Phill Williams, Careers Consultant for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, explores how LinkedIn Learning can be used as a platform that graduates use for career exploration, personal and professional development, and acquiring new skills and knowledge.
2020 has been a year like no other. You may understandably feel a little overwhelmed by the impact the current, and unpredictable climate may have on your career prospects but that doesn’t mean that you should halt your desire for professional development and personal growth.
As a Graduate of the University of Birmingham, you have free and exclusive access to LinkedIn Learning, which can enable you to develop new skills and knowledge, all from the comfort of your own home.
What is LinkedIn Learning?
With over 13,000 professionally created short courses developed by leading industry experts, LinkedIn Learning is your one-stop-online-shop for training, professional development and growth.
Within three broad categories of Business, Technology and Creative, there are countless amounts of different courses that you can easily
How can I benefit from using LinkedIn Learning?
With that many different courses available, it’s not too cliché to say that the possibilities are endless. I can’t do the platform full justice in this short article, but there is genuinely something for everyone here, whether you’re looking to develop skills, confidence or understanding of a sector or industry.
There are courses on ‘developing your career plan’ for those of you who are exploring your career options and looking for a structured plan and methodology to adapt. Similarly, some of you may have identified skills or attributes that you want to build your confidence in. For instance, there are many courses available to support you in developing your understanding of technology such as Microsoft Excel or Photoshop, or helping you improve your presentation and public speaking skills.
Some of the more popular courses recently, particularly since the start of the pandemic are those that are providing advice, guidance and techniques for working remotely, which many of us have had to adapt to recently.
My main advice is to be inquisitive and curious, and don’t be afraid to try something new, you never know what you may discover.
What about LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Learning is a product of LinkedIn, the world’s largest social media platform for professional networking. Even as a recent graduate there are so many advantages to having a good LinkedIn profile, and taking a proactive approach to expanding your professional network.
The current climate may mean that making professional contacts in a face-to-face setting is difficult, however, LinkedIn can open up similar opportunities to engage with professionals across a variety of occupations and industries.
The LinkedIn Learning platform has many excellent courses on how to create your own profile and strategies for effective networking.
Start with the Alumni community
The hardest part of networking is having somewhere to start, so why not begin with tapping into the University of Birmingham alumni community. On LinkedIn, there are over 160,000 graduates from the institution who studied a wide range of degree courses and now working in an equally diverse range of jobs and industries. These can all be easily accessed via the University’s LinkedIn page, where you can filter and identify the alumni that you want to network with. The LinkedIn Learning platform has many courses and short videos to guide and support you.
You can also connect with our alumni community through our mentoring scheme, attending alumni events and reading about our global alumni in Old Joe.
How do I access LinkedIn Learning?
Accessing LinkedIn Learning is really easy as a graduate and is absolutely free as a University of Birmingham graduate.
Our dedicated LinkedIn Learning webpage will provide you with all the information and instructions as to how you can gain unlimited access to this fantastic set of resources.