My Story with LinkedIn
Although I can no longer find the notes I took in my freshman year, I still remember attending “Introduction to Financial Management” back then. Amidst a dazzling array of fancy job titles, I grasped a common rule: successful people were all actively managing their LinkedIn profiles. Whether they were investment analysts, entrepreneurs, asset managers, or tech PMs, having a professional online presence coupled with a high number of connections, though requiring time to cultivate, was essentially all upside and no downside. Here are two insights I’ve gained over the past few years:
Even if you currently feel like you ‘have nothing to show for it,’ rack your brain to put your past experiences on display. When I first entered university, some of my peers were already active on LinkedIn. I graduated from a private vocational high school, and at the time, I had absolutely no connection to finance and truly lacked any impressive achievements. I remember being forced to write my first resume in class, and all I could squeeze onto it was: worked as a tutor, ranked first in my high school class, TOEIC and GEPT scores… information that now seems trivial. However, as time went on, I gradually accumulated experience from clubs, internships, workshops, and courses. Recently, to make my profile even more concise, I even deleted many “driftwood” entries that I once thought were very important, such as student council experience or being a member of a certain conference. In the process of revision, I felt the thrill of refining and distilling, which is also the best evidence of growth. University students often think, “Who would want to connect with me?” and then retreat to Instagram or Threads. But if you can regularly update your thoughts, it’s not only practicing adapting to LinkedIn’s business atmosphere but also accumulating your personal perspectives. A profile with content is always better than an empty shell; at the very least, when recruiters or future companies want to learn about you, there will be more angles for them to explore. The first step is always the hardest. We can start by building a “basic version,” then observe how the KOLs we admire write their profiles, and gradually fine-tune our own.
Pro Tip: Pre-set a career goal you wish to achieve and incorporate keywords into your headline. Even if you haven’t achieved it yet, this is a form of “signaling,” letting others see that you are an aspiring individual interested in that field, and that’s already effective enough.
Don’t be shy about aggressively adding connections. In my freshman year, an upperclassman told me: “Don’t worry about what your resume looks like, and certainly don’t fear rejection. Once your connections exceed 500+ (which is considered the golden number on LinkedIn), the dynamic will shift from ‘you adding others’ to ‘others actively adding you’.” My approach at the time was very direct: target keywords (e.g., Finance) and keep hitting ‘Connect’; or look for seniors from the same school or clubs. Don’t worry about what happens if you’re rejected. After a few months, when your connections grow, or when you actually land a good internship, those who initially ignored you might just have a change of heart (lol). In short, if you’re reading this article on LinkedIn, don’t hesitate—go create your connections! (Or feel free to add me; I always accept!)