Initially launched in August, the University’s LinkedIn page already boasts more than 200,000 followers as of press time, dozens of statistics regarding alumni careers and a multitude of posts from graduates and employers. 

The University was one of 200 schools selected by LinkedIn to be part of a beta test group and help start-up its University pages, which are aimed at providing information on these various colleges, said Allison Vance, editorial associate for Public Affairs.

“This seemed like a really great opportunity to bring all the people who are interested in Illinois on LinkedIn into one central page,” Vance said.

She said that one of the goals for the University’s LinkedIn page is to connect alumni with what is currently happening on campus. 

“Being part of the Public Affairs office at Illinois, we always want to be telling the Illinois story,” Vance said. “There are so many amazing things going on at the University. We have amazing students, we’re super innovative, have amazing research, fantastic jobs and internships.” 

The University has one of the largest bases of living alumni in the country with more than 425,000, Vance said. Part of the goal of the LinkedIn page is to connect these alumni and recent graduates with jobs. 

The LinkedIn page has a variety of statistics of what alumni study, what field they currently work in and what company they work for. There are also posts beneath the statistics that allow businesses to share job openings and hire alumni. 

Morgan Scheelhaase, editorial associate at Public Affairs, said they are still working towards using the page as an outlet for recruiting alumni. 

“We are still in the beginning steps of launching the University page,” she said. “We’re definitely learning more about it so that we can grow and do that really well.” 

Vance also said LinkedIn recently lowered the age at which people can create a LinkedIn account to 14. This establishes a new goal for the University’s page to attract a wider base of high school students as they begin thinking about which college to attend. Meetings with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions have begun to determine how to effectively reach this younger audience. 

Vance said the project began on Aug. 19 and, within the beta test group, there is a private forum that allows the University to communicate with LinkedIn and collaborate with other colleges and universities to see what has worked well for them regarding their pages. 

“LinkedIn has been very helpful,” Vance said. 

Recently, to accommodate the University’s LinkedIn page, Chancellor Phyllis Wise was approached to become a LinkedIn Influencer and further promote the University. 

“Really, the only reason I’m even being asked to step into this role is because of the hard work of the entire Illinois family,” wrote Chancellor Phyllis Wise in one of her blogs titled “Becoming a LinkedIn Influencer.” “Through your tireless work, enthusiasm, success and generosity, Illinois has gained a reputation as a pre-eminent public research university. We are privileged to hold an impressive reputation. When LinkedIn went looking to recruit Influencers in education, they weren’t thinking of Phyllis Wise, they were thinking of Illinois.”

Edward can be reached at [email protected].