students can engage in content on a university page by liking and commenting on posts, as well as asking questions. Leave thoughtful comments that give your point of view and add to the dialogue. Once a week maximum. Take cues from how often others are posting and what they are posting, both the good and the bad. Look for people from the college who are active on the page and consider following them or inviting them to join your network with a personalized invitation about why you’d like to connect. You can also grow your network by connecting with peers with similar interests.

Be sure to follow the university pages you're interested in to receive updates on your homepage.

Follow and/or connect with speakers who come to your school and college reps who visit your school. Tip - always personalize your invitation. In a few short sentences, say why you’d like to connect.

Sharing Content

Posting updates helps you stay on your network's radar and build your professional books or articles, or events you're attending. You can also add actual examples of your writing, design work, or other accomplishments on your profile, where you can share rich media or documents.

Choose topics that are appropriate for a professional network. Focus on leadership, teams, and how you’re making the world a better place. That can include sports teams, school clubs, and community service. What are you doing in academics, athletics, and activities that would be good to share? Are you attending interesting events? Going to cultural destinations like museums? Traveling and being exposed to different parts of the world? Share your experiences and what you’re learning. Add a relevant hashtag or two to your posts. This makes it easier for people to find your content. You may want to use a consistent group of hashtags that are unique to your areas of interest, whether it’s science or the arts.

Social media is all about reciprocity, so “like” others’ content that fits with your interests and leave thoughtful comments. Remember to always read links before liking, comment on, or sharing them. Make sure you agree with the content and that you’re comfortable with how that content reflects on you. In other words, “look before you like,” and “look before you link”. You can virtually “meet” people you might not be able to meet easily in real life. Think of college admissions officers, hiring managers, and people who are thought leaders in your area of interest.

University Pages: A Gateway to College Insights

Click the bar graphs to select filters and see what they've studied, where they work, and what they do. Find inspiration from the career paths of your peers to help shape your own.

Activity feed - You can share updates and join conversations on your University Page feed. Reach out to students, alumni, and school leaders to find out what schools are really like and get valuable insights to help guide your career.

Notable alumni - See which alumni have achieved something particularly noteworthy and get a sense of what's possible for you in the Notable alumni module and on the Notables tab.

Recommendations - Post a recommendation on your University Page to share your college experiences with future students and school administration.

Activating the "Open to Work" Feature

Activate the "Open to Work" feature.

Job Searching and Internships

Once you feel that your profile is ready to share with potential schools and employers, go into the Jobs tab and search for internships. You can also search job postings and start networking.

LinkedIn Learning

We all get to be lifelong learners, and this feature offers hundreds of online courses. It’s a great reason to become a premium subscriber as a young professional.

LinkedIn and College Admissions

This year, more than two-thirds (68%) of colleges say it’s “fair game” for them to visit applicants’ social media profiles to help them decide who gets in And in last year’s Kaplan survey, more said that social media had helped a student’s admission chances. In fact, 47% said “what they found had a positive impact on prospective students.” That was more than the 42% who said “what they found had a negative impact” Another group, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars Admissions Officers, says more than 75% of colleges are looking at social media. Now, you don’t know if they’ll actually look at your profiles or not but students should assume that they will And why not make it easy for them?

A recent study from Kaplan Test Prep of about 400 college admissions officers reported that 40 percent said they had visited applicants’ social media pages, a fourfold increase since 2008.

Maintaining and Updating Your Profile

Your profile is always a work in progress. Don’t just build a profile and abandon it! Check your notifications to see if there is news about anyone in your network. At the end of each school year, update your profile-add new awards, extracurriculars, internships, jobs, volunteer work, skills, courses, and projects. Delete information that is no longer relevant. It’s a great resource that makes it very easy to build and maintain professional relationships.

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