LinkedIn has developed LinkedIn Students, which is an app that guides students as they graduate from college and begin their professional careers.
Launched on Monday, April 18, the app shows students the companies and job titles that would suit them depending on the program that they are taking and the school that they are attending.
With LinkedIn Students, users will also be able to start building out their professional network, as the app will list the alumni of their respective schools in the companies that are being recommended to the students.
"They don't know what to search for, they don't know what they're qualified to do, or even what's out there," said Ada Yu, the senior product manager of LinkedIn that led the development of LinkedIn Students.
Upon the launch of the app, LinkedIn Students offers five items to be reviewed by the student. First is a suggestion for the student's career, followed by an article on a topic related to careers and then a company that recruits heavily from the school that the student is attending. These are followed by job suggestions based on the careers pursued by their school's alumni with the same majors, and lastly, actual job listings that a student might be interested in.
LinkedIn utilizes the professional experience of its users to fill out their profiles, but for students with no such experience, it makes their LinkedIn pages pale in comparison to other users on the professional social network. LinkedIn Students aims to make it easier for graduates or soon-to-be graduates at the start of their careers to work within the network, as it would feel overwhelming to have so many blank fields when filling out the registration form for a LinkedIn account.
The focus of LinkedIn Students, therefore, is not to provide news and insights to its users, but to help the students build out their professional network.
"This is a soft introduction to students who may not know the value of networking and introduce LinkedIn's value proposition," explained Yu.
Students also happen to be one of the fastest growing demographics on the website with LinkedIn revealing that there over about 40 million students that have signed up to the network.
LinkedIn Students is available for both iOS and Android devices in the United States, with plans to roll out the app internationally within the year.
