Professionalism in Business is designed to develop professional skills in human relations, leadership, emotional intelligence, stress management, team-building, group dynamics, business ethics, diversity, communication and more. Activities and group discussions, readings and videos are designed to teach students how to conduct themselves professionally in the workplace give students practical, hands-on experiences in a professional environment, preparing them for successful careers in a variety of fields.
LinkedIn Profile Assignment
1. What are the five most important points that stood out to you and why they are helpful in creating a strong LinkedIn profile and personal brand?
When creating a LinkedIn profile it is very important that you make yourself stand out and that it represents who you are as a worker and professional. To me the 5 most important points to include in your profile are:
Ensure that your profile picture is professional. Have the picture be of your waist up, no selfies or full body pictures. Also make sure that the picture has a generic background and you are dressed in professional clothing. Your picture is most likely going to be the first thing a recruiter or client is going to see, make your first impression count in your favor.
Create a professional and eye catching header. After an employer, recruiter or client looks at your picture they are most likely going to move onto your header. Make sure this is a title that describes yourself and catches their attention. Make yourself stand out from the pack.
Describe yourself and your work experiences in the summary section. Add keywords in this section that recruiters may be searching for. I think it is very important to show your personality here. Show those looking at your profile who you are and add some of your interests to make the summary more personal.
Put your work experience in first person. While describing your work experience and duties make sure everything is in first person. This also helps your profile become more professional and personal. It is easier to relate to if you describe your recent or past work duties in first person.
Last but not least, add keywords to your skills section. This also helps you come up in searches that others may be doing. Make sure the skills you choose describe who you are as a person and a worker. Pick about 15 to 20 of the keywords to add to your skills section.
2. How you can you apply those five points to create your own profile and brand?
When applying these key points to your LinkedIn profile it is also important that you are building your own brand and bringing out your own personality. When others are looking at your profile you want them to learn about who you are as a person and an employee. Creating your profile is a way to show off who you are.
When adding a profile picture think about what others are going to think when they first see it. Are you a dressed nice and clean? Do you look happy? Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure those thoughts that come up into your viewers mind when looking at your picture are what you want them to be. After they view your picture they are going to decide whether or not they want to continue looking through your profile or move onto someone else’s, grab their attention. When adding your header, work experience, summary, and skills you also want to keep these things in mind. What you put in these sections is going to build who you since your viewers most likely don’t know you personally, make sure the person you are building is truly who you are.
3. What do you believe your personal brand is and how do you think colleagues perceive both your positive and negative characteristics?
When creating my personal brand it is very important to me to show others my experience and work ethic. I want my profile viewers to see that I have a wide variety of work experience and skills. Even though LinkedIn is a professional platform I personally think it is important to show some personality on your profile as well. When I’m creating my brand I want my personality to be able to show as well, it doesn’t always have to be about work and serious. Bringing up your negative characteristics is just as important as showing the positive ones. Everybody has different characteristics and whether you consider them positive or negative is up to you, but embrace them whatever they are. I’m always working to improve my negative characteristics and I would hope my profile viewers would perceive them as a learning experience for both of us. My personal brand is based off my work experience. The experience I have in real estate creates my brand I believe.
4. What steps could you take to improve your personal brand in person and online?
You can always be improving your personal brand in person and online. To me, improving things online is easier most of the time because you are able to show what you want. If you don’t want to show the negative things about you or the negative things going on in your life you don’t have to. Hiding these things in person is a little bit harder to do.
For me improving my personal brand in person is learning in skills and abilities. Since I’m focusing my personal brand around real estate I’m always working to learn more about real estate and what tools I can use and improve on. Once I learn and master these new skills I can post them under my profile to improve my brand online. Also, working towards and earning more real estate specific certificates is always something I’m working on to expand my abilities as well.
5. What is an example of how your personal brand affects your career and future employment opportunities?
Personally, I think it is important to build your personal brand around what career you are planning on going into. Building your brand now will help you get future employment opportunities. Employers are going to choose someone who has been working towards the career for a while over someone who hasn’t worked on getting experience or skills and abilities that will help them with a job. I believe that building my personal brand now in real estate I will have a better chance one day getting into a real estate firm if I ever want to take the route of becoming a broker. With the experience, certificates, abilities, skills, and strengths I’m building up now for my personal brand it will be easier for me to get a job in the future doing what I want to do.