David Torrens Walks BOLD Through a LinkedIn Workshop
BOLD had the pleasure of welcoming David Torrens, a Senior Talent Solutions Consultant for LinkedIn, on Tuesday, March 14th. Unlike previous meetings the agency has held, this one functioned as more of a workshop on how to properly utilize LinkedIn. Torrens has been working for the company for about a year now and prior to that, he was a student at FIU studying International Business Marketing and Sales. Alongside his studies, Torrens was also in various organizations on campus and had the chance to speak at BOLD back in 2020.
Jumping into the workshop itself, David Torrens divided everything into four parts:
- Getting to Know LinkedIn
- Your Profile, Your Story
- Beyond LinkedIn Profile
- Q&A
In order to introduce the platform itself, Torrens chose to share a couple of statistics with the agency. An example is that there are over 50 million companies on LinkedIn. With the information presented, he explains how there are key things one should know in order to get noticed and potentially land the job they are after. This leads to the 5 profile sections that will gain them that attention, which include education, experience, and skills just to name a few. A distinction that Torrens pointed out is that the profile itself should not be identical to one’s resume.
When building your LinkedIn profile, David Torrens advises that having a picture is critical as this helps weed out any bots or fake accounts. A picture puts a face to the name which can go a long way. Moving forward to the experience area, he states that any and all experiences should be stated; regardless of how small they may seem. In order to stand out even further, it is ideal to include quantitative data in this section. Having a volunteer section is good as it can show recruiters that you are interested in helping out and giving back to the community. Another important aspect is having many skills listed as these can be endorsed by others and are likely to catch the eyes of recruiters.
The next part of the workshop encompasses how you can use LinkedIn in various different ways. Within the platform you have the ability to connect with others to expand your network, message people who have a similar career to the one that you would like, and do informational interviews. David Torrens also gave tips as to how to reach out to a recruiter and emphasized the importance of doing your research beforehand. He also points out the LinkedIn Learning component which offers different courses that can enhance or create skills.
David Torrens closed off the workshop by opening up the floor to questions the BOLD members may have had. The agency is thankful that Torrens was able to showcase and highlight the amazing benefits that come along with utilizing LinkedIn!
Click here to connect with David Torrens!
BOLD is a student-run strategic communications agency at Florida International University. Click here to learn more.
Written by: Jefrany D’catry, Director of Public Relations