By Matt Scherer

Can a high school student add their experience playing competitive sports to their LinkedIn experience section?

Working with a 18-year old  senior, I  found LinkedIn now encourages students to add this to their experience section.

Cameron played high school football for four years, so I encouraged him to add “student-athlete” to his position and the name of his school for the organization.

I suggested he consider something like this.   “I committed 12 hours a week to training, games film review and team meetings while maintaining an A/B average.

My research suggested this update to his profile’s experience section:  “Demonstrated leadership by mentoring younger players and supporting team culture..”

And yes, that’s an excellent thought.  However, this is where attribution can strengthen this concept.  Consider, “Coach Vince Jones, my head coach, told me that my practice and prep leadership helped younger players improve their game.”  The addition of the coach to this sentence brings stronger believability to this with that simple use of attribution.

LinkedIn’s experience section also allows someone like Cameron to add terms such as :

Team Leadership, Time Management, Communication, discipline, Strategic Thinking, coachability.

Cameron is now pursuing scholarships to allow him to attend college.  I believe once his profile is complete, he can use his LinkedIn profile to stand out among the many other applicants.

(Note:  Are you a high school senior who wants to capitalize on LinkedIn as a marketing, research and branding tool?  Please contact me or better yet, fill out this form.