High schoolers shouldn’t let a lack of professional experience keep them from creating a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a valuable free tool that can help you stand apart from your peers while vying for internships, college admission, and jobs. LinkedIn is equally beneficial as a resource for discovering potential internships or professional opportunities—as the popular saying goes, It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Networking and connections play a considerable role in professional environments, and LinkedIn allows you to showcase yourself professionally, build your network, and access opportunities.
What is LinkedIn?
For high schoolers unfamiliar with LinkedIn, it’s a career-focused social network. The platform allows you to connect with professionals, discover opportunities (like internships), explore industries and interests, and showcase your skills—presenting a synopsis of your professional history. In a sense, LinkedIn serves as an online resume, displaying your work history, achievements, education, skills, and areas of interest.
LinkedIn for High School Students
LinkedIn is a cornerstone of professional networking and a nexus of industry insights. It’s also a robust career marketplace with millions of full- and part-time jobs, along with internships, posted at any one time.
Internships and Jobs
A presence on LinkedIn can help high schoolers get their foot in the door and differentiate themselves from a crowded field of applicants for a competitive internship. Having a polished LinkedIn profile shows initiative, commitment, and professionalism. It also offers internship providers a quick and easy method to verify your credentials and judge if you’re a good fit for the opportunity. In other words, a well-crafted profile can help you make a good first impression. More so, having a LinkedIn profile is ubiquitous in some fields like technology, financial services, and higher education.
College Admissions
While a LinkedIn profile is advantageous for finding and obtaining internships, it can also be an asset when applying to college, demonstrating to admissions offices your maturity, commitment, and professionalism—similarly to how it does to employers. Also, consider the role social media plays in enrollment outcomes: according to Kaplan, 67% of admissions officers believe it’s fair to check out applicants’ social media posts when making admissions decisions. LinkedIn is another chance to show yourself in the best light possible.
LinkedIn is an underutilized tool by high schoolers, according to the Pew Research Center; in 2021, just 10% of Americans with a high school diploma or less used LinkedIn. While it feels like more and more high schoolers are coming to the platform, the number was only up 1% from Pew’s 2018 survey. By the numbers, simply creating a LinkedIn profile can set you apart from 90% of your classmates.
LinkedIn Profiles for High School Students
The more complete and well-executed a high schooler’s LinkedIn profile is, the more effective it will be. Keep in mind that profiles are ongoing records you can update as you gain experience and skills.
While developing a presence on LinkedIn can feel daunting, below are some tips for creating an attention-grabbing profile.
Profile Photo
According to LinkedIn, your profile is 14 times more likely to be viewed by others if it has a picture. This isn’t Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat—like the rest of your profile, your photo should exude professionalism. Use a high-resolution image where you’re dressed appropriately (as you would be for an interview), can clearly see your face, and are in front of a simple background. Remember to smile! It makes you seem more likable, competent, and influential. Smiles that show teeth are even more powerful.
You don’t need a professional to snap your headshot, but you also want to avoid it looking like a selfie—have your parents or a friend snap the photo. If you want a professional image, consider asking for a few headshots when taking your senior photos.
Background Photo
The background photo is the image that appears behind your profile photo. It’s an excellent way to subtly tell a story about yourself and spotlight your personality and interests. For example, athletes can highlight their love of sport by having their background image be a field, court, or rink; travelers can choose to feature an exotic market or foreign cityscape; and designers and artists can flex their skills and create their own background image. These are just a few ideas—you can also use the space to promote something you’re passionate about, like fighting climate change or an inspirational quote.
Headline
Your headline is displayed directly under your photo and name on your LinkedIn page and is one of the first things someone sees when viewing your profile. A good headline is concise and catchy, grabbing attention and enticing viewers to learn more about you.
There’s no tired-and-true method for crafting a memorable headline—they can include everything from accomplishments to aspirations to something personal.
Examples include:
Driven, hustling, gritty, and open to internships
Future Biomedical Engineer and dog lover interested in gaining real-world experience
Creative writing wizard and self-proclaimed book nerd looking for a publishing internship
Hard-working and dependable travel enthusiast in search of a hospitality internship
Writing a great headline is as much of an art as it is science, so experiment and see what works. Also, think about your audience—a person hiring a marketing intern might be dazzled by a cleverly worded headline, while it might seem silly to someone looking for a research intern.
About
The About section provides the space for you to share more about yourself, highlight your achievements, share your goals, and show off your personality. It’s more impactful to show, rather than tell, and stories make you memorable. So relive that big accomplishment and demonstrate the qualities you want to highlight instead of simply stating them. Think about which person you find more interesting and would be more likely to interview for an internship:
Person 1: I’m a hard worker.
Person 2: When a storm knocked out the power at the bakery where I work weekends, I showed up three hours early and helped hand-knead dough by candlelight. When the power came back on just before opening, we didn’t have full shelves, but we did have enough to ensure our customers left satisfied.
Feature
The Feature section allows you to bolster your profile and showcase your work. High schoolers can use this section to link to articles, posts, media, or other relevant media. For example:
A newspaper article about your debate team going to the National Debate Tournament
A social media post from the local food bank highlighting your contributions
A local news story on your soccer team winning the league championship
A blog from a local art gallery promoting a photography show you participated in
The Featured section is also an ideal spot to show off an online portfolio of anything from articles you wrote for the school paper to creative writing to art.
Experience
It’s common for high schoolers to struggle to complete the Experience section of their LinkedIn profile—after all, most high schoolers have limited work history. Don’t stress over it; you’re just beginning to think about careers and no one expects a high schooler to have a robust employment record.
You’ll want to list any after-school/summer jobs or internships you’ve worked in this section. Be sure to include your job title and the dates you held the position, and highlight the responsibilities of the role and any accomplishments you may have had.
If you feel like this section looks thin, consider adding any volunteer work you perform, clubs you’re active in, or sports you play. This is particularly true if you can tie it to a professional aspiration. For example:
Humane Society
Volunteer
Volunteering at the local humane society has helped me build numerous skills I hope to use in a veterinary career. My position provides me with hands-on animal care experience, teamwork, and a deeper understanding of animal health and welfare.
Or:
Varsity Football Team
Team Captain
As captain of my high school football team, I became passionate about athletic performance, injury prevention, and teamwork—key aspects of sports science. This experience provided me with firsthand insight into the mechanics of movement, physical conditioning, and the impact of training. More so, it has inspired me to pursue a career in the science behind athletics.
Education
Education is pretty straightforward. You’ll want to include your current high school, GPA, and any AP/IB programs you participate in. You can also include notable honors you’ve received or extracurricular activities you’ve participated in.
Honors & Awards
Your LinkedIn profile is a piece of marketing material for your professional life, so make sure to include all your wow-worthy achievements. If you haven’t had the opportunity to brag about a big accomplishment, this is the place. Honors and awards can include being named a National Merit Scholar, making the Dean’s list, winning a prestigious essay contest, earning Eagle Scout rank, or making an All-State athletic team.
Volunteer
This is the place to share any volunteer work, community service, or service projects you haven’t already included—some high schoolers with ample work histories may choose to separate their professional work from their volunteer work. This section is formatted similarly to the Experience section; you’ll want to include the organization you volunteered with, your role, and your service dates. Use the description section to highlight the skills you demonstrated, your passion for the cause, and the initiative you’ve taken.
Organizations
If you haven’t already mentioned your participation in a club, group, or team, here’s the place. Make sure to note any leadership roles, spotlight any accomplishments, and share how the club aligns with your interests and aspirations.
Skills
LinkedIn allows you to feature 50 skills. However, try to keep your list more focused. Aim to include a blend of five to ten hard and soft skills you’re very confident in. Soft skills are non-technical attributes relating to how you work with others, such as good communicator, team player, and self-motivated. Hard skills are specific technical knowledge or abilities like proficiency with Photoshop, coding JAVA, or fluency in a foreign language.
Courses
If you didn’t include any significant coursework you’re pursuing in the education section, you can add it here. This could include AP/IB courses you’ve taken or a class or workshop you completed outside of school.
Languages
Speaking another language is impressive and a great way to get noticed. List the languages you speak and your level of proficiency.
Projects
If you worked on any projects that didn’t fit into another category above, you can include them here. Make sure to explain the project, your role, and any skills you developed or accomplishments you achieved.
Certifications
You’ll want to highlight your certifications in the certification section. Common certifications for high schoolers include CPR, Basic First Aid, and Basic Life Support. It’s also common for high schoolers to earn certifications from coding courses, pre-college programs, and summer institutes.
LinkedIn for High School Students Essentials
Once you’ve completed filling out the sections of your LinkedIn profile, it’s time to proofread. You don’t want silly typos or sloppy grammar to detract from your impressive experience. Go through and check your work for spelling and accuracy, ensure the tone is consistent from section to section, and make sure you’re using the correct tenses—past tense for past jobs and present tense for current ones.
Lastly, customize your URL using your name. This makes you easier to find, adds credibility, and looks cleaner when shared on resumes or in email signatures.
Managing Your LinkedIn Profile
Creating a LinkedIn profile is just step one in putting the social platform to work and helping you land an internship.
Adding Connections
You’ll also need to start growing your network by connecting with other users. Your parents, close relatives, neighbors, friends, your parents’ close friends, and your friends’ parents are all excellent places to start building contacts. You can connect with your coworkers if you have a job, a volunteering position, or an internship.
Your high school classmates or peers from a pre-college program or summer camp (if they have LinkedIn) are also good connections to build. You can ask to connect with favorite teachers and administrators as well—especially if they might write you a letter of recommendation. Other people to consider adding to your network include coaches, Scout leaders, or church leaders.
Keeping Up to Date
One of the great aspects of LinkedIn is that it’s something you can use throughout your professional career. Of course, for your LinkedIn profile to be effective at helping you land an internship or job, you need to keep it current. Periodically review your profile and make any necessary updates. For example, refresh your education section at the end of the school year and add new jobs, awards, courses, and extracurriculars as needed. Similarly, remove any information that is no longer relevant or is distracting from the story you want to tell about yourself.
Get in the habit of looking at the descriptions under your work history and volunteering. Roles often evolve, so make sure you include any new skills you’ve built or responsibilities you’ve taken on. People also change. If your headline or About section no longer reflects your personality and goals, go ahead and give them a refresh.
Stay Active
The more you engage on LinkedIn, the more you’re likely to benefit from the platform. Set aside a little time every week to see if there’s news from anyone in your network, answer any messages, and respond to invitations to connect. Also, check in to see if there’s anyone you should try to connect with.
StandOut, with StandOut Connect
LinkedIn is a powerful professional tool, but like any tool, it’s only as good as the person wielding it. Thoughtfully create your profile, keep it current, forge strong connections, and engage on the platform to start building the foundation of future internships and open potential career paths. While you can go it alone, you can also apply for StandOut Connect, a program that helps high school students learn professional skills, such as how to build a LinkedIn profile, before matching them with an internship relating to their interest area.Â