On Saturday, September 22, 2012, NYP and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) worked together with LinkedIn to host a career development panel and workshop. Over 50 people attended, and 5 LinkedIn employees were there to aid attendees, making this our largest, most ambitious event yet. From college students to JCCCNC board members, each person was able to receive individual attention from the LinkedIn workers.
The event started with stories from some of the LinkedIn volunteers about how the site helped them start out professionally. Following this, LinkedIn’s David O. gave a presentation on how to fully make use of LinkedIn’s features, such as groups, recommendations, and making connections. The LinkedIn group then went on to take questions from the audience.
After the presentation portion for the afternoon, the LinkedIn volunteers setup laptop stations that dealt with specific LinkedIn topics, such as profile critiques and translating resume info into LinkedIn copy. NYP’s own Jason brought his camera and photo shoot equipment to form a makeshift photo booth, where people could have their pictures taken for their LinkedIn profile images.
Overall, the event was a success, and the attendees took away a lot of knowledge. The crowd moved to Pa’ina afterwards for a networking happy hour. Thank you to our NYP volunteers (Arisa, Atsushi, Eiko, Haruka, Jason, Kim), the JCCCNC for the space, Safeway for the refreshments, and Pa’ina for extended happy hour pricing. We look forward to hosting another career development workshop next year in J-town.
Photos courtesy of Ryan K. and Jason N.