Although LinkedIn is commonly viewed as the social network for business professionals, nurses can greatly benefit from the platform. Not only does it provide a place for prospective students to search for nursing schools, but it offers groups, events, and courses all aimed at being helpful to you and your career development.
In this article, we will take a look at best practices as well as resources every nurse should consider using on LinkedIn if they want to advance their careers!
Let’s take a look!
Nursing Best Practices for LinkedIn
Although nurses are not ones to typically rely on this platform, that does not mean you should let your profile go to waste. Many people make the mistake of not caring about the small things, but the details can pay big dividends. To prove that, LinkedIn research shows that “just having a picture makes your profile 14 times more likely to be viewed by others.”
With that said, there are tons of features and best practices you will need to follow to have a positive experience on the platform.
Profile Completion
The basics of a good public profile ensure that when people see it, they have a high level understanding of who you are and what you do. Think of your profile as the “preview” that will make people want to see more. To do that best, you need to ensure you have the following:
- A quality profile picture that clearly shows your face.
- A headline strategically written to share high level job experience as well as your certifications.
- A summary to more holistically share the story of your nursing career, including nursing school, clinical experience, certifications, licenses, and more.
- Reviews from nursing professors or managers to round out your work ethic and personality.
- Carefully selected skills and endorsements to quickly show experience and the skills you have developed.
Although these seem like small efforts, they make a huge difference in helping you stand out as a serious healthcare professional. All in all, these can also help you with job searches on the platform — if you choose to use it!
Strategic Features
On top of having a complete profile, there are tons of features that can greatly help you find relevant content to view as well as help you be found in relevant job searches. To deepen your profile impact, consider the following:
- List yourself as someone looking for work to help recruiters find you if you are currently looking to fill a position. Most times, if your profile matches their searches, they will reach out to you.
- Choose four to five hashtags that are relevant to what you do so that you can be found in searches (think ICU, RN, EMT). This feature can also help you find relevant articles and posts about topics you care about.
- Feature research and or other writings in the Featured Media Tab of your profile to show off academic work that can help position you for more research or other thought leadership opportunities.
By adding this extra layer of effort, you can better position yourself for management promotions or job searches that are better tied to what you actually want — not to mention connecting with cool people with similar interests!
Nursing Resources to Check Out
Now, before you think LinkedIn is just a digital resume and networking site, it is also a fantastic search engine and learning platform. Nurses who are looking to get free resources for professional development, should check out some of these resources:
LinkedIn Courses
Believe it or not, LinkedIn provides many educational resources. If you type in the search bar keywords like #nursing you can easily pull up courses from “work-life balance” to “how to become a CNA.” Most are only available for premium accounts, but these courses might be well worth the upgrade if the overviews show they are something you could benefit from.
P.S. Give this feature a look time and time again as it will be one many organizations will start investing in as content marketing continues to grow!
LinkedIn Events
Looking to make connections or attend education conferences? LinkedIn is “in the know” of events to go to!
This platform offers a search engine for all types of healthcare events that you can attend both virtually and in person. Simply type in relevant keywords to your job or interests and it will pull up all relevant events you can attend — both paid and free.
Consider LinkedIn your event wingman suggesting all of the fun events to go to.
LinkedIn Schools
Are you considering nursing school and want to have another way to search for different schooling options? LinkedIn has a School tab where you can scroll through endless profiles to learn more about different programs.
Simply type in either school names or terms like #nursing and easily find what you need.
LinkedIn Companies
With LinkedIn’s Companies feature, you can easily look up healthcare companies, which can help you find useful resources for your career. This is also a great way to possibly take up a job on the corporate side of healthcare!
Also, easily look up healthcare companies and nonprofits that keep job openings up to date.
LinkedIn Jobs
Speaking of jobs, Linkedin is a great resource to parooze current job listings in the nursing field. Not only can you use this feature to find new positions, but it can also give you a pulse on what current nursing positions are making to gauge your current situation.
LinkedIn Nurse Groups
With over 100+ pages of nursing specific groups, LinkedIn Groups can be a great way to connect with other nurses, have meaningful conversations about industry topics, find support, and continually learn. Simply search keywords on groups you would be interested in joining and request to be a member!
Who Knew LinkedIn Would Be a Great Nursing Resource!
We got ya, didn’t we? Who knew LinkedIn could be such a marvel for the healthcare industry, right?
If anything, we hope this article opens your eyes to how you can strategically use the platform for your personal development. If you are looking for more resources, Nursa is an app and nursing resource platform that not only helps nurses find per diem nursing positions but provides them with nurse-life resources that greatly support their lives.
