This is the fifth article in a series on Social Media. Much of the series has been about Twitter and tools related to Twitter. Today, I want to talk about LinkedIn. If you haven’t read The 6 Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes, make sure not to miss it.
A couple years ago, a peer asked me, “can you show me how to get a job on LinkedIn?” I spent a few minutes with her, but honestly, looking back the question was a little too overloaded to answer. I couldn’t figure out why I had such a hard time answering that question at the time.
Last week I had a conversation with a Director of Software Engineering at a local, highly regarded company. He made the statement “4-5 years ago when we were finding friends on LinkedIn could you ever imagine we’d be using it like we are today?”
“Absolutely not,” I answered.
60 Million
If you’re one of the millions of people who is just adopting LinkedIn I know you’ve heard how many people are using it (60 million) and how effective it can be in a job search – both for hiring managers and for jobseekers. But finding the usefulness isn’t necessarily obvious to the casual user.
Upon signing up on LinkedIn the user is asked to create their profile. This isn’t much different from Monster or CareerBuilder, right? So the casual user may think LinkedIn is all about adding their resume to yet another resume posting site.
So what’s all the hype about?
Notice there are a number of differences between LinkedIn and these other sites. For instance, you choose the companies you worked at and educational institutions you attended from a list, rather than typing them in. The institutions are already in LinkedIn (most of the time) and they are already tied into other professionals.
When you finish adding a job to your profile, notice the position is linked to the company profile. This makes it easier for hiring managers to understand the types of companies you’ve worked at and to find those you may have worked with. …Or find unsolicited references… hmm… see my article Where Do Your Social Media Footprints Lead where I’ve talked about unsolicited references on LinkedIn.
The company profile tells us a number of things:
- How many people work at the organization;
- If it’s private or publically owned;
- Popular LinkedIn profiles of employees;
- Career Paths;
- Company Demographics;
- People in your network who work there.
Hopefully, you understand the importance of Networking. If you don’t know what it is, or understand the importance, I suggest you read Networking for IT Professionals, The Basics.
Networking is the single most effective tool in your job search.
I recommend jobseekers spend up to 75% of their time networking or planning and preparing to network.
Who Do You Know?
Our most important question in networking is “who do you know?” Can you see how LinkedIn is making this easier? Find a company you want to know more about, do a company search on them, and learn who’s at that company. All that’s left after that is contacting the individual and setting up some time to talk.
Job Searches
You can search for jobs on LinkedIn by doing a job search. Notice that when you do a search for jobs on LinkedIn, it defaults to showing you opportunities from within your network. Sweet… you know someone that can help you get a job! Thanks LinkedIn!
When you search for jobs on other sites, make sure to use the LinkedIn plugin (for Firefox here) so that you can find out who in your network can help you land in that position.
Your Connections
Your connections are what make LinkedIn so helpful. The more connections you have, the more LinkedIn will work for you. Once a user gets to about 300 connections (at least in IT in Raleigh,) they’re connected to almost everyone that matters here (by 1, 2, or 3 degrees). Job searches will pull up more opportunities. Searching for people, positions, companies, and events will become more relevant. Further, your research into companies that are hiring and the people who work there will become easier.
LinkedIn doesn’t take the place of networking, it’s a fundamental tool in networking. Your connections are what make it valuable.
Quality
Each of your connections, however, must to be of quality for the tool to be useful. I have a rule, that I don’t add anyone to LinkedIn unless they meet certain conditions. I’m not going to talk about them here, but they are not strict conditions. I also have a rule I will talk about,
I don’t accept invitations from people I don’t know.
I’m not interested in a popularity contest on LinkedIn (as opposed to Twitter, follow me here: @howtogeekon). LinkedIn, for me, is a tool that is only as useful as the connections I add to it.
I probably have 5% of my connections on LinkedIn, that I can’t remember where I met them or how I know them. I search periodically for these individuals to clean them out (and I recommend this).
75% of the connections I have, I feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling to ask for anything. This is where the value of LinkedIn lies. The people you’re connected to have to be quality people that want to work together to progress their collective careers and goals. If not, it’s a useless tool.
How to Get a Job On LinkedIn
I realize I still haven’t answered the question – “How do you get a job using LinkedIn?” I’m still not sure I know how to answer that. LinkedIn is a fundamental tool in your networking activities and research on companies. If you use it as such, and understand how to network, it can be as good a tool as any in the job search.
LinkMeIn
If you’re new to LinkedIn and in the Raleigh area, make sure to check out “Link Me In” – a class presented by Wake Tech by some friends of mine. They have a Basic and Advanced class. Classes are available on the North Campus and free to those who are unemployed. Register here. See dates below. The next class is this Friday 3/5.
Basics:
F 8:30-10:30 a.m. 3/5
NORTH BD 255
F 8:30-10:30 a.m. 3/19
NORTH BD 255
F 8:30-10:30 a.m. 4/16
NORTH BD 255
F 8:30-10:30 a.m. 5/7
NORTH BD 255
Next Steps:
F 10:45 a.m-12:30 p.m. 3/5
NORTH BD 255
F 10:45 a.m-12:30 p.m. 3/19
NORTH BD 255
F 10:45 a.m-12:30 p.m. 4/16
NORTH BD 255
F 10:45 a.m-12:30 p.m. 5/7
NORTH BD 255
My perspective on LinkedIn contacts, is to include anyone that I have met, worked with, or been introduced to. I may not have a close relationship with some of these people, but these are people who may know someone that I would like to be meet, and I may know someone that they would like to meet. I look at the 1st level contacts as a resource for bridging to the 2nd and 3rd level.