The simplest response I can give you right now is: as soon as you’re ready to keep it updated. You don’t need to have a lengthy resume. You don’t need to be in your career. If you are someone who is looking for more opportunities for better jobs and to keep working towards your ultimate career, you should have and maintain a LinkedIn Profile. Let’s go over a few LinkedIn tips.
WHAT IS LINKED IN?
According to their website, “LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.” Sounds about right. For me, I get to connect with several colleagues, friends, and acquaintances on purely a professional level. Although I haven’t had any jobs come because of it, I know it was viewed when I was searching for a job, and that’s the most important thing.
PROFILE PICTURE
A profile picture is a potential employer’s first introduction of you. You probably don’t have a professional headshot done, but you can do something similar. Get somebody to help you take a clear photograph of yourself. Don’t use your cell phone camera. You should look “professional,” which is just my way of saying that you should select a picture your grandmother would want to see: nice, clean, and lots of your face.
RESUME, SKILLS, ETC
LinkedIn is really good at helping you fill out all of the information you need to complete the details about your professional life. Follow the prompts and fill out the necessary information. You are able to upload a resume, but you can and should also fill out the specific resume details on the LinkedIn page. Make sure that always stays updated. The site will almost always have another way in which you can improve your profile.
When you have a chance to just fill in a box of text about how great you are at a particular skill or anything like it, make sure you describe how your skills benefitted your employers. A potential employer isn’t going to care about what you’re good at if he/she can’t see how it’s going to benefit them. Don’t forget that valuable perspective when talking about yourself.
CONNECTIONS
It is appropriate to connect to people you know and/or have worked with. You will occasionally be invited to connect from people you do not know. LinkedIn advises against it, but quickly do an evaluation for yourself. Go to that person’s page and figure out why they connected to you. Maybe you two have a common connection and this person feels you both could benefit from a connection. Try to prevent your LinkedIn connections from being like Facebook Friends. With LinkedIn, you are ideally branching out in a professional network and can utilize those connections when it’s appropriate.
GROUPS
Depending on what you’re interested in, you should be able to find groups that match your interest. This is a good way to expand your network and your knowledge.
MORE
At the top of the page is the “More” button. In the dropdown menu you’ll find things like “Learning Center” and “Answers.” These are great places to learn more about your field from those who are currently succeeding in it. Get in there and explore your options.
So maybe this didn’t tell you a step-by-step process of how to use LinkedIn, but it has shown the beginners how to use it effectively. Next time you’ve got a job opportunity, your potential employer could be looking at your profile, and that could make or break your chance, depending on what you’ve done with it.
This is Part 3 of a mysteriously-lengthed series about starting a business while in college. 
If you haven’t yet caught part 1 of this series, you can find it