First, the good news: Employers are expected to hire 10.2 percent more college graduates this year than they did from the Class of 2011, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

The bad news? It’s still a really tight job market for young people, with one of every two recent grads either unemployed or underemployed.

How can you be among the fortunate ones? As someone who has guided college students to careers for the past ten years, I can tell you that it takes hard work, persistence and — perhaps most important — the guts to step out of your comfort zone. Here are some tips on how to use LinkedIn to be a courageous post-college career seeker:

1. Show your stuff. While resumes are limited to one page of standard-format, bullet-pointed information, your LinkedIn profile can go way beyond the basics. The information on your resume and profile definitely need to match (job titles, employment dates, key accomplishments, etc.), but think about LinkedIn as an expanded portfolio of who you are and what you can do professionally. Include a well-written, confident summary statement both to explain what you offer to employers and to show your written communication skills. Beneath that, fill your Specialties area with keywords representing all the skills you gained during your college years.

Next, don’t be shy about including all professional experience you have, even if that experience was unpaid or part-time, such as a spring break internship or after-school tutoring. If you don’t have much paid work experience, you can showcase volunteer work, school projects, internships and extra curricular activities.

Add additional sections to your profile in areas where you particularly excel, such as standardized test scores, volunteer work, honors or awards, or a creative portfolio of your visual work.

Finally, collect a few recommendations from professionals who are willing to publicly sing your praises, such as a professor, an internship manager or a boss from your summer job. Just remember to ask each person to vouch for you in specific and professional terms, such as “Robert demonstrated excellent attention to detail and budgeting skills as head of the student government fundraiser,” rather than “Robert is a great person and very smart.”

Although it may feel weird, it’s okay to prompt your recommender with a few bullet points of what to include in his or her recommendation (once that person has agreed). And remember that you have to be connected to a person on LinkedIn to request a recommendation (see the next tip for strategies on growing your network).

Read the rest of this post on the LinkedIn Blog…

Image: iStockphoto.com

Are you graduating this year or thinking about your post-college career prospects? Check out these simple, effective tips from Lauren Berger, the “Intern Queen,” who completed 15 internships (!) throughout her four years of college. Berger is now CEO of www.internqueen.com, a free internship site where students can both apply for top-notch opportunities and read Lauren’s blog on how to make the most of them. Lauren is also the author of the new book,

1. Determine what makes you tick. When I was a freshman in college, I had no clue how I wanted to spend my time after graduation. In my book, I recall printing out a list of the college majors my school had to offer. I started circling everything that interested me. When I looked over the sheet, I’d circled everything within the communications space – PR, Marketing, Entertainment, Advertising. This was my starting point.

2. Visit your career center – more than once. The career center should be one of your first stops when trying to figure out what you want to do with your life. The career center spends time every single day building relationships with local, national, and international employers in fields across the board – for you! Many students make the mistake of only going in once and expecting magic. On your first visit, meet with a counselor and formulate a plan. Determine when your next visit will be. You should visit the career center every 6-8 weeks.

3. Do your research. Going back to my freshman year, I had my list of industries I was potentially interested in – PR, Marketing, Entertainment, Advertising. I sat down at my computer and started researching. I was going to Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida at the time. I typed into the computer “PR Internships in Tallahassee, Florida” – a few companies popped up. I clicked on the first company that popped up and read as much material as I could on their website. When researching, it’s important to review the mission statement, executive bios, and the about us section.

4. Con’t be afraid to cold call. When looking for your dream company, don’t be afraid to take initiative. If you cannot find any career or internship information on the website, call the company main number, and ask to speak with the internship coordinator. Remember to be polite to whomever you speak with. The gatekeeper (receptionist) might not put you through BUT it’s worth calling and attempting to speak with the internship coordinator. You never know!

Thank you, Lauren, for the guest post!

Groups provides opportunities to meet and engage in discussions with members of your industry, your alumni community or other professional interest areas. Becoming active in LinkedIn Groups is like attending a professional conference every time you log on.

To join a group, start exploring the Group Search page, which has recently been updated to make it easier for you to find the most valuable places to network. Then click “Join” for any groups that sound appealing. Once you’re accepted as a member, you’ll be able to post and comment on discussions, review job postings, connect with your fellow members and more.

With over over a million groups on LinkedIn, you’re bound to find several communities that are beneficial to you and your career. But with so many opportunities to participate, what’s the best plan of action? Here are five ways to get the most out of LinkedIn Groups…

I’m excited to announce that I will be answering your questions during a one-hour #AskFAFSA Twitter chat on Wednesday, April 25, at 4pm EST, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education.

Here is their announcement and details on how to participate:

In honor of National Financial Literacy Month, the U.S. Department of Education’s @FAFSA will hold a special #AskFAFSA Office Hours with guest host Lindsey Pollak, a bestselling author, keynote speaker and internationally recognized expert on next generation career trends.

We’re excited to have Lindsey join us at such an important time. Not only is it National Financial Literacy Month, but with graduation season a short time away, Federal Student Aid wants to help students think about getting a job, earning a salary, and of course, repaying student loans.

This month, we’re switching things up a bit. Instead of our traditional #AskFAFSA Office Hours, on April 25th at 4pm ET, Lindsey (@LindseyPollak) will join @FAFSA for a “Twitterview”, or an interview on Twitter. We’ll ask Lindsey for advice on researching and applying for jobs and @FAFSA will give you information and tips for managing and repaying your student loans after graduation.

Before the Twitterview, we need your help coming up with questions for Lindsey! Whether you have questions about finding a job you’ll really love or making your student loan payments more affordable, we want to hear about it.

Here’s how it works:

• Starting today, you can send us your career and loan repayment questions on Twitter. Make sure to include the #AskFAFSA hashtag in your tweet.
• On April 25th at 4pm ET, tune into the live event by following the #AskFAFSA hashtag on Twitter.
• At the end of the hour, Lindsey will answer questions from our virtual audience. You can send your questions to @FAFSA starting today.
• Can’t make the live session? A summary of the “Twitterview”, including the full Q&A, will be posted on the Storify and the ED.gov blog following the event.

We hope you’ll join us on April 25!

• More Sharing ServicesShare

With all of the research tools available on the Internet and elsewhere, it is now easier than ever to avoid this mistake. You should always visit a potential employer’s own website first. Then, for additional information and up-to-the-minute insight, proceed directly to LinkedIn Company Pages.

A LinkedIn Company Page is a centralized location to learn about a company’s operations, current news, products and services, employees, job opportunities and more. There are over two million company pages on LinkedIn, spanning a vast number of industries, company sizes and geographic locations.

Where does all of the information on a Company Page come from? The organization itself provides a portion — the company overview, Careers page and Products and Services descriptions. The rest of a Page’s information, including the company statistics and employee information, are based on LinkedIn’s own network data.

This means that on a Company Page you’re getting more information about the backgrounds and career paths of the people who work for that organization. As a potential job seeker, this information provides a guide on what it takes to get hired and succeed at that particular company. For instance, you can learn what universities a company’s employees attended (including who graduated from your own alma mater), what types of employees are receiving promotions and what LinkedIn groups those employees belong to. As you’ll see below, all of this information can help you better craft your LinkedIn profile to attract the attention of recruiters for that company and it can help you find potential referrals into that organization.

To make the most of Company Pages as a job seeker, begin your research on the Search Companies page and follow these easy steps…

Read the rest of this post, “How LinkedIn Company Pages Can Help Your Job Search,” on the LinkedIn Blog…

There are millions of positions posted online across an ever-changing landscape of job boards, company websites, social networks, apps, and more.

What’s a job seeker to do? You have to become a curator of your own personal job feed, narrowing down all of the various websites and listings to a truly personalized stream of opportunities.

The best way to do this is to set up a select group of bookmarked websites and email alerts that you view every day. Here’s how:

1. Get specific. If you were searching for a pair of shoes online, it wouldn’t be a very good strategy to go to Google or another search engine and type in “shoes.” You’d more likely visit the website of a retailer that caters to your specific style and budget, then search for the type of shoes you want — the style, the price range and perhaps the color or heel height.

The same goes for job hunting. A common mistake among job seekers using the biggest job boards — such as CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com, Indeed.com, and SimplyHired.com — is to search too broadly.

Your first step in cultivating a personal job feed is to get clear on the exact terms that best match the jobs you want. If you cast too wide a net, such as searching on “marketing” or “Atlanta” or “writing skills,” you’ll receive too many results that waste your time and energy.

Always use the Advanced Search page for any job board you visit, which allows you to enter multiple search criteria (such as marketing jobs in Atlanta that require excellent writing skills), and be as specific as possible in terms of industry, location, experience level and other factors (such as specifying “online marketing” or “copywriting skills.” Yes, you may occasionally miss out on a listing here or there, but you’ll make up for it in the time saved culling through hundreds of postings that don’t fit your needs.

Read the rest of this post at Harvard Business Review…

Because I love sushi almost as much as I love cupcakes, I couldn’t resist a recent press release about the launch of a new site called Intern Sushi. It turns out this new venture aims to help students and young professionals to find internships in the hardest-to-break-into fields like film, art, professional sports and fashion.

I had the opportunity to speak with co-founder and CEO Shara Senderoff about this new venture, why it’s called Intern Sushi and what it offers. Her answers are below, with my emphasis added. 

LP: What is Intern Sushi and how is it different from other internship sites out there?

SS: Intern Sushi is a new way to find, apply to, track and manage internships in the hardest-to-break-into industries today.

For internship seekers, our multimedia platform provides a digital stage on which to showcase their personalities and help them get noticed by hiring managers. For companies, our easy-to-use, time saving and organizational tools, help them identify, track and cultivate the right talent. And for parents, we give them peace of mind to know what their children are doing and how it affects their futures.

In a nutshell, Intern Sushi connects the brightest and most talented interns with the best companies in the current marketplace. We specialize in offering highly coveted internships in heavily desired industries including film, television, sports, fashion, advertising/PR, music, web, tech, publishing, theatre and art.

LP: Why is it so hard to land an internship in certain industries like film, fashion or professional sports?

SS: Coming from the film industry, I’ve seen how hard it can be for an individual to “break in” without knowing someone on the inside. Additionally, the internships in these highly coveted industries are so sought after that hiring managers are inundated with resumes. It’s impossible to break out from the stack. There’s no way to showcase your passion or tell your story on a piece of paper, and in creative industries they ARE interested in more than just what’s on your resume.

These industries need candidates with strong personalities as well as creative skills –- you have to have the “X factor.” We know that there are plenty of talented and creative folks who don’t get noticed and it’s time for this to change.

LP: There is quite a lot of controversy out there about unpaid internships. Does Intern Sushi take a position on whether the opportunities on the site should be paid or unpaid? What is your advice to a college student who can’t afford to work an unpaid internship?

SS: There are a lot of future benefits to gaining experience at a major company in the field you want to excel in. For example, you’re immediately immersed in the industry and company’s culture. You can’t think of it as working for free; it’s essentially an audition, an investment in your dream career.

Internships, paid or unpaid, aren’t a forever deal. There’s an expiration date. This is your one chance to show a company what you can do for them. And you have to remember, there are always 10 people in line behind you who just want one shot and they’ll take it from you the second you forget that the benefit of an internship is the experience. Good or bad, I guarantee you’ll learn something that will shape who you are and what you will become.

LP: What do employers tell you they are most looking for in internship applicants?

SS: Every company has different specific skills, but overall we encourage interns and companies alike to be discerning and specific with what they want. In order to find the right fit, applicants need to go beyond the resume page and show their “raw” personalities. We have found that the more fresh, disciplined, and innovative the applicant is (all attributes of sushi,) the better one’s chances of landing the position. Employers are looking for authenticity and transparency, which is ultimately the first step in a successful relationship on both sides.

LP:  Any unique tips for how to thrive in an internship once you land one?

SS: To thrive and stand out once you land an internship, always crave responsibility and know that even your best work can always be better. I went through every internship with a “figure it out no matter what” mentality and I’m sure that it’s what put me ahead of the pack.

We have two content sections of the site dedicated to helping our users succeed. One is called “The Guide to Getting Picked” and the other “Industry Insider.” The Guide to Getting Picked is full of no-nonsense advice and tips for how to excel before, during and after your internship. The Industry Insider can be filtered by specific industry to view educational and entertaining videos that explain the key terms, key concepts and key players you need to know within each field. These videos will help interns self-educate and hopefully, give them the best chance at turning the internship into a job.

The truth of the matter is that there is no better way to stand out than having more knowledge than the person next to you. We have set out to arm every intern with the information they need to thrive.

Thank you to Shara for answering my questions. Check out www.internsushi.com and share your thoughts in the Comments!

Image: Intern Sushi

This week I’m excited to announce my participation, as a member of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), in a major national initiative called #FixYoungAmerica.

The goal of the initiative is to highlight dozens of real and proven solutions from respected leaders — in academia, government and the private and non-profit sectors  – to help 20- to 30-somethings, recent grads, young veterans and other unemployed/under-employed individuals to overcome youth unemployment.

Starting this week, the YEC and its campaign partners are kicking off a national conversation with a set of proven entrepreneurial solutions to answer this crucial question: How do we overcome the epidemics of youth unemployment and underemployment and #FixYoungAmerica?

The YEC-led coalition will spearhead a crowdfunding and mainstream media campaign, host various events across the country and launch the official #FixYoungAmerica book, a compilation of essays on entrepreneurship written by America’s brightest intellectuals, nonprofit founders, philanthropists, educators, politicians and entrepreneurs.

Interested in becoming part of this mass movement, attending an event or reading the book? Visit fixyoungamerica.com to learn about ways you can get involved!

If you had all the money in the world – not literally, but all that you wanted – what would you change about your life? 

She then shares the stories of a wide variety of people who have made their desired life changes with a lot less money than you might think. Ultimately, Laura points out, spending money is about making choices. What I particularly enjoyed about Laura’s book is that she focuses just as much on the choices you make in earning that money as the choices you make in spending it.

Here are some of my favorite quotations from the book and my takeaways from each:

“If you don’t like your current job, then it’s always possible you’d like a better-paying one more.”

Lesson: Research, research, research additional ways to earn income (freelancing, consulting, building an Etsy store, etc.) and, if you decide to look for a new job, research industries and employers that pay more than you make now. It’s not necessarily easy to find higher paying work, but you always have options.

“Money spent on one thing is money not spent on something else, and these choices have consequences for our happiness and the happiness of those we vow to love.”

Lesson: That $250 handbag could be a plane ticket to visit your best friend in Seattle. Renting the apartment that’s $200 a month cheaper could mean 10 nights enjoying your favorite takeout sushi. As Laura points out, we often gain much more happiness from experiences than things, so make your spending choices accordingly.

“Rather than say, ‘I can’t afford it, as long as ‘it’ is within reason, what if you started asking yourself ‘How can I afford it?”

Lesson: When you really, really want something – an item or an experience – spend time figuring out how you can get it. Can you take on a freelance project to earn the extra money? Can you put away $20 a week to save up slowly? Can you enjoy a less expensive version of the item you want? Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

If you find these ideas as thought-provoking as I do, I encourage you to read All the Money in the World as well as Laura’s previous book, 168 Hours: You Have More Money Than You Think, which applies the same deep dive into how we spend our time – the only thing in the world that money really can’t buy.

What would you do with “all the money in the world”? Will the above lessons change anything about the way you approach money? Please share in the Comments!

The short story if you’ve somehow missed it: Jeremy Lin played high school basketball in Palo Alto and in college for Harvard. He received no athletic scholarships and remained undrafted after college. Eventually making his way to the NBA, he mostly sat on the bench, most recently for the New York Knicks.

Then, a few weeks ago, due to a variety of unlikely factors, he was called off the bench and shocked the world by scoring a whopping 25 points against the New Jersey Nets. He’s led the New York Knicks on a major winning – er, Linning – streak ever since. He’s now their starting point guard.

Besides the fact that everyone loves Lin puns and it’s just an amazing, feel good story, I really do believe there is a major career lesson in Jeremy Lin’s come-out-of-nowhere stardom.

If you’re Linspired by Jeremy Lin, ask yourself this question: What if, like Lin, you received the chance of a lifetime in your career? What would you do with it?

Would you be prepared if it arrived tomorrow? If not, what can you do now to better prepare for a big opportunity? (Remember the classic saying, “luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity.”)

That’s it. Think about the most amazing thing that could possibly happen in your career and start planning for it now. Today.

Oh, and for those of you frustrated that you’re still living at home with your parents, read this.

What do you think of the Jeremy Lin phenomenon? Please share!

Image: CBSSports.com