What are we really using LinkedIn for?

Since the beginning of this summer, I have noticed an increasing popularity around the social media platform LinkedIn. While I made an account on LinkedIn during my freshman year of college, I was never too active on the account until this past year when I began to network with people that I felt the need to connect with. Maybe it is because my peers and I are now beginning to advance in our careers, but it seems that I am not the only one who had the same idea.

When I first made my account, I was prompted to sortthrough the “suggested connections,” so I connected withany close friends who also had an account at that time. As I have met more people in college, I have continued to go on and connect with those I felt necessary. However, lately I have been receiving requests from all different people, some of whom I have not seen since high school. The times where I have watched my phone light up with the notification asking if I would like to connect with someone from high school that I barely knew then–or even have a remotely similar career path to now–lead me to think about what the purpose of this platform really is.

Typically when you think about logging into LinkedIn, youwould probably end up updating a section of your profile or connecting with someone that you recently met in a professional setting. One of the best aspects of this app is its ability to allow you to stay in contact with past professors and employers. Some people have even heard of that one friend of a friend’s sister who received a full time job with benefits right in her LinkedIn inbox. With the importance of networking rising, LinkedIn has become crucial for staying in contact with those who could be beneficial to your career.

Or has it really just become a way to brag about your accomplishments to others?

If the future chemical engineers, firefighters, and financial advisors that I went to high school with want to connect with me, a communications student pursuing marketing and PR, what could have prompted their decision to connect with me? There is a slim chance our industries will ever cross paths, so did they just want me to look at their profile so I can see how well they are doing in college? Or has LinkedIn become a spinoff of Facebook where you need to have a certain amount of connections to be taken seriously?

Whatever their reasons may be, the most important thing to remember when using LinkedIn is that even though it has become the easiest way to present yourself as a professional, it is crucial that you are still able to network and act professional offline and in a public setting as well. 

Do you think the people you connect with on LinkedIn should be relevant to the industry you are planning to have a career in? Or should you have as many connections as possible, even if they are from completely different industries? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Kristen VanLeer. 

Three Tips to Help You Get Through Your First Office Internship

After two years of interning with start up companies, my new full time, office-based internship was a major change. Knowing that I would no longer be attending the casual, weekly “team meeting” at the bar during happy hour, I headed to the mall in early May and bought myself a few pairs of slacks and flats to prepare for the months ahead.

Now that it is July and I have fully adjusted to my office’s environment, I have learned a few vital things for working in an office.

1. Say “Good Morning”

Your very first task of the day should be to say hello to anyone you see on your way to say good morning to your boss. This first act of communication is very important because it shows that you are willing to interact with everyone in the office. This will also come in handy when your summer internship begins during allergy season because you do not want to be the only one in the office who is not receiving a “God bless you” after every sneeze. If you are not a very social person, a smile also works! Silence every time you walk in the room is a lot more uncomfortable than greeting a few people every day.

2. Don’t Wear Headphones

Listening to music is a great way to make time pass while at work, but if your music is on your phone, it might be in your best interest to break out your old iPod from 2009. We all know this happens–one minute you could be changing a song and the next you are on Instagram looking at pictures of your friends at the beach. Now you are daydreaming about how you wish you were actually able to go to the beach on a weekday. Meanwhile, your coworkers are passing by you, probably peering over your shoulder as they walk to the printer. Now everyone is thinking about how they would rather be at the beach, and most importantly they are thinking about how you are not getting any work done.

3. Befriend the IT Guy

If your office hands out laptops to its employees, there is most likely an IT department that handles them. These guys may not seem like anyone you need to know, but along with giving you a laptop, they most likely handle the Wi-Fi and download speed for your computer. Since you are new, they might try to put you on a slower Wi-Fi than everyone else, which also means you will have a slower download speed. You might not mind this at first, but as soon as your boss begins sending you massive files of photos that need to be uploaded somewhere in the next hour and the file is saying it’s going to take 11 hours to download, you are going to be on your hands and knees praying to the IT Gods.

Every new job takes some getting used to, especially when every company’s work environment can be so varied. Just keep in mind that this period of adjustment does not last forever, and the longer you work somewhere, the more incredibly bizarre, and usually hilarious things you will find out about your office.

This guest blog post was written by PRowl staff member Kristen VanLeer.