What is LinkedIn?

A Brief Intro to LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social network specifically designed for career and business professionals to connect. ... LinkedIn is ideal for building connections for freelance work, a customer base, potential partners, or simply to keep your job prospects open.

This platform is really for anybody and everybody who is interested in taking their professional life more seriously by looking for new opportunities to grow their skills and careers as well as to connect with other professionals.

You can think of LinkedIn as the high-tech equivalent of going to a traditional networking event where you go and meet other professionals in person, talk a little bit about what you do and exchange business cards. It’s like one big virtual networking event.

On LinkedIn, you network with people by adding them as “connections,” similar to how you’d make a friend request on Facebook. You converse via private message and you have all of your professional experience and achievements laid out in a neatly organized profile to show off to other users.

What You Can Use LinkedIn For (As an Individual)

Now you know what LinkedIn offers and what kind of people typically use it, but that probably doesn’t give you any specific ideas for how to start using it yourself. In fact, many users create an account and then abandon it because they have no idea how they should be using LinkedIn.

Here are some tips for beginners.

Use your profile as your resume. Your LinkedIn profile basically represents a more complete (and interactive) resume. You can include it as a link perhaps in an email or your cover letter when you apply to jobs. Some websites that allow you to apply to jobs will even allow you to connect to your LinkedIn profile to import all your information. If you need to build a resume outside of LinkedIn, there are apps for that.

Get back in touch with old colleagues. You can use the My Network section to find old colleagues, teachers, people you went to school with and anyone else you might think is worth having in your professional network. Just enter or connect your email to sync your contacts with LinkedIn.

Find and apply to jobs. Remember that LinkedIn is one of the best places to look for job postings online. You’ll always get recommendations from LinkedIn about jobs you may be interested in, but you can always use the search bar to look for specific positions too.

Participate in relevant groups. A great way to meet new professionals to connect with is to join groups based on your interests or current profession and start participating. Other group members may like what they see and want to connect with you. This is also a great way to meet like minded individuals and participate in conversations around topics where you have some interest and want to express yourself.

Blog about what you know. LinkedIn’s very own publishing platform allows users to publish blog posts and gain the opportunity to have their content read by thousands. Published posts will also show up on your profile, which will increase your credibility in related fields that are relevant to your professional experience.

In today’s world, recruiters are using LinkedIn as THE resource for sourcing talent. Don’t miss out by being invisible on the platform. If you are a professional and are NOT on LinkedIn, do you even exist? Not in the eyes of recruiters you don’t. Beyond looking for a job, LinkedIn is your personal branding. What do you want others to know about you, your skills, what you stand for?

I’ve been on LinkedIn for years now and I am proud of the fact that I am connected with people I worked with 30 years ago and continue to make new connections frequently. You never know when you will need the help of someone else and it is a smart idea to put effort into maintaining your professional relationships.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.