LinkedIn for Dummies
By: Adriana Lordan
How to create a LinkedIn profile. This video is meant to give you an insight to one of the best online social networking sites at the moment. Here is a brief list of the benefits using LinkedIn.
Networking, hiring, posting jobs, getting business advice, finding high quality passive candidates and making money.
If I were to draw a parallel with any other similar site, I would bring out Facebook. Both are considered to be very private and that you can actually get in contact only with those who you accept as a connection or a friend.
LinkedIn covers business networking while Facebook brings friends and family together. LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye said, well, talking about Facebook, that it makes sense to keep one's professional life separate from the personal.
LinkedIn works in this matter. Your 1st degree connections are people you know and they are the center of your network. Each person connected to your direct connection makes a 2nd degree connection and those who are linked to your 2nd degree, make up your 3rd degree connection. In this way you are linked to your friends and colleagues and then as well as their friends and colleagues. In this way you have a connection based on someone you know directly and in turn have a basis to meet other contacts in your wider network.
So to begin, let's start by creating a profile.
When you first visit the site, you are brought to the Welcome Page where you can read more about what LinkedIn has to offer as well as create your free membership. Click on Join now to begin. Enter your basic information and about where you work now. Some of your colleagues may already be members, and if so, you are well on your way in making a great network to work from.
Also, if you are a student or looking for work, you can select the industry you would like to be associated with. This is important so that others can find you as well as having a more focused network of people to get to know. Once you enter that also into your education background, current student should put their expected graduation date as best as you know.
After that click Join now and now you can begin to create your full profile.
Here are a few general tips to follow as you think about what information to put in your profile.
Fill out your profile completely.
Make your profile less formal. People are more interested in the person and what they are doing with their life. Short paragraphs are welcome.
Say a few words about you, don't just stick to your education and jobs or positions you have; be funny, be creative
Talk about your professional experience, goals and it is also recommended to mention why you chose to be a member of LinkedIn.
It is advisable not to put your e-mail address under the name of your profile. Putting your e-mail address there make people aware that you are willing to connect with just about anyone.
Add a photo of yourself, so people can actually see who they are interacting with; the more professional looking the better.
This is a site for building work-in relationships and not a new social body or favorite band. You can use up to three websites as a reference to you. Like a portfolio of your work or other sites that can help promote you better. This would be a good place for your current employer or maybe student organization you belong to.
Also at this time, in your Account Settings, it would be good a idea to set your profile to Full View. With this feature viewers will have more information about you and search engines will find you easier. You can also promote your profile by copying and pasting the LinkedIn code wherever you are allowed. Once you have your profile set up, the next step is connecting to people.
LinkedIn makes it easy for you to import your Address Book from many common web e-mail sites like Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo! You can also import your outlet or other e-mail program on your computer.
LinkedIn will search through the database and tell you immediately who of these are already LinkedIn members. You can choose to invite all these people to your network and start building your connections. You can also invite any contacts who are not LinkedIn members to join. Once you have some connections set up, you can start to broaden your network by looking at your 2nd degree connections. If you find a connection through one of your 1st degree connections, you can ask for an introduction.
This way the 2nd degree has a feeling of trust and most likely will add you to their network. But beware, there is a limit of five introductions per month at the free basic account.
Here are some more tips on how to use LinkedIn.
First work on gaining a wide network that serves your personal and professional needs. Then ask questions or answer questions yourself to help others. This way you encourage global teamwork.
Check the site on a regular basis and keep your connections warm. Read the LinkedIn blog, because this is full of news and ideas. Be careful about the language you use, don't make any spelling or grammar mistakes.
Refresh the relation with your former colleagues and classmates. You never now what kind of opportunities might come your way, and we have to admit that bonds are always stronger with these people.
Always thank people when they do something for you like answering your questions, getting you an introduction or reference, giving you leads etcetera. Be professional and be respectful.
Don't accept invitations from people you really don't know. The idea is to get introductions from a friend and not from a stranger, otherwise everyone could do the introduction themselves. When you connect, always edit and personalize your invitations.
Do not only connect with people from your industry, try branching out. People met there might become your clients or get you a job.
The answer in Q&A sections are a good place to help others in your network. This section is designed to allow professionals to exchange expertise. Some simple rules should be followed in this section.
Questions should only be posted when you cannot get the desired information. Try looking it up first and if you are still stuck then ask.
Close the question when you get your answer. Rate responses by all means, otherwise the respondent will ignore your future questions.
Ask questions that are business related. This section is not to be used to find new connections. Use the People Search tool for that. As you can see there are a lot of different topics and people looking for help. This is a great way to help out the community and build the report with other members.
Next we will discuss how to recommend someone. There is a certain criteria that should be taken into consideration when recommending someone.
Ask yourself
If you have actually worked with this person. If they have delivered products or services to you. If you were content with that delivery. Have you met this person before and are you happy with recommending this person to friends.
It is important to ask yourself these questions as others look to your reputation when deciding to accept that recommendation. This is a great way to build up your reputation as well as a person you are recommending to all future connections. Also don't forget to get your current connections to recommend you as well.
LinkedIn has a special feature called Groups. These are divided into three sections: Basic, Premium and Partner. The Basic group feature is free of charge and it doesn't appear on the directory. So to form an idea, groups are divided into different sections; Alumni groups, corporate groups, conference groups, networking groups, non-profit groups and professional groups.
The good thing about this feature is that instead of sending out questions to a huge group of people, you can choose only the domains you are interested in the most.
Being a member of a group gives you the feeling of belonging to somewhere instead of being posted individually on the network.
To sum up, LinkedIn is once again the biggest gathering of professionals. It's like an online Chamber of Commerce where everyone has unlimited 24?7 access to valuable information. You can find out information about companies in a smoother and easier way. You can get to know of future employer before you go on the interview. Researching possibilities is now better than ever.
My advice to you is to sign up on LinkedIn as soon as possible.
For more information about all the benefits of using LinkedIn, visit adrianalordansarticle@site-reference.com. You will also find plenty more helpful videos at site-reference.com.
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