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The Academic Designer

Communications for Professors and Scientists

7 LinkedIn Profile Tips for Graduate Students

Why linkedin is important for graduate students like you.

LinkedIn is the best social media platform for graduate students. This guide tells you why.

I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to The Social Academic blog, where I share how to manage your online presence. I write about websites and social media for academics.

In this article, learn 7 ways to improve your LinkedIn profile for graduate students

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7 ways to improve your LinkedIn profile while in grad school

Your headline should be descriptive

How do you write a LinkedIn headline as a student? Most grad students I see on LinkedIn have a Headline like “Graduate Teaching Assistant at University of Iowa” or “PhD Student at Temple University.” The information I see most is Job Title + Affiliation, but it’s not enough.

You need more information in your Headline to invite people to explore your profile. Communicating who we are in just 120 characters is hard.

In my article on LinkedIn for Professors and Researchers, I talk about how your Headline is the one piece of information about you people are guaranteed to read if you

• write them a message
• appear in their search results
• send a connection request

Be specific when writing your LinkedIn Headline. Include as much detail as you can in 120 characters. A good formula to follow is “Keyword + Job Title or Student + affiliation | Area of specialization.”

A headline like, “Political Science PhD Candidate | Graduate Research Assistant at Duke University | Security, Peace, and Conflict” is descriptive. It uses keywords people may search on LinkedIn when looking for connections (i.e. political science, Duke University, security, peace, conflict).

When your friend asks what to put in their LinkedIn headline as a student, send them this post.

Join my LinkedIn profile course for academics.

Profile photos that focus on your face are easier to recognize

When you choose a profile photo for LinkedIn, choose one that focuses on your face.

Some people prefer an upper body headshot that includes your chest and face. On mobile screens it’s much harder to recognize upper body headshots than face headshots.

Choose a profile photo of your face. And don’t forget to smile!

Here’s how to take a professional headshot for free on your phone.

Write an About section with a friendly bio

Write a short bio for your LinkedIn profile that introduces you to profile visitors. I start mine with “Hi, I’m Jennifer…” because real people visit my profile and I want to be friendly.

Include in your bio the information you most want people to know.

This is not a traditional academic bio. You can talk about your

• work experience
• educational background
• volunteer/service experience
• hobbies and interests

Add the bio to your LinkedIn Experience section.

Let people know how to contact you

People may want to get in touch with you beyond sending a connection request on LinkedIn. In your About section, after your bio, include contact information.

How do you most want to be contacted? Some grad students like to use their institutional email address. Any email address is fine, as long as it’s one you check.

Maybe you spend more time on Twitter than checking your email. Including social media handles where you can be contacted is another great option for graduate students.

Share links in your Experience and Education sections

Your Experience and Education sections on LinkedIn can be dynamic! You can include links and other media to entries in these sections.

For example, in your Education section you could include a link (URL) to your

• School or department website
• Research lab
• Publication
• Blog post or interview
• News or media mention

You can also include other types of media like images and PDFs.

Choose 50 skills that make sense for you now

You can add up to 50 skills on your LinkedIn profile. Many of you may be headed on the non-academic job market.

Skills on LinkedIn are an important part of applying to jobs through LinkedIn. Basically, the LinkedIn algorithm matches your profile (including your Skills) to the requirements jobs you apply to through LinkedIn. Hiring managers get a score that says how closely your profile matches the job. So if you don’t include skills on your profile, your application may not even be viewed.

Check out my tips for social media and the job market.

Add 50 skills to your LinkedIn profile. The Skills section is a good one to update each year.

Your LinkedIn profile will change over time

As you grow and change, so will your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the best alternative to a website because it

• Shows up high in Google search results and other search engines
• Can be updated and edited whenever you need
• Can include links and media making it more dynamic
• Can be extensive without being overwhelming
• Has advanced search capabilities making it easy to find the right connections
• Is helpful if you’re an academic for networking with your scholarly community
• Is highly recommended when applying for jobs (non-academic)
• Is becoming more social (more conversations are happening on LinkedIn)

But your LinkedIn profile won’t change if you don’t update it. Review each section of your profile at least once a year. Add an update to your calendar now. The best place to start your is by updating your student LinkedIn headline.

Your online presence helps your real life

Grad students, I have faith that you can do this. You can make a great LinkedIn profile that helps people understand who you are and what you care about. People that want to help you.

Want step-by-step training to update your LinkedIn profile? Here’s my online course to help you do-it-yourself.

If you want more help with LinkedIn, don’t hesitate to reach out! I’d love to work with you. Graduate students have used university funds (professional development funds, academic department, and graduate school) to pay for support when they work with me on 1:1 online presence services.

Ask your university to bring me in as a speaker. My workshops are fun and interactive. And you’ll build confidence when showing up online. I’m here to help you. Learn more about my workshops.

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Jennifer van Alstyne View All →

Jennifer van Alstyne is a Peruvian-American poet and communications consultant. She founded The Academic Designer LLC to help professors build a strong online presence for their research, teaching, and leadership. Jennifer’s goal is to help people feel confident sharing their work with the world.

Jennifer’s personal website https://jennifervanalstyne

The Academic Designer LLC https://theacademicdesigner.com

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How to optimise your LinkedIn profile as an academic

Research Retold

Many of our research clients use LinkedIn and have expressed interest in improving their profiles. So we decided to gather some tips and insights from our team and other academics who encountered the same challenge.

In this blog, we share concrete suggestions on how to optimise your LinkedIn profile as an academic to help you get the most out of this networking tool.

The list is not by any means exhaustive, but it provides an initial guide.

If you have more recommendations please share them in the comments!

Why use LinkedIn as an academic?

In contrast with other social media platforms, LinkedIn is focused on business and employment. As such, it has the potential to communicate your research to corporate audiences and bring a wider readership to your work (Morcom, 2020). 

As of February 2021, LinkedIn had over 675 million users according to the site. This can be very useful to create contacts, especially with companies and researchers you would like to collaborate with. 

LinkedIn is an excellent tool for looking at job opportunities, which usually arise through contacts rather than being advertised. Actually, one of our Research Retold team members first contacted us through this channel. This platform also enables you to share and highlight your research as well as to comment on other people’s work (van Alstyne, 2020).

Think of your LinkedIn profile as a dynamic CV in which you can showcase your skills, expertise and experience.

Since the platform is less personal than Facebook and more formal than Twitter (Morcom, 2020), the way you share information in your profile requires a different approach.

Here are some main recommendations when setting up your profile to optimise your LinkedIn profile as an academic in terms of the look and the content:

1) The look of your profile

• Use a professional picture . Have a solid colour background, good lighting and preferably a smile. This will make it easier for others to associate you with the information you share on your profile.
• Display your expertise at a glance . Use the banner to add more related images. For example, pictures of you doing your usual activities. These can be tutoring, giving lectures, doing lab work or on field trips. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
• Write a headline that summarises what you do, or even what you want to do . This is the second most important part of your profile. It is the punchline that will make a recruiter or peers get interested. Be as brief and specific as you can. You can use keywords that make your profile easy to find. A recommended structure is:  name | keyword + job title + affiliation | field or specialisation. For example “John Kerry | Energy Systems Professor at the University of Sheffield”

2) The content in your profile

• Write a brief career story . When writing the ‘About’ section, avoid jargon and be relatable. Make it easier for others to understand your background and point of view. You can even share your core values (Barlow, 2020). 
• Share your experience in the designated section . An advantage of this platform is that it has space for you to give brief explanations of projects rather than just titles and bullet points. You can use 1 – 2 sentences. Keep all the details relevant to your skills and strengths. For example:

[box] Assistant Lecturer/Tutorial demonstrator

Part-time 2018 – 2020 2 yrs

• Lecturing, tutoring, invigilating and exam marking for COM1002 Foundations of Computer Science.
• The module covered: logic, set theory, Boolean algebra, linear algebra, proofs, probability theory.

Project Coordinator 

Part-time 2019 – 2020 1 yr

• Project coordinator of the collaboration between the University “X” and University “Y”.
• Funding from UKRI, grant xxxxx for studying the impacts of meditation in self-perception.[/box]
• Add volunteering activities . This will highlight your interests and allow others to see what you care about. You could share your experience as a tutor/mentor or your involvement in the activities of NGOs and university societies. If you are still a PhD student, these experiences can vouch for your teamwork and time management skills. Especially if you do not have working experience yet.
• Use the Featured section to showcase your work . In this section, you can share slides, papers, links or other kind of content. It is a great way to organise and expose your portfolio to others. For example, during conferences, you can show this section in case you want to share your previous work and you don’t have your computer with you.

Have a look at your profile. Does it display your values? Have you conveyed your purpose? Did these suggestions help you to optimise your LinkedIn profile as an academic?

Make the most of LinkedIn

Once you have created a nice and easy to navigate profile it is time to put it to good use.

You put a lot of hard work into it. Now it’s time to share it with the world, just as with any other research project findings.

Here are some actions you can take to reach out to others and make them notice you:

Build your network

Follow companies and people that interest you.

When looking for contacts, use keywords on your search. For example,  type “process engineering”, “physical therapy research” or “behaviour analysis”. This can help you find pages and companies related to your area of expertise. You can leave comments on their posts and share their publications. If you want to take it to the next level, why not send a personal message? Write about why you would like to collaborate with them and what you have to offer.

Post new content

Join professional groups, things to remember.

• Your LinkedIn profile is a living thing, and it needs to be kept up to date.
• Connect regularly to add new experiences or accomplishments. This will also help you track your career progress.
• Be your biggest supporter!

Barlow, Sonya. “ Succeed with LinkedIn ”. AllBright Academy: Supercharge your career. 2020. Accessed 09 February 2021. 

Frisch, Lucy. “ 5 Tips to use LinkedIn in promoting your research ” Springer Nature. August 2017. Accessed 09 February 2020. 

Morcom, Tom. “ How researchers use LinkedIn effectively ” Research to Action . 29 July 2020. Accessed 09 February 2021. 

van Alstyne, Jennifer. “ Is LinkedIn important for academics? ” The Academic Designer . 24 January 2020. Accessed on the 09 February 2021. 

Many thanks to our Research Communicator, Phebe Bonilla, for writing this blog post.

• Your Job Search
• Networking & Focusing Your Search

Build Your LinkedIn Profile

Why use linkedin.

LinkedIn is a widespread social media platform used by job-seekers, employees, and employers to establish and maintain professional online presences. It is a valuable tool for developing your network, seeking jobs and internships, and developing your career.

Getting Started

When you make a LinkedIn account, the first task is crafting your profile. What you add to your profile will be visible to your connections and potential employers (depending upon privacy settings—see below). Once you establish your profile, update it as you would a  résumé to reflect your experiences and interests. Keep in mind, who is the audience you are trying to reach? How can you draw attention to what you have done and why you do it —this should not be a CV-like recounting of academic accomplishments alone.

The four major sections of a profile discussed here are the Intro , Summary , Experience , and Education . While there are other sections to consider when crafting your profile, these four sections necessitate the greatest degree of curation.

The Intro section includes a Headline , your pronouns, current role, industry, and location, and whether you are open to work or hiring. Think of this information, plus your headshot, as your LinkedIn business card. When you appear in search results, users will see this information alongside your name. Therefore, it is key that your Headline provides a snapshot of you and your aspirations.

Your Headline is a short, memorable professional slogan that conveys your professional brand, strengths/skills, and interests/goals.

• Needs Improvement: Graduate Student at Northwestern University
• Better : Neuroscience PhD Student at Northwestern | Expertise in SQL | Seeking Data Science Position
• Check out the profiles of students, alumni, and professionals in relevant industries. What works well? What does not? How are experiences framed?
• Under your settings, view the “Job Seeking Preferences” and if you are looking for internship or full-time opportunities, select “yes” to allow recruiters to know you are open to opportunities.

The About section provides space to articulate a longer version of your Headline , sharing the sum of your experiences and goals toward your aspirations. Think of this like an abstract of your interests and skills for a given professional space (or spaces).

Your Summary should build on your Headline . Use the Summary to describe who you are, including your background/experience, strengths/skills, accomplishments, and goals/aspirations. Tie these elements together into a cohesive professional narrative. Use industry keywords and keep it concise (4-6 sentences).

• Social scientist with 5 years of experience using qualitative and quantitative methods. Effective communicator, collaborator, project manager, and educator seeking to apply expertise in field of child development.
• Data scientist using time-series and weather sensor information from industrial machines to create preventive maintenance models. Programming: Proficient in Python (e.g., Pandas, Scikit-learn, Scipy, Bokeh, Tensorflow), MATLAB, R, GIT; Data Analysis/Database: Image processing, machine learning, working knowledge of SQL.

Experience & Education

The Experience and Education sections mirror the corresponding sections of a  résumé in which you itemize these data points.

Visibility Settings

In the settings menu, you can alter the visibility of the components of your profile. Privacy is a personal choice, but there is a distinct advantage to making your profile publicly visible.

• Select "Edit your public profile" to edit the visibility settings of your profile. From this editor, you can designate which parts of your profile you wish to be visible to any LinkedIn user.
• Your contact info: Share your contact info in your “About” section or in your settings, be sure your email address is at least visible to those you connect with.
• Profile viewing options : LinkedIn will inform a user when someone has viewed their profile. You can alter your Profile viewing options to curate whether someone sees your full intro or an anonymized version of your profile. Someone seeing that you have viewed their profile is actually a positive and may lead them to check out your profile.

Building an All-Star LinkedIn Profile

A huge under-utilized resource in the professional community is LinkedIn . If you don’t already have LinkedIn, open up a second tab and start creating one now!

LinkedIn is sort of like a business social media where people and companies can share articles of interest, things that are going on, and connect with other professionals. Having an updated and active page is a huge leg up when it comes to networking and searching for jobs. Over the years I have attended many networking type workshops where I learned about personal branding and LinkedIn. So, below are some of my top tips for creating an “all-star” LinkedIn profile.

Benefits of LinkedIn

Before I get into creating your profile, I thought I would throw out there a couple of reasons why having one is a good idea:

• Find mentors and collaborators – I’ve met a lot of people in undergraduate and graduate school who didn’t think they “needed one yet.” But, not only can LinkedIn be great for job seekers, it can be a really helpful tool for finding potential labs and PIs, for finding a general mentor in your field, or for identifying similar research groups who may be interested in collaborating.
• Learn about potential careers – LinkedIn has a whole job search section where you are able to see postings from companies. Some of them even let you direct apply using your profile information as your CV.
• Learn about a company’s culture and services –You are able go to a company’s page and search through people that work there, their professional backgrounds, and where they’re located. These can all help you learn about the type of people that the company hires.
• Identify what the company needs – Companies often post about positions they’re hiring for on their feed (not just in the job section). This can also be a good in to a company you’ve been eying.

Creating Your Profile

Think of your LinkedIn profile like your resume or CV. It’s a place to highlight your research experience, your internships or jobs, your professional organizations, and volunteer experience. When you first create your profile, LinkedIn does a pretty good job at prompting you to enter this information.

Adding more information to your profile gets you closer to something they call an “all-star” profile. While it isn’t necessary, reaching this all-star status on your profile means that more LinkedIn recruiters will see your profile. This is really helpful when it comes time to apply to jobs. In order to reach all-star status, your profile must include:

• Your industry and location
• An up-to-date current position
• Two past positions
• Your education
• A minimum of 3 skills
• A profile photo
• At least 50 connections

If you’re just starting out, I know 50 can seem like a lot – but trust me, it’s not. You also don’t need to limit your connections to just those in your field. Start by first connecting with your classmates and colleagues as well as advisors, teachers, or mentors you know personally. Next, you can start identifying other professionals in your area of interest and connecting with them. While you don’t have to include a message when sending a connection request, it’s always a nice touch (but you don’t get much space!!)

Try something like:

This message is just an easy way to make an impression with connections you haven’t met yet in person.

Some other things you might include on your profile:

• Introduction – At the top of your page you can add an introduction on who you are. You can include things like what year in school you are, your dissertation topic, or previous work experience.
• Key courses you’ve taken
• Organizations you’re a part of – this could be Greek life, sports, professional societies, honor societies, etc.
• Volunteer experience – this can be related to your degree or just in general and says a lot about you as a person!
• Important projects you’ve worked on – for example, did you do a senior design project? Or maybe an undergraduate thesis?
• Publications – If you’ve been published in a journal, magazine, or blog, make sure to make a note.

Building Your Personal Brand

Just as you would if you were a blogger on social media, a LinkedIn page can be used to establish your personal brand. What this means is that you are establishing a professional image or impression of you in the mind of your network. For example:

• What are you hoping to achieve in your studies and career?
• What are your core values?
• What are your talents, skills, and knowledge?
• What makes you professionally unique?

Thinking about these questions while you create your profile or post on LinkedIn can help establish yourself within your professional community. Of course make sure that your behavior remains professional! But also staying consistent with posting and updates can help you be seen by more people and companies.

What does this look like?

• Share or post upcoming intern experiences
• Post after intern experiences about what you learned
• Follow companies of interest and like their posts about internships, jobs, or new research
• Post projects and collaborations you’ve been a part of
• Highlight new skills you’ve gained (eg. online courses or technical skills)
• Share honors and awards received
• Share/post/comment on items related to your profession (use this to show your technical expertise or passion for the field)

Maintaining a page on LinkedIn is really useful for networking for your career! It can be used to find mentors, collaborators, companies, and jobs. Hopefully these tips can get you on the right path for creating your own all-star profile. Check out my other article which covers ways to use LinkedIn in your job search!

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The Savvy Scientist

Experiences of a London PhD student and beyond

How to Master LinkedIn for Academics & PhD Students

Whichever stage you’re at in your academic journey it’s never too soon to start building up your presence on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn is commonly known as a platform for job seekers and professionals, it also provides a great way for academics and PhD students to showcase our research and engage with others in our fields.

In this post we’ll walk through my top tips for networking with LinkedIn. We’ll begin with covering why having a LinkedIn profile can be a good idea, move on to polishing your profile and how to engage with the community, then discuss how to expand your network.

I’ve also included a few bonus tips at the end for anyone who’s approaching the end of their PhD and looking to make the move into industry.

Tight on time? Be sure to download my LinkedIn Top Tips guide from the free resource library so you can start putting these suggestions into practice.

Why You Should Use LinkedIn as an Academic Researcher

I’ll admit that I used to think that LinkedIn wasn’t useful for anyone outside of the corporate world. However, despite not using any other social media, I’ve been actively using LinkedIn as a researcher for a number of years and think it is well worth setting up an account.

Here’s why:

1. Stay up to date with developments in your field

Yes, us researchers do use LinkedIn! I see loads of new and interesting work getting shared on LinkedIn: not just people announcing their own papers getting published but also highlighting interesting studies they’ve seen.

You can follow updates for academics on places like Google Scholar but the perk of LinkedIn is that: 1) people will also share their own take on the work 2) since LinkedIn is a network you’ll also be exposed to new work from your connections connections etc. I know that a lot of people like Twitter/X for this stuff too.

For this reason I suggest adding people that you meet at conferences, currently work with, or would like to work with (more on that in a second!).

2. Learn from others

Alright so I’ll admit that the idea of using any social media platform to learn things can quickly descend into doom scrolling.

However, given that people generally treat LinkedIn as a lot more of a professional platform than most others, it does seem to be a lot more curated (i.e. useful) if you’re following the right people. I often see people sharing useful tutorials, workflows, interesting findings, etc, alongside general cool science.

3. Expand your reach

You can of course use LinkedIn as a platform to share your own research, thoughts etc. This makes it more likely that relevant researchers could see your work and will help you to build your own personal brand if you’re into that.

4. Career moves and job opportunities

The obvious reason! I see loads of job adverts on LinkedIn and it’s easy to set up alerts for specific companies or job roles. If you’re considering moving into industry at some stage this can be a fantastic place to look for open positions.

Sometimes I’ve known PhD students or academics to urgently set up a LinkedIn profile out of desperation when they’re looking for a job. It is much better to gradually set one up, as we’ll come onto shortly.

5. Collaborations

Maybe you’re not looking for a job, but networking via LinkedIn can still be a useful way of building connections with people you may want to work with: by collaborating!

For this reason I suggest adding interesting people you meet, or reaching out to people who you know do cool work. We’ll discuss more about the best ways to connect with them shortly.

6. I nteresting academic opportunities

LinkedIn can act as a notice board for different opportunities which may become available.

For instance:

Now that we’ve covered off some of the benefits of using LinkedIn as a researcher, we’ll next go into some practical ways to network on LinkedIn.

Polish your Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is the first impression you make on potential connections, fellow academics, collaborators, and employers. So the best place to start is by enhancing your profile to ensure it accurately represents who you are and what you do.

Some of my key recommendations are:

• Start early and enhance it over time – filling out a lot of blank spaces can seem intimidating, so make things easier for yourself by just doing a high level summary now and gradually fleshing it out.
• Make it visually appealing – use a professional headshot and interesting background picture.
• Regularly add new projects and publications – it can be tricky to remember your achievements after a lot of time has passed, so make it a regular habit to add new information to your LinkedIn. While you’re at it I’d also encourage this for your CV as well.

Once you’ve got your Linkedin profile set up, you’ll be ready to move onto the next step: interacting with others on the platform.

Engage with the Community

LinkedIn isn’t just a place to display your credentials, it’s a dynamic community where you can build relationships and share your insights.

Here are a few ways you can start engaging on LinkedIn:

1. Add People You Already Know

Search for people you already have connections with, this could include both your current colleagues and previous course-mates. Building this initial network creates a strong foundation for what will come next.

2. Interact with Other Posts

I feel like a YouTuber saying this but like, comment, and share posts related to your field. Offer meaningful comments that showcase your expertise.

This not only helps you build relationships but also increases your visibility.

3. Get Active!

Interacting with other posts is all well and good, but it’s also important to actively share your knowledge and research with your network.

Write posts about interesting papers, developments, or challenges in your field. This invites discussion and shows that you’re actively engaged in your area of study. Sharing your work could also lead to collaboration opportunities!

Expand Your Network

Building a meaningful network on LinkedIn involves more than just connecting with your immediate contacts. It’s about expanding your reach and connecting with professionals and researchers who share your interests.

Here are some ways you can expand your LinkedIn network as a researcher:

1. Join Relevant Groups and Follow Hashtags

LinkedIn groups are like virtual conferences and seminars, where people in your field gather to discuss the latest research and trends. Find groups related to your research interests and join them. Participate in discussions, share your insights, and connect with group members.

It’s also possible to follow hashtags to stay updated on topics of interest. Check out the video below for further information on how to do this.

2. Find Your LinkedIn QR Code for Faster Networking at Conferences

LinkedIn offers a QR code feature that makes connecting with new people easy. When you meet someone at a conference, simply give them your QR code to scan and you’ll be connected!

You can find your QR code by logging into the LinkedIn app on your phone and clicking on the search bar. Upon doing so a QR code symbol should appear on the right-hand side. Once clicked it will provide your code, ready to be shared and scanned.

3. Add a Personalised Note When Cold-Contacting People

While connecting with people you know is straightforward, you’ll also want to reach out to professionals and researchers you haven’t met yet. When sending connection requests to people you haven’t interacted with before, always include a personalised note.

This is really important! Personally I don’t ever tend to accept invites from people I don’t know if they’ve not added a note, or aren’t clearly working on interesting topics. I can only assume other people take this approach too.

Also, even if someone does accept your invite, if you’ve not sent them a message they don’t have any reason to know why you’re interesting in connecting.

• If you’ve met someone at an event, just send them a quick note reminding them of who you are.
• If you’ve never met them before, explain why you want to connect, how your interests align, or what you hope to gain from the connection.

This extra step will significantly increase both the chances of them accepting the invite and how meaningful your connection with them is.

Example notes you can use

• “Hey {X}, I really enjoyed your talk at {a conference} and would love to connect. Thanks”
• ”Hi {X}, after my PhD I’m hoping to move into {new career field} and would really appreciate a quick call to hear about how you were able to make the leap.”

It’s worth saying that yes, you can ask for something immediately, but it’s even better if you’re able to offer your new connection something as well. Do expect that they will look at your profile before accepting.

Bonus: LinkedIn Job Search Tips

Finishing up your PhD and/or considering a move into industry?

If you’re in that position now, here are a few things you can do to maximise your chances of securing a role.

1. Target Specific Companies

Already have a specific industry or company in mind? Below are three ways to boost your chances of success.

• Stay Informed: Follow companies you are interested in working for to stay up to date about job openings, company news, and developments in your chosen field.
• Engage: Interact with the content companies post on LinkedIn. Commenting and sharing their updates might get you noticed by their recruiters.
• Leverage the Alumni Tool: Use LinkedIn’s Alumni Tool to see where graduates from your university work. This can help you identify companies that have hired people with your academic background.

2. Optimise Your Profile for Job Searches

Use relevant keywords in your profile to make it easier to discover in job searches. Include skills, qualifications, and job titles you’re interested in.

3. Use LinkedIn Job Search Tools

LinkedIn has an abundance of tools specifically designed for job seekers.

Here are two ways to use these to your advantage:

• Activate Job Preferences: Let recruiters know you’re open to job opportunities by discreetly activating the “Open to Work” feature in your profile.
• Set Job Alerts: Create job alerts based on your preferred criteria.

4. Utilise Networking

Your LinkedIn network can be an incredibly valuable resource when searching for job opportunities. Start by reaching out to connections who work in your desired industry and seek advice or referrals. I personally know of people who have been successful in securing roles this way after struggling to otherwise get a foot in the door after graduating.

It can also be a good idea to follow thought leaders in your chosen field and engage with their posts. This will help to ensure you stay up to date on the latest insights and there’s always the chance it could end up leading to a job opportunity.

Finally, be sure to look out for and attend online webinars and events within your industry to further expand your network.

Summary: How to Master LinkedIn for Academics and PhD Students

LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for academics and PhD students, it allows you to showcase your research and can help to open up opportunities for collaboration.

By following these tips you can build your online presence, stay informed about the latest trends in your field and put yourself in the best position for your next career move.

You can find all of the key points available in my free LinkedIn Top Tips guide, available to download from the resource library .

I’d highly encourage everyone to set up a LinkedIn profile, even if you’re at an early stage in your PhD and dead-set on staying within academia. It’s so much easier to build it up gradually than to try and tackle it all in one go and you never know what opportunities it may lead to! If you want to add me here is my profile .

Happy networking!

Do you have any other suggestions for how academics and PhD students can use LinkedIn? Let me know in the comments!

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• 5 . 09 . 19
• Build Your Network , LinkedIn

LinkedIn for Phds: How to Use It to Build an Amazing Non-Academic Career

• Posted by: Chris

Updated Aug 03, 2023

Most people underestimate the power of LinkedIn for PhDs.

I was scrolling through my old LinkedIn messages today, and I came across the reach-out that got me my first non-academic job with my PhD.

This is what I wrote in the message:

Hi NAME. My name is Chris Cornthwaite. I’m just about to defend my PhD and new to Ottawa. I’m exploring where I want my career to go next. Although I’m a great researcher, I’m best with connecting to people. NAME recommended you to me, and I’m so glad he did. It seems that we have a similar skill set, and I would absolutely love to have a coffee with you to ask you some questions. Would you be interested in meeting, even for 20 minutes? I know this is a big ask, and I thank you for considering it either way. Sincerely, Chris

I don’t think its particularly good, and I wouldn’t write the same thing today. I’m not sure why I said the thing about “connecting to people.” It wasn’t perfect. But it didn’t have to be. The response came back anyway. She asked for a resume.

That’s it.

After a couple of interviews, I had my first job.

There’s no perfect science to it. I sent similar and better messages to other people and they were ignored.

LinkedIn has served me well, but since the launch of Roostervane I’ve been even more curious about how it helps PhDs get jobs. I’ve even created a group on LinkedIn for PhDs.

I’ve now spent time looking at dozens and even hundreds of PhD LinkedIn profiles.

And I’m convinced of one thing.

The power of LinkedIn for PhDs is not that there are jobs posted there, and it’s not that you can connect to people and build a network (both great things by the way).

The real power of LinkedIn is that you get to create yourself.

You get to take all the little parts of you that make up who you are: your talents, your skills , your history, and even your picture, and put forward the absolute best image of yourself to the world.

You get to create yourself.

That’s powerful.

That alone should be enough to get you going on LinkedIn.

Just think, in a world where you’re worried about being defined by your degree, your discipline, your supervisor, or your failure to get a tenure-track job (I get it, I didn’t get one either), LinkedIn gives you the endless possibility to invent yourself.

So lets go…

The real power of LinkedIn is that you get to create yourself. You get to take all the little parts of you that make up who you are: your talents, your skills, your history, and even your picture, and put forward the absolute best image of yourself to the world.

Step 1: Use a professional picture of you smiling

Step 2: pick a “headline” that says what you do or what you want to do, step 3: write an easy-to-read career story in the “about” section, step 4: fill in the “experience” section with your work history and great examples, step 5: add some projects and links, step 6: follow companies that interest you, step 7: post content, step 8: build your network.

This post may contain links to affiliate products, which–if you choose to purchase–pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps to support our work. We only promote products we’ve used and love.

You can read my story about leaving academia in Doctoring: Building a Life With a PhD–Available on Amazon.

LinkedIn also has a course platform, LinkedIn Learning, which has a ton of good resources for building your career! Check it out here…

1. Use a real, professional-looking picture of you smiling

I used to hang out on academia.edu, and I realized there seems to be a certain genre of profile pics that academics (or maybe just humanities grads) like. It’s usually a picture of someone standing partially out of frame, looking off into the distance, and pretending to be way too busy meditating on discourse analysis to even be bothered to look at a camera.

Before you even think about uploading one of these pictures to LinkedIn, let me beg you… please use a good picture!

Professional head shots are great if you have them.

But it’s not required.

Dress nice. Look nice. Go stand outside in front of a solid-color wall with some decent light on you and either take a selfie or have a friend take a close-up of you smiling into a camera.

Sometimes people complain to me about this advice.

“I want to get the job based on what I can do, not what I look like.”

Okay… let’s think this through. I hope that if you went on a job interview you would take the time to dress in clean clothes, shower, etc. The same principle applies to your LinkedIn picture.

Put your best self forward.

Or look at it this way.

This is a picture of me…

This is also a picture of me…

Which one do you think portrays the image I want to project to employers?

Apart from my tie being crooked, the second might as well be a different person.

And that’s just it. Employers don’t know you. And honestly, they don’t care what you look like, and unless they’re total assholes they won’t care about the particulars of your identity.

But they do care that you present well. They care that you represent the company and that you’ll be professional to work with.

And a good photo tells them that (whether it’s true or not).

2. Pick a “Headline” that says either what you do or what you want to do

The “Headline” is the second most important part of your profile. It’s the second thing employers see, after your picture.

Usually a Headline lists a bit about who you are, job titles you hold, or skills you have. And you get to decide what these are.

So give yourself a great LinkedIn PhD title.

This is a bit unclear right now. I get it. You don’t really know what you want to do, so it’s hard to make up a career-encompassing title for yourself that the world will see.

For a while, mine was: Storyteller | Freelance Researcher & Writer | PhD Candidate. It’s not perfect, and it’s even a bit too generic. But it says something besides just “PhD Candidate,” which is good! Employers are not likely searching for “PhD Candidates” in their LinkedIn search bars, but they might look for the words “freelance,” “researcher,” or “writer.”

As of this writing, my current title is: Policy Consultant | Speaker | Advocate for Better HigherEd | Creator of Roostervane.com

Be as specific as you can in your LinkedIn PhD title. So you’re a PhD Candidate. That could be anything from a chemist or a medievalist. Try putting in some more specific modifiers about either skills you have or job titles you might want. Adding a bit of detail is a path to a great LinkedIn headline for graduate students.

This is a great place to put down a job title you hope to have one day–if you know it.

Don’t worry about the fact that you may not have any experience in a field you want to go into. Feel free to use words like Copywriter, Web Editor, UX Researcher, Data Mapper, or Social Media Marketer–assuming you have the chops to move into these fields, nobody’s going to fault you for it. (The exception is obviously if there’s a qualification you need for that field that you don’t have.)

Your headline can definitely reflect who you want to be and not just who you are right now.

Here’s some more fantastic reading on how to create a great headline with real-world examples.

3. Write an easy-to-read career story, limiting your research-talk to a few sentences in non-jargon.

The temptation that I see for academics is to try to prove to people how smart they are.

After all, that’s how academia works.

But in the real world, if you have or are about to have a PhD people are going to assume you’re smart. Their biggest fear will be that you’re not relatable.

Employers imagine that they’re hiring an egghead who will talk about esoteric things and work slow, will look like a creature of the night that just emerged from the stacks, and won’t be able to engage with people.

I’ve met very few PhDs like this, but it is the impression people have.

Forget about sounding smart.

Sound relatable.

Instead of saying “I study the reception of Aristotelian ethics into Islamic philosophy,” try saying: “I study what makes people tick, trying to figure out what a good life looks like.”

In their “About” sections, PhDs are often tempted to fill in all the details on their research as if they were applying for a life-changing grant. Don’t do this.

Don’t channel academic you.

Channel the trying-to-explain-what-I-do-to-my-relatives you.

Summarize your research in one easy to understand paragraph, and then write some other things about yourself and other roles you’ve held. Avoid academic language at all costs, and stay away from jargon unless you’re, say, a medical researcher who wants to keep doing medical research. Try your best to tell a bit of a story, and absolutely say where you want to go if you know!

If you want to see some great examples, check this out .

4. Fill in the “Experience” section with your work history and great examples

No matter what you’ve done, I think you need to put some things in the “Experience” section of your LinkedIn. Jobs you’ve done while studying (Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant), old jobs from before you started studying, get something in there. But if you have a couple of good experiences, resist the urge to cram it with every job you’ve ever had. You don’t need to include your life-guarding gig from high school.

You can have some fun with the experience section. I chose to write a brief little explanation of my projects and accomplishments in mine, rather than bullet points.

You have some freedom—but do fill it out.

9 Great Ways to Get Non-Academic Experience on Your Resume

New Grad? How to Get a Job With No Experience – 6 Tips (Video)

5. Add some projects and links

You can also include projects you’ve worked on. It’s a great way to boost your profile strength, especially if you don’t have a lot of practical experience.

You can create overviews of what the projects were and what they accomplished and link to the real thing if the project or a news story about it is online somewhere. It’s a great way to add some depth to your profile as a PhD. A link to an amazing project you did might be just the ticket!

For more on how to maximize the use of projects, click here.

6. Follow companies that interest you (and engage with them!)

LinkedIn is a social network for the workplace. Companies and business desperately want to be seen on there.

Your potential employers are starving for likes, clicks, and especially comments that show that people are engaging with what they’re doing. They’re desperate for people to notice them and to join the conversation they’re trying to start.

So be that person. Follow them. Share their material. Leave intelligent comments that show you’ve read their stuff and have ideas. I guarantee people will start to notice you. And bonus, companies often post jobs that they have available on LinkedIn, sometimes exclusively through sharing them in a feed. If you’re following you’ll have the leg up on these. They might even recognize your name when the application lands on their desk.

7. Post Content

One of the secrets of LinkedIn for PhDs, well for anyone really, is to post content. I’m pretty sure that 15 people read my last journal article, but I know that almost 2000 people read the last thing I posted on LinkedIn (it tells me 😊)—and it’s still climbing.

Can you imagine a better opportunity to share your ideas? For those of you who want to go into some form of communications, can you think of a better place to start? You’ve got a ready-made audience of people interested in the same things as you. Give them things to read!

Now—let’s get technical here. You have two main ways of creating content on LinkedIn.

• You can create articles and posts on LinkedIn itself.
• You can share things you’ve created that are hosted externally (articles on a website you own, Youtube videos, etc).

Both of these have pros and cons. The LinkedIn algorithm rewards people who create content on its site directly. ( Read more about the algorithm here if you’re interested. ) Also, it’s way easier to pop open the LinkedIn article tab and start writing something than it is to set up your own website or Youtube channel. But if you post your best stuff on LinkedIn you don’t control the platform where it lives, and it’s trickier to share across other platforms.

For that reason, I’ve chosen to host most of my ideas on an external website (which you’re reading right now) and just share to LinkedIn periodically. I also share across platforms (I get more traffic from Twitter than LinkedIn), so my own website looks nice in a Twitter card and people come to virtual real estate that I own.

If you want to get visible on LinkedIn but don’t want to publish articles, share ones that others have written, or create thoughtful posts.

There’s one more reason to create a presence on LinkedIn (and other social media) for PhDs. If you hate networking or reaching out to people (as some people have indicated to me that they do), creating an identity as a thought leader on LinkedIn brings people to you.

Case in point, since starting Roostervane, I haven’t had to reach out to people. I have lots of interesting people reaching out to me, and my network is growing every day.

8. Build your network

Growing a network should be a major goal for anyone who uses LinkedIn.

If you’re new to the platform, start building it. Some people start by importing their email contacts. Some add aunts, uncles, cousins, and high-school friends. You can add old employers (hopefully you left on good terms) and coworkers. If you want to you can add your fellow students or perhaps even your supervisor (although be careful with this…you want to create a fresh and new identity that’s hireable and some supervisors will push back).

The message that I started this guide with–the one that got me my first job–was not a request for a job. It was just a LinkedIn reach-out for a coffee that turned into so much more. You never know what can happen on this platform; that’s the beauty of it.

So that’s my guide to LinkedIn for PhDs. But really, it applies to most college graduates ! So if you happen to be teaching a class, it’s relevant here too!

Let me know if I forgot anything in the comments below or find me on LinkedIn.

You can see my LinkedIn profile here.

Read my story about leaving academia in Doctoring: Building a Life With a PhD–Available on Amazon.

  Psst… Did you know Roostervane has a YouTube channel? Here’s a video I made with some quick networking tips. Don’t forget to subscribe!

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Here’s an Example of the Perfect LinkedIn Profile Summary, According to Harvard Career Experts

Published Wed, Sep 25 201911:07 AM EDT Updated Wed, Sep 25 20191:12 PM EDT

Dustin McKissen, Contributor @DMCKISSEN

If you want to have a successful career, maintaining an online presence on LinkedIn is crucial.

Not only is it an effective way to network with other professionals in your field, but it can get you noticed by others and potentially  land you several job opportunities .

In fact, I landed a great job at a major company because I regularly updated my profile and published career-related content almost daily. (That job ultimately inspired me to start my own company.)

Believe it or not, that was six years ago — and today, LinkedIn has only become increasingly important.

The LinkedIn profile summary

Simply signing up for an account, quickly filling in the blanks and then letting your profile remain dormant won’t do you any good.

Of the many elements that make up a strong profile, two of the most important ones are your professional headline and “About” section,  explain   career experts  at  Harvard University’s Office for Alumni Affairs and Career Advancement .

Together, they make up what’s known as your “LinkedIn profile summary,” and it’s one of the first things people see when they visit your page. Your professional headline is especially important because it’s the text that gets displayed in search results for both Google and LinkedIn.

Below is an  example  of a strong LinkedIn profile summary, according to the career experts at Harvard:

NAME: Jessica Yan

PROFESSIONAL HEADLINE: Research Scientist | Ph.D. Candidate | Data Analytics, Biotech, Pharma

“ABOUT” SECTION: I’m a research scientist working to better understand how neural activity motivates and shapes human behavior. My expertise includes project design and management, data analysis and interpretation, and the development and implementation of research tools. I enjoy generating new ideas and devising feasible solutions to broadly relevant problems. My colleagues would describe me as a driven, resourceful individual who maintains a positive, proactive attitude when faced with adversity. Currently, I’m seeking opportunities that will allow me to develop and promote technologies that benefit human health. Specific fields of interest include data analytics, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.

Here’s what makes it a strong profile summary:

• Can be skimmed in 30 seconds or less
• Professional headline is below 120 characters, lists career focus and components of work
• Includes industry-related keywords, core skills, strengths, talents and interests
• Well written in a professional style, no spelling and grammatical mistakes
• Answers questions that provides deeper insight about the individual: What makes her unique? Where is her career headed? How would others describe her? What are her values and personal traits?

LinkedIn profile checklist

While your profile summary holds major emphasis, you’ll need to spend time on savvying up the rest of it. Here’s a quick checklist of the basics to help you get started:

• Upload your photo . Ideally, this should be done in professional attire. Profiles with photos are 14 times more likely to be viewed,  according to the career experts .
• Customize your public profile URL.  The address should look something like:  www.linkedin.com/in/yourname . This will make it easier for you to include it on business cards, resumes and email signatures.
• Enhance your profile with additional sections.  Displaying further information (e.g., accomplishments, skills, volunteer experience, certifications, expertise) can also increase the amount of times people view your profile,  notes LinkedIn . This, in turn, can help you build your network and connect to new opportunities.
• Elaborate on your work history in the “Experience” section.  Use targeted keywords and  include specific information  about what you’ve done in your previous positions that led to measurable results. (Don’t lie about titles or duties; you’ll likely get called out by old colleagues — and it will be embarrassing.)
• Education : Include, in reverse chronological order, any programs or schools you went to.
• Customize your “Skills & Endorsements” section.  Ensuring a relevant list of skills on your profile allows others in your network to endorse you. (Skills with the most endorsements will be listed first). This will also help others understand your strengths and match you with the right opportunities.
• Include recommendations.  These should come from former supervisors, coworkers, clients, vendors, professors or fellow students. (Basically, anyone who will have good things to say about you and your work.)

Be an active member and build your network

Remember, the more active you are, the better. So as you move on to new jobs or master new skills, make it a point to update your profile.

Being active also means engaging with your community. You can do this by:

• Sharing updates and interesting content.  This can include anything from new accomplishments and industry announcements to a blog post you’ve written or an article that people in your network may want to read.
• Inviting past and current coworkers, classmates, friends and family to connect.  I’m often asked whether I request or accept connections from people I’ve never met. For me, it’s a yes — but  only  if I’m genuinely interested in developing a professional relationship with the person and their field of work is somehow related.
• Engaging with your connections’ “Recent Activity.”  LinkedIn allows you to see what folks in your network are posting, liking and commenting on. If they shared a blog post that you enjoyed reading, for example, why not give it a like or reply with a nice comment?
• Join groups.  This will help you strengthen connections with people who share common skills, experiences, industry affiliations and goals.

Dustin McKissen is the founder of  McKissen + Company , a strategic communications firm in St. Charles, Missouri. He was also named one of LinkedIn’s “Top Voices in Management and Corporate Culture.” Follow him on LinkedIn  here.

Data Scientist LinkedIn Guide

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• Specialization: Highlights expertise in predictive analytics and big data, which are highly sought-after skills.
• Leadership Role: The title 'Lead' indicates a position of responsibility and experience in managing projects or teams.
• Value Proposition: Focuses on the ability to transform data into actionable business strategies, showing direct impact on decision-making.
• Technical Passion: Expresses a keen interest in AI, suggesting a proactive approach to staying current with technological trends.
• Application of Skills: Demonstrates the practical use of machine learning to create business value.
• Business Outcome: Directly relates technical skills to achieving a competitive edge, aligning with organizational goals.
• Industry Expertise: Clearly identifies a niche in healthcare, targeting a specific and impactful sector.
• Experience Level: The 'Senior' designation conveys a depth of experience and knowledge.
• Social Impact: Emphasizes the noble goal of enhancing patient care, which is compelling and purpose-driven.
• Educational Credibility: A PhD in Statistics establishes authority and expertise in the field.
• Storytelling Ability: The concept of 'crafting data narratives' suggests strong communication skills, vital for translating complex data to stakeholders.
• Influence on Decision-Making: Indicates that their work informs policy and innovation, showing a high level of impact.
• Domain Specialization: Targets the financial technology industry, which is rich with data science opportunities.
• Technical Proficiency: Showcases expertise in predictive modelling, a core technique in data science.
• Industry Application: Connects technical skills with the goal of optimizing financial services, demonstrating a clear industry benefit.

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