Photo by Mackenzie Pike | The Doane Owl
On Thursday, Jan. 28, Doane alum Nick Kouma returned to host a workshop centered around the networking and employment site, LinkedIn. Kouma, who has over 500 connections and more than 10,000 followers, shared his expertise on how to build a strong profile, network efficiently and build a strong brand.
To begin, Kouma spoke highly of LinkedIn as a way to connect with others. He finds it to be a place where one can be their authentic self. Kouma acknowledged that his mental health advocacy might alienate some of his audience, but especially as a man in the tech industry, such conversations are important to him. Thus, his first main point is setting intention and building your content “why.”
He explains that posts on LinkedIn should operate like a round-table discussion, not putting a letter in the mail. “If you aren’t thinking about your message anymore, why should others?” said Kouma. To encourage engagement, he suggested creating posts that invite responses. One student in the audience, senior Violet Ahrens, applied this advice by crafting a post that reflected on their own “why” statement and prompted others to share theirs.
In a similar vein, Kouma emphasized the importance of genuine human connection and interaction. He has found that LinkedIn actively purges AI content and strongly recommends avoiding it. AI content on the site will get suppressed and not reach any audience. Kouma also says the use of the technology is evident to those on the site. “AI is vacuous, empty and meaningless word salad,” said Kouma, “and it’s very obvious to people active on the platform.”
Along with finding your people, Kouma said simply to “be a human,” describing networking as a quality game, not a volume game. Reaching out to employers at the companies an applicant is applying to will catch that employer’s eye. For finding connections, Kouma recommends looking at your dream organization and discovering which of its employees are active on the platform. It becomes very easy to form connections and interact with those people.
Overall, Kouma’s workshop guided students and staff alike on navigating LinkedIn in a way that might be unfamiliar but ultimately beneficial. “As you start to write your story, you’ll find it’s more interesting than you think,” said Kouma.
