Linkedin Helped Me Score My Dream Internship

It was sophomore year of college and we were assigned a paper, in my Intro To Advertising class, requiring us to interview a professional in the field we were considering breaking into...

I had found David Branby- A local branding genius recipient of 150 ADDY awards and president of David Branby Advertising. I interviewed him and gained insight into the creative world of strategic branding. It was then that I decided I was going to get into the branding business.

Two years passed and I decided to make a Linkedin Account, I know finally! Once I had created my account I saw the incredible opportunity to connect with a wide array of PR and Advertising professionals. One in particular- David Branby. I messaged him and told him how I had not forgotten our interview and how it had inspired me to learn more about the business of branding. It was then that he offered me an internship with his company. I had had a Linkedin for three weeks and gotten an internship out of it.

I start in May and I absolutely cannot wait.

This site is gold. If used correctly it will connect you to people who will help you make your professional dreams a reality.

Some tips for using Linkedin:

1. Connect with the right people-Now this may seem obvious, however due to a series of just clicking next, I had connected with over 50 people in under 5 minutes.. One being a dentist in India. I suppose it's always good to have dentist contacts in India. It is far better to pick people who will help you advance and can offer you a position in your desired field.

2. Make sure your resume is current and relevant-No one cares that you worked at Hot Topic in high school. Think of the internships and jobs you have taken on in college and how they relate to the field you want to break into. This is a helpful article for resume tips: http://www.campusestocareers.info/2012/03/fatal-resume-mistakes-2/ 

3. Have no shame- Ok, this does not mean stalk the person you want to connect with, but feel no shame in messaging them. Seek their advice about the business, tell them you would love the opportunity to learn from them.

4. Make sure only certain tweets post to Linkedin. You wouldn't rant about Kim Kardashian's fashion choices to a future employer, so why put that on a professional site where 26% of companies screen potential employees.

5. Recommend people-Practice good karma in a cutthroat business world where everyone may appear to be out for themselves. Also there is no shame in asking for recommendations from previous employers.

Get connected get Linked in!