Yesterday NYU, PricewaterhouseCoopers and LinkedIn held an event at the Kimmel Center to celebrate the launch of LinkedIn’s new feature for college students: Career Explorer. The day was filled with demos, guest speakers and giveaways — most of which I missed because of class. But that didn’t stop me from logging onto LinkedIn and trying out Career Explorer for myself so I could tell you all if it is actually worthwhile.
I’ll be honest, I expected very little from this new feature. Even as a business student, I seldom visit LinkedIn and it’s even rarer I hear someone talking about it. However, Career Explorer is an incredible idea, and I personally believe everyone should try it out at least once — unless you plan on being a lifelong entrepreneur.
You can find Career Explorer under the “Jobs” tab on LinkedIn. Once there, you’re prompted to enter your major (good luck with this one, Gallatin kids), degree, and expected industry. From there, LinkedIn uses its huge database of users to compile a list of entry-level positions, along with their salary ranges, average time you could expect to spend in the position, and the forecasted likelihood you’ll get that position.
Once you choose a position, you’ll get yet another list of positions, this time of common positions LinkedIn’s users have moved on to after the last one you chose. You’ll choose up to four positions for your career path, after which LinkedIn will provide you with a wealth of information related to your choices.
This information deluge includes: People currently in your aspirational positions (though apparently only for the intro-level position), top companies with people in the positions, and companies hiring for the positions. There are a few other cool features, like a U.S. map showing the position’s geographic density and a list of books recommended for your industry. Of course, you’re also encouraged to make more connections on LinkedIn to your classmates and people in your industry as well.
Here’s how LinkedIn explains Career Explorer (and their blog coverage too):
And an interesting interview with Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, filmed by our resident interview ninja, Natan Edelsburg:
The event had a Twitter hashtag as well: #NYUisIn. There’s not too many tweets there, but it’s worth a look.
Again, I’d highly recommend trying out Career Explorer at least once. It might just open your eyes to a potential new career path.
[...] NYU Local [...]
I’m thrilled about this new Career Explorer. I think this is going to be very valuable for students. Thanks for your insights. Anne Pryor
I like this in theory but I just tested it out and the way they steered me to a career path was kind of glitchy. I’m not sure how they calculate the likelihood that you’ll get a position, but let’s just say that when I did it, it was pretty inaccurate.
Since it’s still in beta, I’ll try it again at a later date but so far, it sounds better than it actually is.
[...] that allows you to add fun facts about yourself. The site’s newest function for students, Career Explorer, is extremely useful to college students, both those in the last months who are preparing to [...]