LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for students and recent graduates to build their professional networks and search for jobs. With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform. An increasing number of colleges and universities now provide students with access to LinkedIn through their school accounts. This raises an important question – should students join LinkedIn with their school accounts or create separate personal accounts?
The Benefits of Joining LinkedIn with a School Account
Here are some potential benefits of joining LinkedIn with a school account:
- Access to Premium Features: School accounts often come with access to LinkedIn Premium features like InMail messages, advanced search filters, profile highlights etc. This allows students to maximize their LinkedIn experience.
- Larger Network: School accounts grant access to extensive alumni networks. Students can connect with alumni working in their target companies or industries for career advice and mentoring.
- University Branding: Displaying the university name on your profile signals where you study or studied. This quickly communicates your background and education to connections.
- Career Resources: Many colleges integrate career services resources like job and internship postings, virtual career fairs, and coaching services within school LinkedIn accounts.
- Group Access: School accounts provide entry to university groups, clubs and associations for networking with peers and building connections.
In summary, school LinkedIn accounts allow students to tap into powerful alumni networks, access premium features and career resources and display their university affiliation. This can give a student’s profile and network a valuable boost.
The Downsides of School LinkedIn Accounts
However, there are also some potential disadvantages to weigh when joining LinkedIn through a university account:
- Limited Control: Students often can’t fully customize school account profiles like they would a personal account. The university may impose restrictions on custom URLs, themes, adding certifications etc.
- Privacy Concerns: Universities can potentially access student profile data, posts and engagement for monitoring purposes.
- Limited Access Post-Graduation: Some benefits like premium services, alumni networks and career resources could be lost after you graduate and are no longer an enrolled student.
- Less Personal Branding: School branding and limitations may prevent students from creating a customized personal brand that highlights their unique experiences, skills and interests.
- Fewer Features: Basic school accounts sometimes don’t include access to all LinkedIn features available to Premium account holders.
The lack of full control and customization, account monitoring, and post-graduation access restrictions are disadvantages to consider when using school LinkedIn accounts instead of personal ones.
Best Practices for Using School LinkedIn Accounts
If you decide joining LinkedIn through your university is the right choice, here are some best practices to get the most out of the experience:
- Customize Your Profile: Add sections on volunteer work, organizations, awards, certifications, projects etc. to stand out from peers.
- Engage With Alumni: Join alumni groups, follow company pages they work for and ask for informational interviews.
- Attend University Events: Use the scheduling tool to RSVP for career fairs, company info sessions and networking events.
- Follow Companies: Research and follow pages of companies you want to work for to see their job postings.
- Build Your Network: Connect with fellow students, alumni, professors and campus group members.
- Check Privacy Settings: Customize your account visibility and limit career interests and profile viewing if concerned about privacy.
- Stay Active Post-Graduation: Keep engaging with your network and sharing content to maintain access to alumni after graduating.
Taking initiative to maximize your school account can help you access many of the same benefits as a personal profile.
Should You Create a Separate Personal Account?
Here are a few scenarios where creating a personal LinkedIn account separate from your school account could be advantageous:
- You want full control over your branding, profile customization and privacy settings.
- Your school account lacks access to key Premium features you need.
- You plan to significantly change career paths after graduating when university branding is less relevant.
- You have concerns about the university monitoring profile data and activity.
- You want to keep your campus and professional networks separate.
Maintaining both university and personal accounts enables you to get the most out of LinkedIn while studying and after graduation. Use your school profile to actively engage with fellow students and alumni. Build your independent personal brand on your own customized profile tailored to your aspirations.
Tips for Managing School and Personal Accounts
Here are some recommendations if you decide to maintain both school and personal LinkedIn accounts:
- Customize profiles differently to highlight appropriate experiences for each audience.
- Actively post and engage with your networks on both accounts.
- Use your school account when participating in campus events or researching on-campus recruiting.
- Use your personal account when reaching out to external contacts and connections.
- Link to your personal account on your school profile for extended connections.
- Evaluate privacy settings on both accounts and customize as needed.
- Add connections selectively to avoid overlapping networks.
Proactively managing the separation between accounts takes some extra effort but provides the greatest level of customization and control.
Key Takeaways
Here are some final key points to consider when deciding whether to join LinkedIn using a school account:
- School accounts offer access to powerful alumni networks, premium features and career resources.
- However, university branding and account restrictions may limit personal branding and customization.
- Maintaining both school and personal accounts can provide the most benefits during and after college.
- Customize school profiles to stand out while tailoring personal accounts to your career aspirations.
- Manage privacy settings and network connections carefully to separate audiences.
- Leverage school accounts for campus events and opportunities. Use personal accounts to connect externally.
Evaluate your specific needs and career goals. Joining LinkedIn with your university account takes advantage of valuable resources. But creating and cultivating a separate customized personal account enables you to build your own brand and connections. Weigh the pros and cons to determine the best strategy for your situation.
Conclusion
LinkedIn provides invaluable networking and career development opportunities for students. Joining through university accounts grants access to powerful alumni communities, premium features and campus recruiting resources. However, personal accounts allow for more customization and personal brand building tailored to your aspirations. Many students find the best approach is to maintain both school and personal profiles. This enables you to maximize the benefits of LinkedIn both while in college and after graduation. Carefully manage the separation between accounts and audiences. With a thoughtful strategy, LinkedIn can significantly impact your college experience and launch your career through expanded networks and visibility.
