How to use LinkedIn tips to help you find a job


LinkedIn, a powerful professional networking site, was launched in May 2003 and has grown to include ~45 million members as of 2009. The founder is Reid Hoffman, who was previously the executive vice president at Pay Pal.11 The premise of the degrees of connection is that everyone is connected by six degrees or less. Currently, I have 85 connections and their connections equal 34,400+. My total network is 3,093,300+!

After you sign up for your free account with LinkedIn (yes, there are upgrades for a monthly charge - you can look at the plans to see which will work best for your needs), you will want to focus on your profile section. I'm going to walk you through this, as I'm often puzzled at how many people only put in their name, location, and current position. In my profile, I have a choice to either let my full name be shown or my first name with the last name initial. I chose my full name as it helps to build my online identity, but realize that other people may not be comfortable displaying their full name - choose what's best for you.

Underneath my name, I describe what I do instead of just putting in a job title. Anytime you want to change one of these areas on the profile section, just click the "edit" link. It's recommended that you put industry information in this area to improve your chances of being found. In your current position, you list what it is that you do. Think about key words people will use to search in this area. I'm also a big advocate of using both the title and abbreviation on all areas of your profile (and résumé!). For example, if you are a Chief Financial Officer, type that and "CFO." If you graduated with an MBA, type that and Master of Business Administration. People sometimes search on abbreviations, so be sure you include all that are applicable to you.

The next section lets you edit information about the current company where you are employed. Some people copy straight from their résumé. I did more of a description here and then copied from my résumé for my past positions.

One of the easiest areas to brand yourself online and one that many people neglect (again, credit to Jason Alba for this tip) is customizing your LinkedIn URL. Normally, the default will show http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/abdec1234abc. You can click the edit link and replace the string of letters and numbers with your name. Doing this will create a Google result if someone googles your name. My LinkedIn result has consistently appeared on page 1 of a Google search on my name. Therefore, I want to make sure that my profile remains current and has on-brand content.

The Summary section is a great area to express your personal brand and tell your story and elevator pitch! Show how you are different and what unique value of promise you bring to the table. My unique difference is that I bring a passion for technology to the career management arena and not only am familiar with online career marketing, but am also able to design blogs and websites in TypePad and WordPress.

LinkedIn has suggested that getting at least 65 connections will give you sufficient reach to do searches and find what you need. People's policies on LinkedIn go from one side to the other. Some feel that they must meet you in person and break bread at the dinner table before you connect, while others are more open with their policy and accept invitations from everyone. A word of caution, though - you never know people's policy on how they will connect, so it is wise to really customize the invitation.

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This article was sent to us by: Linda Brodson at 07232010

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