Monday, June 1, 2009

If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re probably behind the power curve in your job search.

For the uninitiated, LinkedIn is a business networking website for professionals. It’s an opportunity to connect online and stay connected with current or past co-workers, supervisors, industry contacts, clients and vendors.

You might already know how to get in touch with these people offline, but do you have all of their Rolodexes sitting on your desk? Do you have all their resumes stacked on your desk? No? Well, LinkedIn gives you a chance to peek at all their contacts and review their resumes. This gives you the opportunity to find out where they’ve worked in the past, who they know and who they might know. Research shows that most external hires get their jobs through networking and referrals, so this sort of information about your contacts is valuable in a job search.

Aside from that, here are 5 other helpful things you can do on LinkedIn (I could list 20+ if I had time!):

1. View job listings and leads for jobs that might not be advertised on major job boards or in newspapers.
2. Keep your contacts informed of your positive work-related activities (conferences attended, trade publications read, etc.) with your status updates.
3. Get introduced on LinkedIn to your friends’ connections.
4. Participate in discussions with your peers in industry-specific LinkedIn groups (great way to establish yourself as an expert and get exposed to potential employers).
5. Get recommended by former supervisors, co-workers, etc., and these impressive third-party testimonials will be displayed on your profile for all your contacts (and prospective employers) to see.

Even if you’re not in the job market, LinkedIn is a valuable business networking tool. If you get on now and work on connecting with plenty of people you know, you will be in a much better position should you find yourself unemployed. If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re probably behind the power curve in your job search.

For the uninitiated, LinkedIn is a business networking website for professionals. It’s an opportunity to connect online and stay connected with current or past co-workers, supervisors, industry contacts, clients and vendors.

You might already know how to get in touch with these people offline, but do you have all of their Rolodexes sitting on your desk? Do you have all their resumes stacked on your desk? No? Well, LinkedIn gives you a chance to peek at all their contacts and review their resumes. This gives you the opportunity to find out where they’ve worked in the past, who they know and who they might know. Research shows that most external hires get their jobs through networking and referrals, so this sort of information about your contacts is valuable in a job search.

Aside from that, here are 5 other helpful things you can do on LinkedIn (I could list 20+ if I had time!):

1. View job listings and leads for jobs that might not be advertised on major job boards or in newspapers.
2. Keep your contacts informed of your positive work-related activities (conferences attended, trade publications read, etc.) with your status updates.
3. Get introduced on LinkedIn to your friends’ connections.
4. Participate in discussions with your peers in industry-specific LinkedIn groups (great way to establish yourself as an expert and get exposed to potential employers).
5. Get recommended by former supervisors, co-workers, etc., and these impressive third-party testimonials will be displayed on your profile for all your contacts (and prospective employers) to see.

Even if you’re not in the job market, LinkedIn is a valuable business networking tool. If you get on now and work on connecting with plenty of people you know, you will be in a much better position should you find yourself unemployed.