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LinkedIn (part 2): Maximizing features
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The following is the second half of a two-part series about how to best utilize LinkedIn in your internship and entry-level job search. Amanda Montgomery, a University of Alabama student graduating in May 2009 with a B.A. in Advertising, volunteered her profile for critique. In part one, Krista Canfield, a career expert at LinkedIn, offered Montgomery praise and suggested room for improvement regarding her online profile. Now, she provides examples of how Montgomery can maximize LinkedIn’s features during her job search.
1. Expand your network. While it’s true that a larger professional network is more valuable, LinkedIn suggests only linking to contacts you really know. Your professional network is a representation of your professional net worth. You’d never share your Rolodex with someone you just bumped into on the street, so treat your online network the same way. Your connections should be people that respect your work and have a vested interest in your career.
Don’t forget to connect to friends, family members and other people you trust. A lot of times, you may know someone extremely well as a friend, but not be aware of the work circles they move in. Montgomery should import her contacts from Outlook, Gmail or whatever e-mail server she currently uses. Don’t worry about everyone in your contact database being blasted. Once contacts are imported, you can select the contacts to whom you’d like to send a connection request.
2. Engage in groups. Simply being a member of a group isn’t enough to get true value out of it. Montgomery should check out the discussions going on in her groups and add her own two cents. She could also start her own discussion in, for example, the American Advertising Federation group commenting on a recent trade article that she read. Chatting with other members of the group will help Montgomery forge new relationships.
3. Ask and answer questions. At the top of the page, select Answers. This brings you to a forum where people ask and answer questions on a wide range of topics. She can ask her own questions or browse different categories to answer other people’s questions.
Since she works in marketing, she might want to browse the Marketing and Sales category to see what industry colleagues are talking about. Since she works for a law school, she might also want to take a peek in the Law and Legal section to see if there’s any information in there that might help her market to law students a bit better.
Answering questions is a great way to build your personal brand, start conversations and make professional connections. Montgomery could be answering the question of a future employer.
4. Research companies and other profiles. If Montgomery is interested in working for a specific organization, she can go to the Companies section under the top navigation panel and find valuable information, like the people who work for the company that are connected to her, new hires, key statistics and the career paths for employees.
From here, she can examine the profiles of people currently working at that company. If Montgomery knows the name of the position for which she would be applying, this is particularly valuable because she can view the experience of people in that role. She could find valuable keywords on their profiles. If she’s connected to someone currently working at the company, she can ask one of her connections to make an introduction. A job hunter is always in a better position to be hired if they have a foot in the door with someone that currently works at the company.
5. Advanced people search. Montgomery can use the Advanced People Search to find experts, mentors, human resources managers and clients. Go to People on the top navigation pane, and you can search by name, title, company, location, industry and more. Once you have an interview schedule, and you might want to do a little research about the people with whom you’ll be meeting.
| <-- Part 1: Updating your profile |
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