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DR. SANIYA CHAWLA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR<\/strong><\/p>\n When students hear the word placements<\/em><\/span>, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the resume.<\/p>\n They spend hours deciding the right format, rewriting their objective, adding internships, projects and certifications, and trying to fit everything into one or two pages.<\/p>\n But there is another professional tool that deserves just as much attention:\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n For a PGDM student, LinkedIn is not just another job-search platform. It is a place where you start building your professional identity. Your profile can help\u00a0recruiters<\/a>, alumni, faculty members<\/a> and industry professionals understand what you are interested in, what you have worked on and how you are developing professionally.<\/p>\n A simple way to look at it is this:<\/p>\n Your resume is prepared for a particular opportunity. Your LinkedIn profile represents your professional journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the most common mistakes students make is opening or updating their LinkedIn profile only when placements are around the corner.<\/p>\n By then, you may realise that there isn’t much to add.<\/p>\n But think about everything you do during a PGDM programme<\/a>. You attend industry sessions, participate in competitions, work on live projects, complete internships, earn certifications, make presentations, take part in student activities<\/a> and learn from your classroom experiences.<\/p>\n These are all pieces of your professional journey.<\/p>\n Instead of trying to remember and add everything at the last minute, start documenting these experiences as you go.<\/p>\n LinkedIn can also help you stay connected with what is happening outside your classroom. Follow companies, alumni, recruiters and professionals from the areas you are interested in. Read what they share. Observe the skills and roles that are becoming relevant.<\/p>\n You don’t have to be an expert. You just need to start paying attention.<\/p>\n Imagine you have applied for an internship<\/a> or placement<\/a> and the recruiter decides to look you up on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n Is your photograph professional? Is your headline clear? Are your internships and projects properly explained? Have you added relevant skills and certifications? Does your profile give some sense of what you are interested in?<\/p>\n None of these things, individually, will define you.<\/p>\n But together, they create an impression.<\/p>\n Your LinkedIn profile doesn’t have to look extraordinary. It simply needs to be complete, genuine and regularly updated.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Your photograph is usually one of the first things people notice.<\/p>\n You don’t need a professional photoshoot. A clear, recent photograph with a simple background and a professional appearance is perfectly fine.<\/p>\n Avoid using party photographs, group pictures where you have cropped yourself out, highly edited images or photographs with distracting backgrounds.<\/p>\n Remember, LinkedIn is part of your professional presence. Choose a photograph accordingly.<\/p>\n A headline such as \u201cPGDM Student at XYZ College\u201d<\/em><\/span> is correct, but it doesn’t really tell people what you are interested in.<\/p>\n Your headline is an opportunity to communicate the direction you are exploring.<\/p>\n For example, an HR student could mention interests such as Human Resources, Talent Management or Organisational Behaviour. A finance student might highlight Financial Analysis, Investment or Corporate Finance. Someone interested in marketing could mention Digital Marketing, Consumer Behaviour or Brand Management.<\/p>\n Don’t try to put every possible keyword into your headline.<\/p>\n Ask yourself:<\/p>\n If someone reads my headline for five seconds, will they understand what I am interested in?<\/strong><\/p>\n That’s what your headline should accomplish.<\/p>\n The About section is where you can introduce yourself in a little more detail.<\/p>\n Talk about your academic background, areas of interest, internships, projects, skills and the kind of career you are exploring.<\/p>\n But avoid filling it with words like dynamic, innovative, strategic, passionate<\/em><\/span> and result-oriented<\/em><\/span> simply because they sound professional.<\/p>\n Instead, show people what you have actually done.<\/p>\n What have you learned during your PGDM? What projects have you worked on? What did your internship teach you? Which area of management interests you? What kind of roles are you exploring?<\/p>\n And don’t copy someone else’s About section.<\/p>\n Your profile should sound like you<\/strong><\/span>, not like a template downloaded from the internet.<\/p>\n Students sometimes treat internships and academic projects as items they simply need to add to their resume.<\/p>\n They are much more than that.<\/p>\n An internship gives you an opportunity to show how you applied what you learned in the classroom. Maybe you worked on recruitment, analysed data, conducted market research, interacted with customers, supported a campaign or prepared reports.<\/p>\n Don’t stop at:<\/p>\n \u201cCompleted a two-month marketing internship.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Tell people what you actually did.<\/p>\n The same applies to academic projects. Whether it was a market research project, business plan, consulting assignment or industry study, explain your role and what you learned from the experience.<\/p>\n The title of the project tells people what you worked on. Your contribution tells them what you can do.<\/strong><\/p>\n LinkedIn networking is not a competition to see who can reach 5,000 connections first.<\/p>\n Start with people who are already part of your professional environment \u2014 your faculty members, classmates, seniors, alumni, internship colleagues and professionals you have interacted with.<\/p>\n Then gradually expand your network.<\/p>\n If you want to connect with someone you don’t know personally, have a genuine reason. Maybe you attended their session, found their career journey interesting or are exploring the same industry.<\/p>\n And when someone accepts your request, don’t immediately send a generic message asking for a job.<\/p>\n Build the relationship first.<\/p>\n A useful network is not necessarily the biggest network. It is the one that is relevant and meaningful.<\/strong><\/p>\n Being active on LinkedIn doesn’t mean posting something every single day.<\/p>\n Share things that genuinely add value.<\/p>\n You could write about something interesting you learned during your internship, a classroom discussion that made you think differently, a competition you participated in, a certification you completed or an industry session you found useful.<\/p>\n You can also engage with other people’s content. Read posts and leave thoughtful comments when you actually have something to say.<\/p>\n Don’t post simply because you think LinkedIn will penalise you for being inactive.<\/p>\n One genuine post is better than five posts written just for visibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n Instead of saying only \u201cAttended an industry session today,\u201d<\/em><\/span> talk about the one idea that stayed with you or something that changed the way you looked at a particular topic.<\/p>\n That’s what makes a post worth reading.<\/p>\n By the time placement season arrives, your LinkedIn profile should not be something you are creating from scratch.<\/p>\n It should already show your journey.<\/p>\n Start with the basics:<\/p>\n Most importantly, don’t treat LinkedIn as another assignment that needs to be completed and forgotten.<\/p>\n Your profile should grow as you grow.<\/strong><\/p>\n Your resume may change every time you apply for a different role. Your LinkedIn profile has the opportunity to capture the bigger picture \u2014 the projects you worked on, the skills you developed, the experiences you gained and the professional interests you discovered along the way.<\/p>\n For a PGDM student, your professional journey doesn’t begin with your first placement interview.<\/p>\n It begins much earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n So don’t wait for placements to take LinkedIn seriously.<\/p>\n Start building your professional presence while you are still building your career.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DR. SANIYA CHAWLA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR When students hear the word placements, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the resume. They spend hours deciding the right format, rewriting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2732,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions\/2732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagannath.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Should PGDM Students Start Early?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What Does Your LinkedIn Profile Say About You?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What will they see?<\/h3>\n
Start With a Good Profile Photograph<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Your Headline Should Say More Than \u201cPGDM Student\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Let Your About Section Sound Like You<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Your experiences will say much more about you than a list of adjectives.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don’t Underestimate Your Internship and Projects<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Build Your Network, But Build It Meaningfully<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You Don’t Have to Post Every Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Don’t Wait Until Placement Season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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