Awards
If you make your university's Dean's List, you should not just list it once; you can add it to this specific LinkedIn profile section.
Honors & Awards
Volunteer experience doesn't count and should not be included. True or False
False
Profiles with a professional photo receive up to 21 times more views. True or False?
True
When adding a new connection—especially someone you don’t know personally—you should always do this action instead of just clicking the blank "Connect" button.
adding a personalized note
Leaving thoughtful insights on an industry leader's post is called doing this, and it is the easiest way for a student to get noticed without writing a full post.
Commenting
When listing an award like a specific scholarship, you should always include this numerical detail in the description to help recruiters understand how competitive or impressive the achievement actually was.
Selection Rate
Every single bullet point under your jobs or internships should start with one of these strong, dynamic words (like "managed," "designed," or "analyzed") rather than "Responsible for."
Action Verb
This green, semi-circular photo frame overlay can be toggled on to instantly visually signal to every passing recruiter that you are actively seeking internships or jobs.
"Open to Work" frame
this degree of connection represents a "friend of a friend"—someone you aren't directly connected to, but you share a mutual contact with.
2nd-degree connection
This dedicated profile section acts like a digital portfolio, letting you pin your best text posts, links to personal websites, or PDFs of your resume.
Featured section
If you win a major award, you shouldn't just bury it in the Honors section; you should also pin the announcement post or a photo of your certificate to this highly visible, top-of-profile section.
Featured section
To prove the actual impact of your work to recruiters, you should always include these (such as "increased engagement by 25%" or "managed a $500 budget") in your bullet points.
Metrics
This narrative section at the top of your profile is where you should tell your career story, showcase your personality, and use first-person "I" statements.
About
This LinkedIn page search feature lets you filter a university's former students by where they live, where they work, and what they studied.
Alumni Tool
To keep your feed professional and relevant to your major, you should actively search for and join these digital hubs focused on specific industries or hobbies.
LinkedIn groups
When you win a team-based award, such as placing first in a business case competition or hackathon, you should use this specific LinkedIn feature within the award entry to give credit to your teammates and have it appear on their profiles too.
tagging co-recipients
You can add up to 50 of these to your profile, and your connections can click a button to validate that you actually possess them.
Skills
To make your profile look clean on a resume or email signature, you should edit this part of your profile link to remove random numbers and letters.
Custom URL
This is the polite, professional term for a short 15-to-20-minute chat you request with an alumnus to learn about their career path.
Informational Interview
Undergrads can earn professional badges to display on their profiles by completing free or university-provided video courses on this built-in platform.
LinkedIn learning
When adding an accolade to the Honors & Awards section, you are given a specific drop-down field called "Associated with." To prevent your award from looking random, you must use this dropdown to link the award to one of these predefined areas of your profile, proving the exact context in which you earned it.
specific job entry (or specific Education/Experience entry)
Modern AI recruiter tools don't just look for keywords typed into your text paragraphs. To rank high in recruiter searches, students must use a specific built-in feature to connect their hard tools and competencies directly to a specific job entry.
"Link Skills to Experience" feature
When you post an image or a PDF portfolio slide on your feed or profile, you should always fill out this hidden text field to describe the visual asset, ensuring your profile is accessible to visually impaired recruiters and optimizing your content for LinkedIn's search algorithm.
Alt Text
Instead of connecting directly, clicking this button allows you to see someone's public posts and articles in your feed without them having to approve your request.
Follow button
When posting about a recent internship or project, you should use this symbol followed by a keyword to make your post discoverable to recruiters tracking that topic.
Hashtag