Today’s post is from our regular Tuesday contributor, Sally.
This blog has talked about how important LinkedIn is quite a few times before and almost every time we mention it, I’m surprised by how many people say that they don’t have an account. It’s a free service that, while requiring some of your time and attention, isn’t as demanding as one would think.
Through LinkedIn I have had some really great opportunities come my way, including being able to touch base with potential employers for when I am done with my Masters. While graduation is still a year away and there is not a lot I can do right now, I’m getting the ball rolling, feeling more comfortable about the future, and it’s all thanks to this social media site.
I know you can have a great experience on this site as well, but first things first:
1) Signing Up
All you need is your name, email address, and password. Might I suggest an email that you check frequently and isn’t your totally awesome one (ahem…MysticAG) from elementary/middle school? While this is a social media site, it’s geared towards the career world. If you want potential employers to look closer at what you have to offer and be interested in you, then your profile needs to reflect the kind of jobs you are interested in. Even down to your email address.
2) Potential Contacts
Once you have entered in the preliminary information to get the ball rolling, LinkedIn will prompt you to complete 7 steps so that your profile isn’t simply a blank page. The first step they would like you to participate in is helping you to find potential contacts on their site. They do this by having you sign in to your email address and then pulling your contacts from your email. You are not automatically connected to these people and are not required to add them; they’re trying to expedite the process of you searching for contacts by yourself. If you are not interested in having them pull your contacts list, you can skip that step and go on to the next one.
Again, remember that this is going to be a professional profile of yourself and what you have to offer in the career world. I’ve found that most people are much more strict about who they connect with on their site and who they don’t. People they may feel comfortable having as a friend on Facebook may not make the cut to be added to their LinkedIn profile for various reasons. Do not be afraid of being selective in who you add…but be careful at the same time that you don’t limit your potential growth on the site!
3) The Beginnings of Your Profile
This part is fairly simple – input your zip code, figure out which one of the three options (student, job seeker, employed) you are, than either enter your title, where you went to school or what you are looking for, respectfully. When you move forward to the next page, it’s going to email you a confirmation email, so you will need to open your email and click the link. After, it’s going to prompt you to connect with people you may know. Again, be selective, but get yourself off on the right foot by having solid connections who may add to your potential.
4) The App
As anything these days, LinkedIn does have an app that you can download to your phone. Obviously, this allows you the ability to access it fairly easily and if you have your phone and a connection, at any time that you want. I personally do not have the app installed on my phone, but I’m not actively searching for a job. Probably within the next few months I will get it, so that I can start browsing various job postings while needing to kill some time.
5) Sharing Your LinkedIn Profile
Sharing your LinkedIn profile on your other social media sites allows people to note that you are searching for a job and should keep you in mind when they hear of something. It can be a bonus because you’re reaching out to so many more people, but if you don’t want a lot of people to have access to certain information about yourself or are looking to have it be more private, this is definitely something you want to consider before doing.
6) Basic v. Premium
As with many sites, you have the option of upgrading to a better service when you pay a certain amount every month and LinkedIn is no exception. I personally do not have the premium service so I can’t tell you what the difference between services is, but if it’s something you really feel would benefit you, check out reviews online about it or ask around and find out if someone you know has it and what they think about it.
Look for the second half of this post on Thursday; we’ll look over what to include in your profile again, and delve into utilizing the site to look for jobs.
Do you use LinkedIn? Why or why not?
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Photo by Nan Palmero
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I made my account on Linked a few years ago, at first I didn’t even bothered to complete my profile on there, but I learned that Linked profile is so helpful especially if you’re applying for a job. Now I have some connections, I already completed my profile and some of my connections endorsed me with a new skill.
I really need to update my LinkedIn profile. Thanks for the reminder!
I need to add a photo to my profile. I hear it makes a big difference in how much traffic you get.
Great tips for getting started! I use LinkedIn quite a bit, though I wish they’d stop emailing me asking me to upgrade to the premium version. :)
I use LinkedIn, but probably not as much as I should. Time to change that I guess.
BudgetforMore I definitely would agree with that. I find accounts without a photo a bit strange, almost like the person doesn’t care enough to add one.
FrugalRules Haha I get those as well! I wish they would stop pretending like the offer ever expires. I wish they just said “whenever you want, we will give you a one month free trial.” Instead of sending out emails saying “limited time offer!”
I think to really utilize LinkedIn we need to either add lots of connections or upgrade to premium service. For example if you’re applying for a job in a totally new company and you have no connection with anyone there whatsoever there’s not much you can do with it. But then I’m not sure if it’s really worth it to upgrade it. I read some article about it that said it’s just some money grabbing practice. But I don’t really know.
I have been on LinkedIn for years, but do not use it for my land-lording stuff. I should probably create a profile and use it.
They are a big spammer when it comes to email…
I have a linked in account but rarely go in it because I’m afraid that all my connections will think I’m looking for a job. It seems like most active people are either bloggers or job hoppers. I could be wrong but that is my impression. It is a good way to connect with associates who you would like to keep in touch with (aka know where they are at) but not close enough for Facebook friends. And yes, too many emails. I have mine all going to a separate folder so I never see them.
Great 101 post there Sally, I would love to be able to contribute an article to the site on networking and social media for careers, what would be the best way to become involved?
On that not it would be remiss of me, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, would be great to build my contacts :)
Cheers
Jef
I’m the worst at checking my non-blog related social media. Thanks for the reminder I need to go on LinkedIn and update my profile to reflect my new license :-)