Knowledge
List your skills, gain recommendations, promote and share your extracurricular activities
List your skills, gain recommendations, promote and share your extracurricular activities… There are several reasons why Vinay Singh recommends every teacher set up a LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) differs from other social networks as it focuses on people in their professional capacity from the business, industry and public sector. A LinkedIn profile is very easy to set up and will be one of the first Google search results that appear if someone searches for you.
Finding a LinkedIn profile that backs up everything you have told a principal or recruiter about your work history, eliminates panic and creates trust.
LinkedIn, without question, is one of the best social media networking sites for students and professionals including teachers and yet many teachers don’t know how to use it properly especially when hunting for a job.
A complete LinkedIn profile has the following components:
– Your industry and location
– An up-to-date current position (with a description)
– Two past positions
– Your education
– Your skills (minimum of 3)
– A profile photo
– At least 50 connections
Here are some reasons why you should be using it even when you have a job you love:
Connect with old and current colleagues
If you have friends and colleagues from previous employment or study experiences, LinkedIn is the place to reconnect. Having well-respected education professionals as direct connections on LinkedIn can go a long way. Maybe your next interviewer will have one in common… and just like that, you’ll have your foot in the door.
Consult experts
Since LinkedIn users are searchable via name, position and institution, seeking out new potential contacts and reaching out to them with questions about experience about curriculum or lesson topics can be a breeze.
List your skills and gain endorsements from your connections
Overseas and at home, teachers with specialized skills are a hot commodity. You can use LinkedIn to list your skills. Then your connections can see your listed skills and endorse you for skills they know you have. Teaching English as a Foreign Language listed as a skill and backed up with 25 endorsements looks a lot better than not having a LinkedIn profile.
Gain recommendations
Gone are the days of requesting letters of recommendation from trusted colleagues. LinkedIn provides the space for others to recommend you based on your past employment and projects shown on your profile. Of course, if someone writes something you don’t agree with, it won’t be shown on your LinkedIn profile.
Promote and share your extracurricular activities
Do you have a blog about your classroom or a sports team that you coach outside of work hours? Relevant research or a side venture? LinkedIn is the place to share extracurricular activities that highlight your skillset. This is especially important for teachers looking to obtain employment abroad – extracurricular experience tends to be highly valued by placement coordinators and administration at schools around the world.
Follow influencers and companies
LinkedIn has introduced features that allow users to follow influencers and companies that interest them. If you have a teacher or education writer you look up to, or an education council that interests you, there is a good chance you will find them on LinkedIn. It is a great place to engage in meaningful discussions, share what you read, or simply to gain insight on what thought leaders are talking about.
Show work samples
LinkedIn allows you to add a variety of media such as documents, links, images, videos and presentations to the various sections of your LinkedIn profile which enable you to provide samples of your work and enhance your LinkedIn summary.
One must remember that LinkedIn is not just for finding opportunities and improving professional career, it has usage beyond what we just think. Many people fail to realize that the features of LinkedIn are not only for employees in various sectors but also for teachers and educators. Educators or teachers will get expertise by actively participating in several groups of LinkedIn.
The power of the platform can only be known once you use it. What are your experiences if you already use it? Do share it with us and we will be happy to share them with other educators.
This article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of ScooNews magazine. Subscribe to ScooNews Magazine today to have more such stories delivered to your desk every month.