Maximising the potential of LinkedIn

Maximising the potential of LinkedIn

Sue BeckinghamEducational Developer

Faculty of ACES

Sheffield Hallam Uni

Dave CottonSenior Careers Adviser

Careers & Employment

Sheffield Hallam Uni

Why would you or your students want to use

LinkedIn?

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/global

LinkedIn is in the Top 20 most visited websites in the world

Nearly 2 billion people searches on LinkedIn

LinkedIn Demographics

120+ million members worldwide 11m+ are recent graduates (2005-10) 20m+ members in Europe 5m+ members in the UK

Company presence 2m+ companies have a page

LinkedIn Groups 18 million members

LinkedIn Demographics

The key professional networking tool

the corporate office

the water cooler

the staff canteen

the bar

personal rolodex

LinkedIn

The power of online connections

• recruitment/job seeking• develop a personal brand• opportunity to learn and share• global connections• maintain connections• ongoing 24/7 networking• ability to be known and found • 6 degrees of separation

4.74*

* new Facebook study

However…. an unprofessional profile can be more damaging than not having one at all.

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/global!

will find you!

Be mindful of how people search for information

LinkedIn ranks highly!

Who will look at your online profile?

What do people want to know about you?

Where will they use this information?

Why is your profile important?

When and how often do you update it?

How will you use your profile to your advantage?

Questions to consider

http://www.linkedin.com/directory/groups/

Maximise the potential of Groups

Student internships and graduate job opportunities

http://www.linkedin.com/studentjobs

http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/

LinkedIn Cardmunch

http://www.cardmunch.com/

LinkedIn Apply Button

https://developer.linkedin.com/apply

Make use of the suite of apps available to promote yourself

and the University

Tip:

Promote conferences, workshops and open days.

Tip:

Upload presentations on SlideShare and show them on your LinkedIn profile.

Tip:

Include books you have authored/edited

Follow other people's lists

Tip:

Share polls via Facebook and Twitter to maximise responses

Discussion

Sharing ways LinkedIn has been used to engage students and develop their

online professional profile