Epsom College Linkedin workshop

I travelled to the prestigious Epsom College in Surrey to deliver a workshop on behalf of Millie Group about Linkedin skills for over 200 sixth form students in September.

As the students piled into the lecture theatre, chatting away rather excitedly, they were calmed down by their head of year who introduced our presentation topic of networking by saying that some of them may have opted for Epsom due to a belief that "it's not what you know but who you know". 

Indeed, whilst these more traditional types of networking such as attending prestigious schools are still important, LinkedIn has revolutionised 21st century networking, as I was keen to demonstrate in the presentation. Without further ado, it was time for me to get started. 

I felt that my role was to change the students' perception of LinkedIn as a site for older job hunters and to open their eyes to its potential even as young students. I imparted my advice about how to use it and, crucially, how not to use it. 

I especially enjoyed the section when I showed them sample profiles and they shared their views on them. The students were especially eager when I told them to pick up their devices and start creating an account, or improving their existing one. I'd like to think that each and every one of them left the room with a much greater awareness of how to use LinkedIn. As they left, many of them thanked me and some of them were trying to approach me with burning questions they wished to ask. I was sorry that I couldn't stay for another hour! One of them even sent me a message on LinkedIn to thank me for the presentation and for the practical advice I had shared. From what I could see, these students were intelligent, mature, and an all-round credit to their school.