LinkedIn as a Professional Development Tool

Anne M. Pascucci

LinkedIn to MeLinkedIn to Me• Started out just catching up with people, sort of

like Collaborate on NCURA - wanted a way to locate folks easily and professionally

• Not Facebook – Professional not Personal – Still don’t have a handle on Facebook

• Grew into a way to expand my thinking and connections by joining groups

• I am LinkedIn with Astronauts and Under-Secretary's, Program Officers, Foundation Directors etc.

Professional Professional DevelopmentDevelopment

• I love to make connections…professional, friends, acquaintances…ideas, themes, interests

• When I find a nugget of shared interests, I will connect people and hope that the Golden Rule holds true

• People looking for jobs, wisdom, ideas, references, organizations…

• I am always happy to share, recommend when appropriate, and introduce

Professional Professional DevelopmentDevelopment

• Your profile is your professional on-line face and resume

• My profile at the time of creation of this presentation is 20 pages long with 1136 connections

• My profile includes written references from 49 individual people including faculty I have worked with, peers at NCURA, board members I have served with on NGO boards and a multitude of others that I have interacted with professionally

• Written references add depth and a breadth to your resume that you couldn’t include in an on-line application

• In addition to written references, recommendations based on specific topics

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The Profile includes:Statement about yourselfProfessional experience (resume)Volunteer experienceProjects/publicationsProfessional organizationsWritten, approved references and

recommendations

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• The connections that you make as a professional are part of what you carry as your “bag of tricks”

• Program Officers, Governmental Officials, Foundation Representatives, Press, Organizations related to research conducted

• Your projects can be viewed by prospective employers

• The references that you obtain remain on your profile• When seeking a new position, I always included a link

to my profile in the cover letter• All of the elements of your profile are available at

your discretion as are your updates

Professional Professional DevelopmentDevelopment

• As with the profile connections, you can also print your profile to a PDF, as can prospective employers and headhunters

• Just as important as it is to keep your profile alive and up to date, you can extend your willingness to provide reference for your peers

• Be considerate on LinkedIn-if someone you don’t know or your concerned about asks, just ask them or ignore them

• I’m pretty sure I’m on some watch list here!

Professional Professional Development Development

• Remain aware that while you are looking at other peoples profiles, they are looking at yours

• A good indicator of someone looking at a new position is adding a lot of connections especially in one region

• That could mean that a peer is moving on and you might reach out to get ahead of the curve

• Positions are posted on LinkedIn and ScoopIt you just have to keep an eye out for them

• Oh-BTW, I don’t pay for my account….yet!