By SERIAH SARGENTON
Staff Writer
LinkedIn provides many students with the opportunity to reach out to employers in a professional manner. The College of Saint Rose career center helps students find employment, build resumes, explore possible careers, develop a professional network, and apply to graduate school. The career helps students learn how to market themselves to the professional world.
The career center gave students the chance to take professional head shots, provided by a professional photographer from iSmiles studios, that can be used on their LinkedIn profiles.
The event, which runs until 2 p.m. today, is part of November’s career development month. The event saw 40+ students listed for a head shot by 12:30p.m.
After taking their photos, students received a flash drive that had a copy of the photo that was taken and information on how to properly create a LinkedIn profile.
“LinkedIn is a great way for students to put their experience out there” assistant director at the career center Megghan Holz said.
For Holz building a LinkedIn profile is similar to developing resume skills. It allows students to showcase which types of skills they have that can be used in the professional world.
“LinkedIn is great because it allows you to share stuff that you can’t put on a paper document such as art, music, and portfolios” Holz said. LinkedIn doesn’t just provide students with the chance to find a future career, but it also gives employers an insight to student’s professional lives.
“We feel that representing yourself through photo is an important piece of the puzzle of going through the college experience” head iSmile photographer Stephanie McCauley said who is currently looking for potential students to hire. For McCauley a profile picture can tell you more about the person that the profile itself.
She explains that students on LinkedIn are competing with the list of credentials listed on one’s profile, but with the imagery of another person applying for the same job.
“A picture is really worth a thousand words is true for employers who look at your profile” McCauley said. She explained that an employer would rather hire someone who took the time to take a professional shot, than someone who simply has a selfie up there.
Holz hopes that students will use this opportunity to use the career center resources to help with their future career process. The career center is open arms to students who wish to further develop their LinkedIn profiles self-marketing abilities. An event will be held later on campus in Albertus 114 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
For more information on career development or any of the other services offered by the Career enter, visit their office on the third floor of Saint Joseph’s Hall.
