Sample Assignment

Module 1: This semester, you will create a LinkedIn page. Business Insider has reported that "94% of job recruiters use social media, in particular, LinkedIn, to fill open positions.” Regardless of major, the purpose of this assignment is to aid you in both finding employment and networking with like-minded professionals; and the best part is, it’s free!

For this week's assignment, you are to do the following:

1. Create a LinkedIn Account: LinkedIn Landing Page

2. Take a Professional Photo and Upload It to Your Account

First impressions are important. LinkedIn is a gateway for its users to engage in a little impression management before prospective employers perform their due diligence on you. That’s why it’s important to post a professional photo to your profile. Conversely, if you do not have a posted photo, you may come across as a non-active user and thus risk losing creditability.

Keep in mind that in social media circles and communities, you want to make sure you are presenting a consistent image and presence across platforms, so having a headshot for your profile picture is extremely important. Make sure your picture matches your professional brand.

For this assignment, you can use a photo with a white, black, or neutral background. No selfies should be used, and you should be dressed professionally. 

3. Create a Custom Banner

With a free account on Canva (www.canva.com), you can create your own custom banner to truly make your LinkedIn page pop! A LinkedIn banner can make a great first impression, show intention in your job search, solidify your personal brand, help you stand out, and serve as a digital business card. Your professional profile picture, tagline, and LinkedIn banner should be synchronized and work together to effectively establish your brand and personality on the network.

4. Customize your Public Profile URL

It’s easy to customize your public profile URL. With a concise LinkedIn URL, you can easily “copy & paste” it on your resume, business cards, email signature block, and personal website. No one wants to read a URL that has a hundred characters and symbols behind it.

Read the following links for more information:

How (and Why) to Create a Custom URL for Your LinkedIn Profile 

Learning LinkedIn for Students (2021) 

Once you have completed these three tasks, please type your website into a Word document and upload it via the assignment submission link, or enter it in the submission box. 

Module 2: This week, we are continuing to build your LinkedIn profiles. For this week's assignment, you are to perform the following tasks:

1. Complete the Summary Section of your Profile

The summary section is your chance to signal to the professional world who you are, what you’re good at, and what opportunities you are seeking. It also demonstrates your ability to write (which is still a coveted skill). People are on your page because they are interested in learning about you, so be sure to distinguish yourself from your company. Recruiters visit your page because they are procuring additional information about you (and your candidacy) that may not be captured in a traditional resume. The following links contain some great advice and examples of brilliant, effective LinkedIn profiles.

14 LinkedIn Profile Summaries That We Love (And How to Boost Your Own)

17 Best LinkedIn Summary & Bio Examples [+ How to Write Your Own]

2. Add your Education details, current Employment position(s) & previous Work History (including Internships)

This section should be populated with all of your academic, professional and internship experience. But go beyond just listing what you’ve done; add a job description for each piece that clearly outlines the knowledge, skills and abilities you’ve obtained. However, be sure not to have conflicting information on your resume.

3. Show Work Samples (academic and/or employment)

Unlike the traditional resume, LinkedIn allows its users to showcase a media portfolio of all their academic and work-related projects. What better way to demonstrate the application of a user’s soft and hard skills? Just be sure to post your best work! You can also “tag” your team members if they have a LinkedIn profile.

How to Write an Impressive LinkedIn Work Experience Section

To submit this assignment, please provide your LinkedIn profile link in either a Word Document or typed into the submission box.

Module 3: For this week's assignment, you are to take the free Google Analytics Academy certification course by clicking here. 

Once you have completed this training, you are to download and save your proof of completion and upload it to this course. 

If you have any issues accessing this free training, please let me know. Do NOT enter any credit card information if prompted!

Module 4: This week, we will continue to build your LinkedIn profile. You are to complete the following tasks:

1. Add at least 10 skills to your profile and get endorsed for your skills

Ask for skill endorsements from your peers, faculty, and employer. These peer endorsements reveal themselves on your personal profile and can serve the purpose of signaling additional value to potential employers (Weinberger 2016).

The Best Skills to Add to LinkedIn (List + How To)

2. Connect with at least 10 peers and professionals

“Weak ties” regarding job and career paths are important—the theory is that a connection in your social network who is a friend of a friend of a friend (or a “weak tie”) will play an instrumental role in a major life move at least once.

You can also begin sending requests to various professionals this week! I have asked my LinkedIn contacts if they would be willing to connect with you, and the post with the people willing to connect with my students can be found at this link: ADD HERE. REMEMBER, you must send them a message in your request to connect stating that you are my student at Lackawanna College.

By building your LinkedIn network and adding connections, you’ll be able to message people that work at the company you’re interested in. I will also post links to your classmates' LinkedIn pages in our announcement section. You should also connect with me at this link: Professor Stephanie Longo LinkedIn Profile.

3. Add “Honors and Awards” (if applicable) and your “Certifications”

Here’s where you can really shine. LinkedIn allows its users to showcase their awards and professional certifications earned. You can add the Google Analytics certification that you earned last week to this section!

To submit this week's assignment, please submit either a Word document with a link to your profile or paste a link to your profile in the submission box.

4. Follow Interesting Pages

Follow any social media accounts you believe have a good social media presence so your feed becomes a source of inspiration. Some feeds I follow include The Marketing Millennials, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Leadership First. You should also follow Lackawanna College, so you are up to date with what’s happening on campus!

** While not part of this class, you can also participate in LinkedIn Learning, which provides courses in business, creative, and technology. You can even earn additional certifications for your profile! 

Module 5: This week, you are to create at least two LinkedIn posts for your network over two different days.

Network Updates are basically LinkedIn's version of the Facebook News Feed. Check your Network Updates often for a snapshot of what your connections are up to and sharing, or share updates of your own, such as noteworthy content related to your industry/career, content you've created yourself, etc. While LinkedIn is a social networking platform, remember it’s THE professional social networking website so don’t post anything that could be construed as unprofessional. As a general rule of thumb, avoid posting about these topics: political issues, religious posts, sales pitches, etc.

Here are some links to help you:

What to Post on LinkedIn: The 5 Content Types That Work Best [Infographic]

LinkedIn best practices for marketing professionals

To submit this assignment, please take a screenshot of your posts and submit them to the portal as a PDF or embedded into a Word document. Remember, your posts must be done over two separate days for full credit.

Module 6: Now that you have created your own LinkedIn page and have interacted with your classmates and me, please write a two-page reflection on how LinkedIn can help you in your career. Will you continue to use this site as you grow professionally? What are some of the things you discovered while using the site? Where can it improve? Use the below links to help you write or find sources of your own online. Remember to edit your page every semester—the more you update it, the better your chances of finding your dream job!

LinkedIn Pages Best Practices

LinkedIn Introduces More Detailed Insights on Personal Profiles

20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile

The LinkedIn Guy

FYI: Publishing on LinkedIn for College Students and Young Professionals

This paper should be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced. Sources should be written in APA format (www.citationmachine.net). 

BONUS Points: Solicit and Receive One Written Recommendation - from peers, faculty or current/previous employers.

Social proof is a great way to win over new employers. Earning a LinkedIn Recommendation provides you with additional credibility as it relates to your accumulated knowledge, skills, and abilities; it’s proof of concept! Interested employers will read about your ability to demonstrate both hard and soft skills and should feel better about bringing you on board for an interview. You will receive a bonus of five points on your lowest-graded assignment in this class if you complete this (discussions do not count). Please email me a screenshot for proof at LongoS@lackawanna.edu.