LinkedIn Guide

LinkedIn is the professional network recruiters, alumni, and employers use every day. A strong profile opens doors before you send a single application, and a growing connection community means those doors are opened by people who already know your name.

Building Your
LinkedIn Profile

Think of your LinkedIn profile as your professional front door. Recruiters and alumni search LinkedIn daily, and a complete profile ensures you're findable and makes a strong first impression even before you apply anywhere.

Profile Photo: Use a clear, professional headshot with a neutral or simple background. You don't need a studio photo — a well-lit photo against a plain wall works well. Profiles with photos receive significantly more views than those without.

Headline: Your headline appears everywhere your name does, so go beyond "Student at University of Chicago" — include your major, a career interest, or a skill. Example: "Economics Student at UChicago | Interested in Finance & Public Policy"

About Section: Write 3–5 sentences in first person describing who you are, what you study, what you're curious about professionally, and what you're working toward. This is where your voice comes through — be specific and genuine.

Education: Add the University of Chicago with your expected graduation year, major(s), and any honors to ensure you're searchable as a student/alum.

Experience: List internships, part-time roles, research positions, and significant volunteer work. For each, write 2–3 bullet points starting with action verbs that describe what you did and the impact. Don't omit experiences just because they're not "industry" roles — all substantive work counts (e.g., RSOs).

Skills & Endorsements: Add 5–10 skills relevant to your career interests — programming languages, research methods, software tools, languages spoken. Connections can endorse you, which adds credibility. Pin your top three skills to the top of the list.

Featured Section & Projects: Highlight your best work here — a research paper, writing sample, capstone project, presentation, or portfolio link. This section lets you show, not just tell, what you're capable of.

Customize Your URL: Set a custom profile URL (e.g., linkedin.com/in/firstnamelastname) under Profile Settings. A clean URL is easier to include on your resume and in email signatures.

Growing Your Connections

LinkedIn's value grows exponentially as your network expands. Start close and expand outward — your goal is not to collect connections, but to build a community of people in fields and roles that interest you.

Check out our Networking resources for sample outreach messages!

Leverage Existing Network

Expanding Your Network

Classmates and student organization members
Supervisors and colleagues from past jobs and internships
Friends and family in related industries
Career Advancement and other university contacts (e.g., academic adviser)

Alumni with commonalities (e.g., same RSO, athlete) in industries of interest
Speakers and panelists from events, career treks, networking events, etc.
Connections suggested by 2nd degree mutual contacts (i.e., friends of friends)
If you reach out to someone via email, add them on LinkedIn too!

Engaging with
Your Network

Regular, low-effort engagement keeps you visible and reinforces relationships over time — so that when you reach out to ask for a conversation or a referral, you're not a stranger. A few strategies to stay active on LinkedIn are:

  • Liking or commenting on posts from your connections

  • Sharing articles relevant to your field with a brief thought

  • Congratulating connections on new roles or milestones

  • Posting about a class project, research, or event you attended

  • Writing a short reflection after a career trek or panel

  • Following companies and organizations you're targeting