LinkedIn Profile Guide
for College Students
By Lasse Palomaki | © 2025 The Strategic Student LLC
What to Expect
Skip the guesswork and unlock a complete blueprint on LinkedIn Profiles through this comprehensive guide for college students. The advice covered is grounded in practical, real-world insights. (This guide is not major- or industry-specific.)
By the end of this guide, you should feel confident in your ability to:
✓ Build a LinkedIn Profile that follows best practices for students and recent graduates
✓ Tailor your LinkedIn Profile to your target internships and jobs
✓ Avoid common mistakes found in student LinkedIn profiles
No more guesswork. No more confusion. Just actionable tactics you can apply today.
What is a LinkedIn Profile
Just like organizations, people too have brands. And just like organizations advertise their brands, you too should advertise yours.
There are many ways to do that, some in person and some online, but few are as powerful as LinkedIn. Day and night, your profile tirelessly builds your brand online. That’s great, right? Well… it depends. A good profile is good for your brand. A bad profile is bad for your brand.
But what does a “good profile” mean?
• Optimized to your target career
• Highlights your unique value proposition
• Created with your target audience in mind
This guide will walk you through each of those steps (and much more).
Follow the advice covered in the guide, and you will turn your profile into a powerful brand ambassador that promotes your skills and experiences 24/7.
No more outdated profile you threw together for a class assignment — it’s time to start leveraging LinkedIn to it’s fullest potential.
Important: The contents of this guide are based on Lasse Palomaki’s “Leveraging LinkedIn as a College Student” workshop that he has been invited to deliver to college students at 25+ institutions around the world (e.g., Cornell, UCLA, UT Dallas, etc.).
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Conclusion
LinkedIn has become a fundamental piece of today’s internship and job search, and your presence on the platform can be a massively valuable tool for your candidacy. Whether you list your LinkedIn URL on your resume or not, chances are that the recruiter reviewing your application will try to find you on the platform anyway.
PS. To receive further personalized 1:1 LinkedIn coaching that can address questions specific to your unique situation, you can check out our coaching services here.
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This guide is intended for educational and informational purposes only. While the strategies and advice provided aim to assist students in their internship and job search, The Strategic Student LLC does not guarantee employment or any specific job outcomes as a result of using this guide. Success depends on individual effort, qualifications, and other factors beyond the scope of this guide.
