Near the end of the school year, we offered our grade 11 students an opportunity to have a LinkedIn Workshop as part of our Individual Pathways Program and get career ready. My friend Terri Romeo, had done something similar at her school, and as it turned out, because of Covid19, we had to have our session virtually. We had a representative from Microsoft present a workshop called, How to Rock your LinkedIn Profile, and while the presentation itself was good, it wasn’t really geared towards high school students as much as I would have liked. I continually interrupted the presenter to add my own ideas about how students could use their volunteer hours, or the post feature. I did however learn that I was NOT using my LinkedIn profile to its fullest capacity.
And so, with a little bit of time this summer, I went in and updated a few items on LinkedIn and soon discovered a former student of mine had presented a webinar on how he was using LinkedIn. Why hadn’t I thought of that? My friend, Robert Cannone had recently planned a series of career webinars presented by alumni in our own District. It was awesome and inspiring. How much more powerful would it be to have my students learn from a former Carter student?
So I chatted with Matthew Parkin for the #EmpoweredDigitalLeaders course I am currently running with Adam Hill. Matt provided practical tips and an overview of his own profile. I am hoping to invite him to work with our next year’s grade 11 students.
Think about how your own graduates can connect with your current students. What might they have to offer? When we think of connecting students to each other and the world, sometimes, it’s as easy as connecting them to some of our former students.
LinkedIn is a wonderful platform for students to practice Digital Leadership! If you are looking to improve your own LinkedIn profile, or would like to show your students how to do this, this FREE course may be useful. Also, because LinkedIn is a form of social media, we sent a parent consent letter. Here is a copy you can use if you are thinking of doing something similar.