There are other business networks and you might want to go and check them out, but none of them is as big and as well-known as LinkedIn (LI). Although there is a paid version of LinkedIn, most people use the free one and find that is enough for what they want.
Many business people register and put up some sort of profile and then think that’s all they have to do but there is more!!
10 ways to get that job!
1 Hang around the site a bit to get a feel for the features before you use LI for job seeking. Look up someone you know or a company you have worked for in the Search bar at the top right hand corner of the page to see how it all works.
2 Go to the Jobs section which you can use to find jobs you are looking for in your area of work (and your geographical area too). There is a search facility so you can put in everything you’re looking for.
3 Follow the LI advice for completing applications online
4 Develop your Profile so people can find YOU. This is hugely important and you need to spend several hours getting it right. Many head hunters and recruitment agencies use LinkedIn. Talk about yourself in your profile as this is a personal statement where you sell you, your skills or your services. Make sure your profile is up to date and in line with what you say on your CV/resume because many prospective employers check LinkedIn profiles of candidates
5 Add a business-like photo and link in your website, blog, Twitter account etc if you have them. Be careful and only put professional things on LI! Upload a current CV so prospective employers can see it
6 Check out the Settings and make sure you are happy about the people who will have ‘access’ to you but remember, if you want to be found, you need to leave your settings reasonably open!
7 Start building Connections. Invite people you know to connect with you. Also invite those people you would like to work for to connect but not everyone will accept direct contact so you have to go through a connection who is connected to them. When you ask to connect to someone, don’t just use the message provided by LinkedIn but write something more personal. Also when you accept an invitation to connect, send a personal note; don’t forget you are building relationships
8 At the top of the page just under where you put your name and job title, you will see a update white bar. Update this regularly as any changes you make to it will be emailed by LI by email once a week to all your connections. This shows you are active and you can say “researching job opportunities in accountancy” or whatever
9 Join a Group. This is useful if you don’t have many direct connections but you want to add some. There are hundreds of groups on all sorts of topics. For example, if you are looking for a job in film, you might choose to join the Film TV Professionals or if you’re interested in selling hats, the Milliners Forum (yes, it does exist!) could be useful. Once you join a group you can reply to posts in discussions and post your own topics to get yourself noticed and have access to other members of that group
10 Remember that LinkedIn and other sites are for networking – that is, for building relationships. Don’t expect your first connection to offer you a job straight away!
Top Tip
Put your LinkedIn address on your CV/resume, business card, email signature and any other tool you use to publicise yourself!
I now invite you to visit my website and download a copy of my white paper “Blended Learning – the Way Forward?” and receive a 2010 Survey of Blended Learning http://www.blendedlearningzone.com/index.html to learn more about learning online.
Kate Cobb is Director of blended learning zone. She was commissioned to write “Blended Learning” for the CIPD (UK) L&D Journal in 2008 and is a published author of training books and manuals. She provides a range of services for HR and L&D managers in design and delivery, consultancy and strategic planning of blended learning solutions.
Kate has over 25 years experience as a management training consultant providing F2F training, executive coaching and instructional design services for a wide variety of clients in UK, Europe and the Middle East in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
