We began with something practical: working with a fourth-year Media Arts student to take professional headshots for our members. Naturally, the next question was:\u00a0Now what do we do with them?<\/em><\/p>\n Our president,\u00a0Malayna Joy\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>, kindly mentioned she admired my existing LinkedIn presence and asked if I would share some tips with the group. I was happy to \u2014 not as a LinkedIn expert, but as a fellow learner who has made plenty of mistakes and adjustments along the way.<\/p>\n What really motivated me, though, was something I kept hearing from students.<\/p>\n If any of that sounds familiar,\u00a0you\u2019re not alone.<\/em><\/p>\n Start by thinking like a communicator<\/strong><\/p>\n One mindset shift helped me the most: your LinkedIn profile is not just a form to fill out, it\u2019s strategic communication.<\/p>\n As communication students at the\u00a0University of the Fraser Valley<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0, we talk a lot about audience, positioning and message clarity. LinkedIn is simply another place to apply those same principles to ourselves.<\/p>\n Your profile is your professional story in motion. LinkedIn supports thought leadership, a place to showcase you and your ideas.<\/p>\n BUILD: Get the foundation right<\/strong><\/p>\n During our session, one point really seemed to resonate:<\/p>\n Your headline is not your job title \u2014 it\u2019s your positioning statement.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n That line sparked a lot of discussion.<\/p>\n Your headline is one of the most powerful pieces of real estate on your profile. It helps people quickly understand who you are, what you care about and where you\u2019re headed. It also supports discoverability through keywords.<\/p>\n A simple formula is role or aspiration + speciality + value or impact. Example:\u00a0Communication student specializing in digital storytelling | Passionate about community engagement.<\/em><\/p>\n Beyond the headline, a few foundational pieces matter most:<\/p>\n Profile essentials<\/strong><\/p>\n One pattern I\u2019ve noticed among students is the tendency to undervalue lived experience. Retail, food service, volunteering, student leadership \u2014 these roles build real communication skills. Don\u2019t short-change yourself by leaving that story untold.<\/p>\n NETWORK: Start closer than you think<\/strong><\/p>\n Another hesitation I often hear is:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know anyone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I understand that feeling \u2014 but it\u2019s often not as true as it feels.<\/p>\n When I was working as a barista at Starbucks back in 2009, some of my most valuable professional connections started right at the counter. I made a point of getting to know regular customers, learning about their work and asking thoughtful questions about their career paths.<\/p>\n Years later, I would end up working with \u2014 and in some cases for \u2014 several of those same customers.<\/p>\n The lesson that stuck with me:<\/p>\n Networking doesn\u2019t only happen at conferences. It happens wherever genuine curiosity and relationship-building exist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Whether you are serving in a restaurant, working retail, volunteering in the community, or participating in student leadership, you are already in relationship-building environments.<\/p>\n For CMNSA members and UFV students, strong starting points include:<\/p>\n Start where you are.<\/p>\n ENGAGE: Visibility builds credibility<\/strong><\/p>\n One common \u201cred flag\u201d we discussed is the\u00a0set it and forget it<\/em>\u00a0approach.<\/p>\n LinkedIn is social media. A polished profile is important, but engagement is what keeps you visible.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to post every day, and you don\u2019t need to be an expert. Some approachable ways to begin:<\/p>\n Small, consistent activity builds familiarity and credibility over time. Then, perhaps set a reminder to review your profile at the end of every semester to update new projects, refresh skills, add courses and certifications, and review your headline.<\/p>\n ADVANCE: Use LinkedIn as a career tool<\/strong><\/p>\n LinkedIn becomes especially powerful when you move beyond profile-building and start using it strategically.<\/p>\n For emerging communication professionals, this can include:<\/p>\n As the UFV School of Communication emphasizes, our field values ethical, inclusive and forward-looking communicators. LinkedIn is one place where those professional habits begin to take shape.<\/p>\n A gentle note on confidence<\/strong><\/p>\n If there was one theme that came up repeatedly in our CMNSA session, it was hesitation. Many students feel unsure about talking about themselves or worry they are \u201cnot experienced enough yet.\u201d<\/p>\n From one fellow learner to another: growth in this space is incremental.<\/p>\n Your profile will evolve. Your headline will change. Your confidence will build.<\/p>\n The goal is not perfection \u2014 it is intentional progress.<\/p>\n Moving forward together<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are a communication student at UFV or elsewhere, my encouragement is simple:<\/p>\n Consider reaching out for a virtual coffee or an in-person conversation with someone in the field. And if you\u2019re part of CMNSA or a similar student group, lean into that community. Emerging communication professionals are stronger when we support and cheer each other on.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all still learning. But taken together, small, consistent steps on LinkedIn can open more doors than many of us expect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Author: Desmond Devnich Photos: Linden Markham Earlier this week, I had the chance to share some LinkedIn tips with my fellow charter members of the\u00a0UFV Communication Student Association\u00a0(CMNSA). As a newer student group \u2014 we only started meeting in January \u2014 one of our early goals was professional development. We began with something practical: working … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":2127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2123"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2131,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions\/2131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Communication](\"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/cmns\/files\/2026\/03\/cmnsa-networking-event-2-300x169.jpeg\")
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