By now, there probably isn't anyone in the business world who isn't familiar
with LinkedIn. You've probably seen LinkedIn invitations, or heard people
talking about networking through LinkedIn. Maybe you're already a member,
but you're not really using the site. Or perhaps you're one of those who
can't imagine it's a useful tool, or that it's not meant for high-level
executives.
You couldn't be more wrong.
LinkedIn has something for everyone,
and, like so many things in life, you get out of it only as much as you put
into it.
Before we take a look at how LinkedIn can help you achieve your
goals—be they employment, career change, or added business—let's review what
LinkedIn is.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking site for the
business sector. Simply put, it's a place where contacts can be initiated,
messages exchanged, and
job
searches conducted.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
LinkedIn is
quite probably much more popular than you realize, and filled with
capabilities you don't even know about. Want to promote your website?
LinkedIn can help. Want to get referrals for work? LinkedIn is there for
you. Need to know some background on a prospective client, business partner,
or employee? Check their LinkedIn profile. Need a question answered?
Yeah,
you know the drill by now.
Things you should know
Here are some quick facts
about LinkedIn:
As of January 1st, there were 14 million LinkedIn members
worldwide.
People with more than twenty LinkedIn connections are thirty-four
times more likely to get job offers than people with less than five
connections.
499 of the Fortune 500 companies are represented on LinkedIn by
Director-level or above personnel. In other words, it's a great place to
connect with
senior-level
executives.
LinkedIn allows you to perform a search of a company and see
the rate of employee turnover. Not a bad tool if you're considering working
for that company. Or already do.
More and more recruiters are not only using
LinkedIn to find prospective job seekers, but also to check references and
perform background searches.
What can LinkedIn do for you?
No matter what
your particular need, LinkedIn has something to offer.
Looking for work?
LinkedIn is partnered with
Dice.com and
SimplyHired.com,
meaning that not only can employers search the profiles to locate suitable
candidates; job seekers can browse through actual listings. And, of course,
through the networking aspect, members can refer each other for jobs and
inform each other of available positions.
Looking to increase your
visibility on the 'net? You can make your profile information available to
search engines such as Google, which typically gives LinkedIn profiles
fairly high page rankings. If you own your own company (or website, or
blog), you can also promote it in your profile so that it also comes up in
Google and Yahoo searches.
Interested in finding out if a particular company
would be a good fit for you? Perform a search by job title and company name
and you'll see people who used to work in that role for that company. You
can also use the "Current titles only" option and find out what people think
of people who will either be working for you or over you. This is also a
great way to find out about the people who will be interviewing you, and
seeing if you have anything in common you can talk about during the
interview.
Interested in what's happening in your field? Do a search for new
startups and who's launching a company.
Need the help of experts in a hurry?
You can post business related questions both in your network and outside it,
and gather responses from hundreds of individuals in a particular field.
Everyone's doing it
If all these reasons aren't enough, think about this.
With more and more people using LinkedIn for so many different reasons, do
you really want to be seen as a technological dinosaur? In this day and age,
companies want people who are technologically "plugged in," either to have
an advantage over competitors or to just keep paced.
In the end, the real
question isn't why use LinkedIn, but why wouldn't you?