LinkedIn

What the heck is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 40 million members and growing rapidly.

LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.

Why are Social Networks Important?

We’ll share some insight!

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point

The human brain is hard-wired to handle a maximum of about 150 active social connections. In addition to the

time requirements to maintain those relationships, they occupy space in our mind even when we are not in

contact with them.

Even with electronic tools, it is extremely difficult to sustain more than about 150 strong ties. Fortunately, electronic tools such as contact managers and online

social networks allow us to develop a much larger network of weak ties. They relieve our brains of some of the workload of maintaining all those relationships.

The Strength of Weak TiesMark Granovetter, State University of New York

The argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less likely to be socially involved with one another than are our close

friends (strong ties). Thus the set of people made up of any individual.

Establish Your Professional Profile

LinkedIn gives you the keys to controlling your online identity.

Have you Googled yourself lately? You never know what may come up.

LinkedIn profiles rise to the top of search results, letting you control the first impression people get when searching for you online.

Who are you, where are you currently working, and what are you working on?

Write your Summary & Specialties This should include what kind of worker you are and skills you have.

Breaking it down!

This is where your going to want to make a personal connection with your prospective audience to sell yourself to them as a valuable hiring

candidate.

Experience Education, Activities and Societies, and any additional information

Breaking it down!

Make Connections Stay in touch with Colleagues and Friends

In today’s professional world, people change jobs and locations constantly.

By connecting on LinkedIn, your address book will never go out of date.

Your contacts update their profiles, keeping you current with their latest jobs, projects and contact info.

You’ll stay in closer contact with great tools to communicate and collaborate

Take Advantage Of….

Groups / Recommendations

Questions & Answers / Introductions

GroupsGroup Directory

The Groups Directory allows you to easily find the right group. Click on the Category dropdown to sort by different group types (Alumni, Corporate, Non-Profit, Corporate, etc).

Once you have found a group you are interested in joining, click on the Join Group link to request to join the group. Clicking the Share button lets you invite your connections to join the group as well.

GroupsMy Groups

Once you have joined a group, it will appear on your left side navigation bar under Groups.

Click on the Groups link to view all of your groups.

This page gives you a quick overview of all of your groups, and allows you to access the homepages for each of your groups.

Questions & AnswersYou’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.

LinkedIn Answers is one of the best places on the web to share business knowledge:

Ask your question and get fast, accurate answers from your network and other experts worldwide

Questions & Answers

Showcase your knowledge, expertise, and interests by answering questions

Stay up on the latest in your industry and functional area

Recommendations

Getting recommendations gains creditability.

Rule of thumb: You only want to recommend people you would honestly hire or work

with. If someone recommends you, it is common curtsy to recommend that person back.

IntroductionsLinked In is not Facebook! You only want to connect with

people that you know.

If you are job prospecting and want to get introduced to someone, check to see if you have a connection that could introduce you!

Once You’ve Figured it Out

Find a Job!!

You can start by browsing, or searching within your Groups!