In high school, students should begin to start thinking about their career paths and developing relationships and rapport with people in industries that interest them. As a counselor, it would be my responsibility to help students understand how to make these connections and empower them to find out more about their future careers—the daily realities of the job.
Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, can provide students with access to industry professionals and insight into how business connections are made. As a counselor, I will inform students of how important personal connections are when exploring career possibilities and job hunting, as well as how important a professional online presence is when making first impressions.
By properly utilizing LinkedIn, students can create a professional online presence that provides potential employers with vital information about a student. Students can then begin to add “connections” as they meet business contacts and thus start developing their professional networking group. Students can add experience and skill sets to their profile as they gain more experience, making it a fluid and ever-evolving networking tool.
The downside of sites like LinkedIn is that students could be easily discouraged by the lack of connections that can be made at this stage of their careers/life. Industry professionals might be leery of accepting connections of high school students they do not know. To mitigate this disappointment, counselors should prepare students for this potential challenge and help them make introductions and connections as much as possible.
For an example, my own linked in site is located at:http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=16275865&locale=en_US&trk=tab_pro
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I completely agree that this would be a great tool for high schoolers who are getting ready to make important decisions about their career path. I think if appropriately monitored in order to not break their confidence, this could really help many high schoolers make the connections needed to be successful.
ReplyDeleteLinkedIn is definitely a great tool. I've had an account for a few years now, but haven't really utilized all the great opportunities it has available. What's really cool is that you can write recommendation letters for people that potential employers can view.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that in this day and age people are so much more fluid in terms of where they work. I think establishing a presence and keeping track of accomplishments, networking and updating your resume or integral parts of being part of the workforce now. It's nice to have something like this to keep yourelf current and on the pulse. Since you work with high school you may also want to check otu the databases your local, public library or school purchase. I know our public library owns Ferguson, I believe, where you can take practice tests for SAT, ACT, and college exams like LSAT and such. At our library you only need a library card to get access from your home computer.
ReplyDelete-Tara Kenjockety