College Students LinkedIn To New App

LinkedIn has launched a standalone app specifically for college students, appropriately named “LinkedIn Students.” The app is aimed at helping college students get their first job after graduation by providing them with a way to explore possible careers, expand their professional network, and browse through appropriate job listings. The app is now available for free nationwide on both iOS and Android.

The increased focus on college students makes sense for LinkedIn. College students are the company’s fastest growing user demographic. More than 40 million college students already have LinkedIn accounts. For the new app, students complete the authentication process using their existing LinkedIn account or by entering their name, university, major, and anticipated graduation date.

When a student opens the app, LinkedIn Students will provide up five items for them to review that day. The items are displayed in a card-like format that requires you to swipe through a series of options, sort of like the popular dating app Tinder. All of the data provided is from information that LinkedIn has compiled from its more than 400 million members.

On the first card, the user will see a career suggestion based on their college and major. The app seems to put a heavy emphasis on the student’s major when suggesting potential careers or jobs. To tailor these results more closely to their interests, users can input more information about themselves such as their interests, goals, and that interest them.

Next, the app will provide a recommended article about career-related topics, followed by a company that often recruits from their college. The user will also see a few suggestions of jobs that alumni with similar majors from their college have pursued, as well as an actual job listing the student might be interested in. At the end of the card swiping is an “extra credit” section, which will include some branded content.

LinkedIn plans to partner with schools and their own job boards so it can provide appropriate job listings to students on the app, along with the listings posted on LinkedIn. Students can also begin building their network, as LinkedIn Students lists any alumni that work at each company that is recommended through the app. LinkedIn will not recommend career paths or job openings in exchange for cash and all suggested jobs will be based on LinkedIn’s algorithm.

The company’s team will be developing content campaigns around things that resonate with students. However, the focus on college means LinkedIn is beginning to phase out many of its current features and content for high school students. Many of these features were geared toward high school students to help them with the college search, like its university rankings and university explorer products.