Before starting the Summer Publishing Institute (SPI), I never thought of my LinkedIn profile as particularly important. Similar to many other students in this course, my LinkedIn was a haphazard mash-up of every job I’d had since I was sixteen. I knew the career path I wanted to traverse, a Public Relations career in Book Publishing, and yet, you couldn’t tell that from my profile. I didn’t even have any connections.
However, after attending career coach Janel Abrahami’s Level Up Your LinkedIn presentation, I realised the breadth of impact that an organised LinkedIn profile—or self-updating Rolodex, as Janel put it—has on your career. From my seat at the very edge of the front row, I witnessed Janel’s enthusiasm the moment she began speaking. It was clear that not only did she have experience in this area, but also a strong passion to share it with others.
The first and most significant fact I gleaned from her is that LinkedIn is not just a place to highlight your successes. Foremost, like all social media platforms, LinkedIn is a means of connecting and forming relationships with like-minded, goal-oriented individuals. It is the first place someone will go to find you after meeting you in a professional setting. Would you want your possible employer seeing your profile exactly the way it is now? During Janel’s presentation, my answer was a definite no.
Typing eagerly into my laptop, I also noted down the importance of ‘taking the driver’s seat’ when it comes to establishing your professional brand. Janel stressed that if you don’t define yourself, then others will fill in the blanks and define you. Building your personal brand will allow you to own your career and expand your income streams in future. Therefore, when organising your LinkedIn profile, you have to ensure that you future-proof your personal brand by providing all the details.
And what exactly are those details? Janel helped us out with that too. Along with a related cover photo, she explained that the ‘About’ section of your LinkedIn should fulfil all the W’s: WHO you are and who your work impacts, WHAT kind of material you work on, WHERE your work shows up, and WHY you are passionate about your niche. A short, unifying power statement that summarises these facts should be able to communicate the very core of your professional experience.
As she spoke, I couldn’t help but pull up my LinkedIn profile to make frenzied edits. I wasn’t alone either. Almost everyone in my row had begun modifying their profiles - Janel’s wisdom had made an immediate impact on all of us. These were professional tips that very few of us had known ourselves, and probably would never have known had we not attended this presentation.
Appropriate to a room of publishing industry aspirants, Janel also explained how LinkedIn is a great platform for storytelling. Unlike your resume, on LinkedIn, there are far more opportunities for creativity and expression through personalising your Featured media and Experience sections. For me, this included providing links to articles I’ve published, and images of my professional experiences. I even saw some students linking short films that they worked on.
Janel also recommended joining groups that are relevant to your industry, and actively posting content on your page. Creating work-centred social media posts was something I’d never done before, but it turned out to be simpler than I’d thought. Every post does not need to be a mind-blowing revelation, You should simply focus on sharing what you think, what you know, and what you’re currently doing. Since Abrahami’s presentation, I’ve posted multiple times about my classes at SPI, and gained 30+ connections (albeit, I had zero to start with).
For a long time, at least for me, I viewed LinkedIn as a secondary force in my career, not a driving one. Yet now I understand that it is a tool like any other. You don’t have to use an axe to cut down a tree. However, platforms like LinkedIn are there to help you, and they can provide great leverage in shaping and building your career the way you want it to be.
The learning opportunities offered by NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute have impacted my professional outlook in new and integral ways. While I already had my career goals in mind coming into the course, SPI’s informative panels and speakers, including Janel Abrahami, showed me how I could start making steps towards a fulfilling future whichever path I go. I am immensely grateful to the many educators and professionals who collaborated to create this program, and who will continue to inspire us on our publishing journeys.
Charo Palenzuela is a recent graduate of the 2024 NYU Summer Publishing Student. She will be graduating in November as a Public Relations Major from the University of Queensland, Australia. She aspires to work in communications within the Australian publishing industry, especially with BIPOC narratives and authors.
