Almost all attending students already had a LinkedIn account, so no one was completely oblivious to the social platform that currently has over three hundred million users. Still, there were many questions concerning how to use it. The quick wins were discussed by LinkedIn’s Rebecca Bouhuijs straight away: no holiday pictures or photos featuring your pet, and don’t look grumpy. Always provide a subheader just under your name. Standing out positively is essential, it turns out.

“Consider your summary an elevator pitch of sorts”, Bouhuijs explained during her English presentation, “and make sure to include keywords”. Recruiters scan those keywords, and will only look at the top fifty resumes at the most. If yours doesn’t pop up, people won’t find you. Recommendations and endorsements are only important after you’ve made the cut.

In the second part of the lecture, Sanne van Huussen and Stefanie Ronde agreed with all Bouhuijs had mentioned. The two campus recruiters for Philips – which has an entire team that does nothing but check LinkedIn profiles all day – added several tips themselves. Be concise and specific, they said. “We spend three to five seconds on a resume, so you have to make sure the qualities we’re looking for are obvious. For the same reason, it’s important your resume is tailored to every position you apply for.”