A Young Pharmacist’s Guide to Networking: Using LinkedIn Properly

By Daluchi John-Okeke

Man, undoubtedly, is a social animal and with the advancement of technology comes a deeper need to foster and sustain human interactions across diverse social divides. With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn and others social apps, many social barriers have been broken. LinkedIn, more importantly, has a professional feel to it, connecting employers and employees, providing a seat at the corporate table for professionals all over the world as well as diverse job opportunities for professionals. With LinkedIn, cold calling and poaching are the order of the day, as it is not uncommon to find recruiters assessing the profiles of LinkedIn users, for possible recruitment.

Networking remains one of the top benefits of social platforms. With LinkedIn, professional networking becomes easy and more attainable. LinkedIn helps you to connect with professionals you already know, professionals you want to know and those you should know, within and beyond your industry. You do this, while showcasing your own expertise through your regular posts as well as engagements with the posts of others.

Networking is an exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest/goal, usually in an informal social setting, for example, a party, conference or even social media. A professional network comprises groups of people connected for career or business-related reasons. Members benefit by getting access to information on job leads or position openings often shared on these networks. They may also help one another solve work-related problems, provide information on vendors, suppliers and other related matters. As a young pharmacist with several budding prospects, building a network is one of the most important things you could do to advance your career. It isn’t quite as complicated as it sounds, seeing as we are in a digital era where connecting with the right people isn’t as herculean a task as it used to be. Whatever field you want to venture into, there are several experts in that area whom you can seek out for mentorship. Traditional methods can be inefficient and painstakingly slow. Healthcare providers are therefore turning to social media to connect, engage, learn, recruit or get recruited. Pharmacists can use social media, especially LinkedIn, as an additional tool in their networking toolkit.

LinkedIn as A Networking Tool for Young Pharmacists
LinkedIn is more than just another social network; it is the largest professional network in the world. It allows you to share your qualifications, goals, values, work experiences (voluntary and non-voluntary) and much more, to market yourself as a pharmacist/public health professional. Potential employers use this medium to see your professional profile, groups or organizations you are affiliated with, your specific interests and skills you excel in. LinkedIn is the preferred medium for recruiters to research potential candidates for a position, making it the ultimate networking tool and a must-have for all young pharmacists and pharmacists-to-be. It’s easy to sign up. Visit www.linkedin.com and use your email address to create an account. Take the time to fill out every section of the profile. The more complete the profile is, the better your chances of being found by recruiters. The basic plan is free for all while LinkedIn Premium is paid for on a subscription basis.

Do make sure to include the following:

• A profile picture: Profiles with photos receive 7 times more views than those without. Use a professional headshot, not a selfie.
• Profile: Use a title that accurately and succinctly describes your expertise, with industry-specific keywords. Add a descriptive summary highlighting your qualifications, goals and values. Write your profile in first person and include specific tasks you participated in at each of your positions to help build your experience profile. For instance, if you did your internship at a hospital pharmacy and were involved in the review of medications for patients, include that to show employers what sets you apart from other potential candidates. The STAR-L approach would be useful in highlighting your previous experiences: Situation, Task, Accomplishments, Results and Lessons.
• Your accomplishments: Your profile is like a resume. It is therefore important to be unabashed and unapologetic about blowing your own trumpet.
• Check spellings and grammar: It is important to have an error-free profile. Proofread your profile as often as possible.
• Update status regularly: Update your profile as often as possible. You could choose to modify your settings to notify your connections about your new achievements anytime you update your profile. Post regularly. You could share notes about the book you are currently reading, recent community involvements, your experiences from a recently attended conference or summit or even lessons from your everyday experiences.
• All certifications/licenses you have obtained should be included such as CPR training, certificates of completion of courses. LinkedIn also offers courses for personal and professional development. Do well to explore the courses available on LinkedIn if you wish.
• Reach out to current and past employers, close university professors and Internship preceptors to write you a recommendation on LinkedIn. This goes a long way to validate what you may have written on your profile. Be kind enough to thank them when they recommend you. Return the favour. Recommend them and others as well.
• Skill Endorsements: Do well to thank your connections when they endorse you for a skill. Be kind enough to endorse them for a skill they are good at as well.

To get the most out of LinkedIn, connect with everyone you know who could strengthen your professional connections (friends, family members, colleagues, and faculty). Further connections can be made after meeting people at conferences or any other event.
You can see who has viewed your profile. Know that as you view others’ profiles, they can see you’ve viewed them as well. You can turn this visibility setting off so you can view profiles inconspicuously, but you then lose the ability to see who views your profile.

It is important to be actively engaged with your connections (first connections). You can also gain new connections from the connections of your connections (second and/or third connections). Active engagement involves commenting on posts, ‘liking’ others’ posts, and generating meaningful conversations with others. This also applies to groups you join on LinkedIn.

Maintaining an effective LinkedIn presence is essential to harness the tremendous benefits which LinkedIn has to offer. Students and practicing pharmacists can forge for themselves a promising career path as they optimise their LinkedIn use. It is not uncommon to find young professionals pressured by the seeming success of others on LinkedIn. While you need not post all of your success stories all the time, you do need to be authentic. This may involve posting your not-so-great experiences and failures. Authenticity is what endears your connections to you. It is what makes your connections know you, like you and trust you. Resist the pressure to be inauthentic.