Even if your kids are still in school, helping them create a LinkedIn profile is always a good idea. Most people know LinkedIn as simply a job searching application.

The truth is LinkedIn has a lot to offer aside from jobs! It also has features found on popular social media platforms. That’s why it’s never too early to create one for your young one!

In this article, we’ll provide 9 easy steps you can use in guiding your child while building their LinkedIn profile. Read on!

What is LinkedIn?

Of course, you would want to first introduce what LinkedIn is. Tell your kids that LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional networking platform.” It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman, an entrepreneur and product and business strategist.

Through LinkedIn, people can create a profile. This will serve as their digital résumé! Then, they can connect with professional friends or follow business professionals—even Reid Hoffman himself!

Your kids asking for some interactive features? Tell them not to worry! Because LinkedIn also lets its users create posts to share their professional experiences. They can also share, react, and comment on someone else’s post!

But of course, you would want to explain to them that one of LinkedIn’s major features is job applications. Users can search for any kind of job that fits their skills and experience.

You may also encourage your child to explore and develop new skills through LinkedIn Learn! LinkedIn Learn lets users get access to courses and instructional videos on a variety of topics.

If you want your kids to maximize their learning, you may opt for a monthly or annual subscription. LinkedIn pricing is $29.99 per month or $19.99 for a yearly subscription.

Of course, all these basic features are for free. But you can also pay for your kids’ premium account with a LinkedIn pricing of $29.99 per month. This will make them access exclusive features like seeing who viewed their profile and a lot more!

How To Create LinkedIn Profile

Here are 9 easy steps to follow in guiding your child while they create their LinkedIn profile.

Before taking the first step, make sure that your young ones are within LinkedIn’s minimum age requirement. And that’s 16 years old!

Good to go? Your kids can sign in using the LinkedIn website at https://linkedin.com. You can also help them download the mobile app. Tell them to click the “Join now” option at the top right corner.

They’ll then need to provide an email address and a password. Click “Agree & Join.” Then, they’ll have to fill up the necessary basic information such as their name, country of residence, and industry.

Lastly, help them verify their email address! Tell them to click the “verify” button on the email sent by LinkedIn. And voilà! Greet them congrats as they already have a LinkedIn account!

Step 2: Choose Professional Profile Photo

After the LinkedIn sign in step, your can now help your kids in organizing their profile! Of course, the first thing they would want to do is add a photo. You would want to help them choose a professional-looking one.

As much as possible, tell them not to leave their profile photo empty. In most cases, this may signify that the account is inactive. Of course, you don’t want your kids’ profile to be ignored. You can also help them add a professional-looking banner if they wish to!

Step 3: Add Location

A lot of people may think that adding their location is not really important. But that’s false! Tell your kids that adding a location can make them more searchable to employers and other LinkedIn users. This is also helpful to get them notified whenever a job or internship is opening in their area!

To add location, they can click the “Edit” icon at the top right corner of their profile. Scroll down until they see “Country/Region” and “Location.”

Step 4: Add Industry and Professional Headline

Under the location, they can also add their industry! Remind them that this is another piece of important information for employers. This also helps in aligning LinkedIn job suggestions with their background.

Tell them that a headline is also a great addition to a LinkedIn profile! A headline is shown under the name, similar to a bio in other social media profiles.

They may opt to put their current educational level or college major as their headline. But of course, you can help them come up with a creative one. Just remember that users have a limit of 120 characters!

Step 5: Write Professional Summary

After fixing their profile intro, you can now guide them in writing their summary! Users have a limit of 2,000 characters in this. So make sure to include the highlights of their educational or professional experience.

You can start by introducing and describing their field of education or area of expertise. Then you can enumerate their relevant qualifications and accomplishments. You can also include their hobbies, interests, and personal values!

Step 6: Add Educational Background

Of course, you’ll want to add your kids’ educational background! This is especially important for students and fresh graduates who don’t have a lot of experience yet. To do this, they can simply click the “Add section” button under their profile intro and find “Education” under “Background.”

Step 7: List Down Relevant Experiences

This is arguably the most important section in a LinkedIn profile: work experience! But tell your kids not to worry if they don’t have that much experience just yet. Here, you can also include their relevant experiences during their high school or college years. They can include internships and organizational positions as well!

Step 8: Add At Least 5 Skills

You can also help them add a section to display their skills! This will help employers know if their skill set matches the job description. In the skills section, their connections can also “vote” as a way of endorsing them!

Step 9: Connect with Other LinkedIn Users

Through LinkedIn, your kids can start expanding their network. They can also follow big names in different industries! On top of that, they’ll surely meet people who can be their friends outside the professional world.

They can add connections by simply clicking the “Connect” button in a person’s profile.

A Few More Tips

And that’s it! Your *young adult* now has their own LinkedIn profile! But here are a few more tips that can help in guiding your kids:

Familiarize yourself with the platform and its algorithm. Of course, you can’t help your kids maximize their LinkedIn space if you’re not knowledgeable in the first place!
Make sure to guide your kids in choosing the right connections. They’ll probably have no idea who to connect with at first. You can suggest adding your colleagues!
Encourage your child to explore and take on opportunities for personal and professional growth. Don’t forget to remind them to update their profiles every now and then!

What are you waiting for? Call your young ones. Grab your laptop or mobile device. Then, head over to https://linkedin.com. Again, it’s never too early to help build their LinkedIn profile!