Nov 12

Editorial Pursuits #1 – Getting LinkedIn to Your Professional Profile on JetWit

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Julie Matysik (Yamanashi-ken, 2006-07) is a freelance copy editor and aspiring in-house editor who recently moved to NYC with her husband (also a JET alum).  She is seeking an internship or entry level position in editing/publishing/writing. Editorial Pursuits will chronicle her job hunting efforts, experiences and lessons learned.

As a recent transplant to New York City from little ol’ Wisconsin, I’ve had a lot of new experiences thrown at me over the past two months.

I’ve learned to not take it personally when I smile at someone on the sidewalk and they give me a scowl; I’ve learned the exact speed to swipe the MetroCard so you don’t get bumped from behind when you have to re-swipe; I’ve learned that yes, New York pizza is super greasy but oh-so-alluring.

I’ve also learned that job searching in a city of millions of people is not a piece of cake and so, on the advice of a fellow JETAANY member, I decided to try my hand at creating a LinkedIn profile that I could link to in my JetWit Professional Profile.

I’m still getting comfortable with establishing an online presence for myself, but, to my pleasant surprise, setting up a LinkedIn profile/resume is easy and user-friendly for anyone that can follow simple instructions (e.g., me). I found that all I needed to do was enter my basic information, pick an industry that I’m an “expert” in (which was pretty much none-of-the-above, but that’s not an option) and then construct my profile with information I want accessible to the rest of the cyberworld.

Nothing proved to be too tricky during the LinkedIn set-up process, though I would like the option to post my official resume for potential employers to access (perhaps this is an option and I have just overlooked it). But overall, I hope that by overcoming my insecurities about setting up online accounts and social network pages, my inbox will soon be inundated with job offers and the like.  And if things don’t move in that direction right away, at least it was a painless endeavor that taught me something new.

So I encourage all of you JET alumni writers, interpreters, translators and other professionals who haven’t done so yet to take the leap, set up a LinkedIn profile and then link to it from your Professional Profile on JetWit.com.

Happy networking!