Launched in May 2003, LinkedIn is the world’s largest online network for professionals. There are already over 120 million members and this is constantly increasing at a rate of more than two new members a second! LinkedIn is used by members all over the world and is available in nine different languages.
You may already use Facebook or other social networks to keep in touch with friends and family and connect with people you have lost touch with. LinkedIn works in a similar manner, connecting you with colleagues past and present, but for a professional it offers so much more. It offers a way to connect with new people to share advice and information, find new work, or find someone to work for you. It’s a great way to connect with all your business contacts worldwide in one place.
With a growing trend for freelance workers, many more people are working from home with colleagues all over the world, than working solely with people in their own office. LinkedIn will help you keep in touch with all your co-workers, contractors, employers and employees regardless of their geographical location, time zone or whether or not you work with them currently. It’s also a great way to connect with people in the same profession as you.
Getting Started
So, you want to join in, what do you need to do? Setting up an account is simple. Visit www.linkedin.com and follow the instructions. You’ll be guided through the process, entering your name, contact details etc. When you have registered your account you will want to set up your profile properly. This will help people find you, help them to understand what you do, and get an idea of what your aims are, for example if you’re looking for work you can make this clear within your profile.
Your Profile
Setting up your profile is the first thing you’ll want to do, so we’ll look at that first. Move your mouse over ‘Profile’ on the top menu bar and select ‘Edit Profile’. You’ll now see many ways in which you can add to your profile or edit the data you’ve already given.
If you’re hoping to connect with past colleagues, then it’s a good idea to add a photo of yourself. Even if you’re looking for new connections, having a photo will make your profile look like you have spent some time on it, and give a sense of legitimacy to it so it’s always recommended. To add a photo simply click on the photo image and you’ll be given the option to upload a photo from your hard drive. Files must be under 4 meg in size and in either JPG, GIF or PNG format. It is against the rules of LinkedIn to upload an image that is not of you, so as much as you may wish to represent yourself with an image of a cartoon character or a fluffy kitten; you are not permitted to do so.
Next let’s look at bulking out your profile. The more information you put in the more people will find you, and the more professional your profile will seem. Below your photo you’ll see a list of options for adding information akin to a CV or resume, and some extra information such as your Twitter name, personal website etc. It’s a good idea to spend some time working through these, adding your past work positions, education history etc.
If you have a digital copy of your CV or resume in Word, PDF or HTML format you can upload this by clicking on ‘Import your Resume’. You’ll then be able to upload your file as long as it doesn’t exceed the 500k file size limit.
It’s easy to set up your profile and then forget about it, but do keep it up to date with your latest work positions and skills, especially if you’re hoping to connect with potential employers, showing that your skillset is up to date is very important.
It’s always a good idea to get someone to review your profile, it’s easy to overlook a spelling error or omit something that seems obvious to someone else. Get a friend or colleague to give it a look over to be sure you’re giving the most professional impression via your profile.
Another potentially handy thing you can do within your profile page is to change the URL of your page. You will see your current URL listed on the right of the profile page, it will likely contain rather too many slashes and random looking letters and numbers. You can however change this to something more memorable that will look cleaner should you wish to print it onto business cards, and which should also make your profile more likely to be found via search engines. Just click on the ‘Customise your public profile URL’ link. Your custom URL must contain 5 – 30 letters or numbers, without spaces, symbols, or special characters. You will only be allowed to save your custom URL when you have conformed with these guidelines and chosen a unique URL. Try adding your middle name, business or town name if you’re having trouble finding a unique URL.
A little below this option you will also see a link to Profile Badges. These are buttons with the code generated for you, to cut and paste into your website or blog to link directly to your LinkedIn Profile.
Connections
Now you have your completed profile, you may well find that colleagues and friends will find you, but it’s a good idea to get some connections straight away, that is after all why you signed up with LinkedIn in the first place!
Next to the Profile button we visited earlier, you’ll see a ‘Contacts’ option. Click on this and you’ll see all your options for any current connections, and more importantly to us at this time, an option to add connections.
There are several ways in which to start adding connections…
Webmail contacts – Input your webmail details and the system will inform you which of your webmail contacts have a LinkedIn account.
Import desktop email contacts – If you use Outlook, Apple Mail or other desktop email software you can import your contact file and the system will let you know which of your contacts are registered with LinkedIn.
Email Invitation – You can type email addresses into the box. An email will be sent to that address inviting the recipient to connect with you. If they don’t already have a LinkedIn account they will be invited to set one up themselves.
Colleagues – This tab, next to Add Connections will show you those people who have also worked at the places you have listed in your profile.
Classmates – Input the details of your school via the Classmates tab and you’ll see anyone registered with LinkedIn who attended the same school at the same time you did.
People You May Know – This tab will show you some suggestions based on your profile, of people you might know. There is a useful filter function whereby you can select only people from a certain company or school etc.
When you have some contacts there are a few interesting things you can do. Firstly have a look at their profile, which may help you with building your own. Also take a look at their contacts. As you’re only one step away from them, there may be people you know that you would like to connect with, or people in your geographic area or profession that you think it would be useful to know. You can send them an invitation to connect with you, but be wary of sending out too many connection requests to people you don’t know without explaining why you wish to connect. As with Facebook and other social networks, some people seem to just want to collect connections as though the more they have the more impressive they look, but LinkedIn is more about quality of connections than quality, and requests out of the blue that don’t appear to be of relevance can often be regarded as spam.
Recommendations
Once you start to build your network of connections, you can look at the Recommendations feature. This works in a similar to way to a reference if you were applying for a job. Members can recommend other members they have worked with. It’s a very useful feature both for showing that others have faith in your own work, and for recommending a professional you’ve had great service from. You can post a recommendation on a profile and also approach people you have worked with and ask for them to endorse your work. It’s a great way to add credibility to your profile.
You’ll find Recommendations on the Profile drop down. If you wish to ask for a recommendation then click on ‘Ask to be endorsed’. This will bring up a pre-written template email asking for the recipient to recommend your work; you can of course adapt this for your own needs. Then you simply add an email address, or click the icon to the right to bring up your contact list and select those you wish to ask for endorsements. Click send and hopefully you’ll get some recommendations.
You cannot edit a recommendation, but you can choose whether or not a recommendation is visible.
Leaving a recommendation for someone else is easy too. Just fill out the ‘Make a recommendation’ form on the main Recommendations page. Enter the name of the person you wish to endorse, or select them from your contact list. You’ll then be asked to input a few details about your relationship with the recipient add your brief recommendation and hit Send.
Do only request recommendations from people you have worked with though, too often people send out bulk requests for recommendations from all their contacts and it defeats the purpose of the recommendation system. Leaving a thoughtful quality recommendation for someone you hold in high regard, may also result in them reciprocating if they have been equally as happy working with you.
Groups
Groups bring together people who do not necessarily know each other but have something in common. Perhaps you use a certain programming language or software tool and you’d like to discuss it with other users, perhaps you’d like to chat with professionals in your town or maybe you’d like to join a group for people within your own profession. There are so many groups there’s bound to be several of interest to you.
Under the Groups heading you’ll find various features. Perhaps the first place to start is ‘Groups you May Like’. If you’ve filled out your profile well you should see here some relevant Groups. You can read through the discussions, get an idea of what each group is about, the amount of posts the group gets and the type of people who are posting within it. If you wish to join the group then you can simply click the Join button.
If you’re looking for groups about a particular subject you can search by keyword, or choose a category. If you cannot find a group related to the subject you are interested in, you can even create your own group. This is easy to do, there’s a simple form to fill in with the details of your new group, you can upload a logo and choose to announce the group on Twitter if you’re wanting to spread the word and gain new members. You also have the choice of having an open group or a group for members only. There are various other settings you can adapt for your own needs such as the ability to allow current members to invite new members or allowing members to Auto-join without you having to approve each one.
Jobs
Many people join LinkedIn to find work and it’s a great tool to find both work and workers. When you click on the Jobs button on the top menu, the first thing you will see are some available jobs that you may be interested in. A useful feature is the Email Alerts button at the top of that list. You can choose to be emailed the list of jobs that may be of interest to you either daily or weekly. If you’re looking for work but don’t check your LinkedIn profile that regularly, this is a really great way to hear about new jobs quickly while they are still available.
The jobs list has a lot of useful features, you can show only the jobs within a certain area, or only those posted within the last day for example. If you spot a job of interest you can save it, and there’s also an option to view similar job, so if a particular post looks interesting, you can click this button and find other jobs in a similar vein.
A job listing will show you basic information such as the title of the job, the location and who posted it. Click on the title to open up the page for that job and you’ll see the full job description. You’ll see information on how to apply for the job and any requirements the company has of their applicants.
Perhaps you’ve spotted a job that isn’t of interest to you, but you think it would be perfect for a friend of yours. On the job description page, on the right hand side, is the option to share the job posting either via LinkedIn, or by Facebook or Twitter. You can also follow a company; you’ll find that feature next to the Share options. More on following shortly.
Of course you can also post your own job advertisements if you’re looking to hire too.
If you’re job hunting, you can also make this known in your status update. Go to your homepage and you’ll see a box to write your short status update message in, similar to those on Facebook or Twitter, this message will then show on the news pages of the people you are connected with, a handy reminder to them that you are available! Don’t forget to keep your status updated though; you don’t want it to say you’re looking for work constantly for months on end or people might start to wonder why you never manage to find employment!
Companies
As well as individual professional profiles LinkedIn also lists company profiles. If you run a company you may like to think about setting up your own company profile. If you have an interest in a particular company you can follow them and keep up to date with all their news. Once you have chosen to follow a company you will see their name listed on the Companies drop down menu. Select a company and you’ll be able to set your preferences on the type and frequency of emails you’ll receive about that particular company. This feature is useful if there are companies you would be keen to work for, as you’ll be able to keep track of any vacancies they post. You can also unfollow each company at the click of a button.
News
It’s easy to overlook the News section of LinkedIn and it really is worth a look. Clicking on the News link in the top menu will take you to LinkedIn Today. This is your main news hub. You can follow news from a particular source, or news relating to a particular industry. You can really tailor this part of the site to your own needs. I really enjoy having a read during my lunch hour. To start with you’ll see some suggestions of top news, and industry news that may be relevant to you. You can choose to share a news article, either to everyone, via your updates or to particular people who you think it may be of interest to. You can also choose to save an article. Very useful for collecting together some articles to read at a later date. You’ll find these all together under Saved Articles.
Hover over News in the top menu and in the drop down menu you’ll see an option called Signal. This is well worth checking regularly to keep up with the latest news from the people you are connected with. Take a look and it will probably put you in mind of Twitter or Facebook. You’ll see a list of updates, and loads of useful filtering options. You can choose to view just your group updates or just those updates made to profiles. You can filter by company, location, date of update and much more.
Other features
LinkedIn have a wealth of other useful features so it’s well worth exploring the rest of the site and not just focusing on the profiles and job postings. We’ll look at some of them here so you can get an idea of the diversity of additional features available.
Answers
Do you have a question? It may be related to your profession, you may have a query about using LinkedIn or you might want to know how long to boil an egg for. You can ask any question you like in the LinkedIn Answers section and you’ll likely get several answers. You can also of course answer questions. If you have a particular area of expertise you can search for related questions and share your knowledge. It’s a great way to get involved in the LinkedIn community. You can share questions and answers if you think it would be of interest to others. There is also the option to reply privately if you don’t wish your answer to be posted publicly.
Learning Centre
You’ve probably learnt a lot reading this article, but there’s always more to learn so head on over to the Learning Centre for more in-depth articles and information about using LinkedIn.
Skills & Expertise
This is a relatively new addition to the site. If you’re looking for new skills to learn, you can find out what is up-and-coming, research skills that are closely related to those you already possess and find professionals who already have a particular skill set.
Applications
These are add-ons for your profile and homepage. Look under More on the top menu to see what Applications you have already, and to choose more. There is a wide range of Applications and new ones are often added so keep checking back.
I’ll mention some of my favourites so you can get an idea of what is available.
WordPress – Sync your WordPress posts with your LinkedIn profile.
Tweets – A Twitter client for LinkedIn.
Huddle Workspace – A private online collaborative workspace.
Events – A calendar of events so you’ll always know what professional events are coming up.
Google Presentation – Allows you to embed presentations within your LinkedIn profile.
Productivity Tools
These applications will help you incorporate your LinkedIn account into your various software tools and enable you to get the most you can from using LinkedIn. You can find all the Productivity Tools by clicking on the Tools link in the footer bar of the LinkedIn website. All these tools can be downloaded for free.
LinkedIn for Outlook – Incorporates LinkedIn to Microsoft Outlook, allowing you to send connection requests direct from your Outlook email. You’ll also be able to directly view the latest LinkedIn updates and photos from anyone with a LinkedIn profile who sends you an email.
LinkedIn Browser Toolbars – There are browser toolbars available for IE (PC only) and Firefox (PC and Mac). This toolbar is packed full of LinkedIn features, once installed you’ll be able to search directly for names, companies and job postings and look up people from any website. You can save your searches and save links to LinkedIn profiles and you’ll have one click access to your LinkedIn homepage. The toolbar also integrates with several job posting website such as Monster, HotJobs and Craigslist, giving you extra features when you use these sites allowing you to see your connections with companies when viewing their job postings.
LinkedIn Mobile Apps – It’s important to many of us to be able to access LinkedIn at any time, so LinkedIn have developed mobile apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm. Free to download, you’ll be able to keep up with your news and groups while on the move.
LinkedIn Widget for Lotus Notes – This widget for Lotus notes adds LinkedIn functionality to your Lotus email. Search for people, share your status and see what your connections are working on from within your Lotus notes software.
Sharing Bookmarklet – This is simply a button to add to your browser that allows you to share webpages and articles on LinkedIn. You can add your own comments and choose who you wish to share with. Select your browser and you’ll be given installation instructions. If you use Firefox, Safari or Chrome then simply drag the button to your browser toolbar. If you use IE you will need to follow a couple of extra steps.
Upgrades
LinkedIn is free to use, and once you’ve spent some time using your free account you may well find it so useful that you’ll want to upgrade your account. With an upgraded account you’ll get to use more advanced features. There are three levels of account upgrade Business, Business Plus and Executive. At the time of writing the pricing structure for the upgraded accounts starts from $19.95 a month for the Business Package up to $74.95 a month for the Executive package. There are discounts for paying annually in advance, but you can also pay monthly.
So what extras do you get for your money? Firstly you get bundled InMail. These are messages you can send to anyone on LinkedIn, they do not need to be directly connected to you. LinkedIn charge $10 for each InMail you send, so if you find you are sending a few each month, upgrading your account could actually save you money. Each month you will get 3 InMails on the Business account, 10 on Business Plus and 25 with Executive.
You will also see more profiles when you search. 300 with Business, 500 with Business Plus and 700 with an Executive account. You’ll also get additional filter functionality. Four extra filters with Business and Business Plus and eight with Executive.
With any of the upgraded accounts you will be able to see expanded profiles of all LinkedIn members, and get see the full list of who has viewed your profile. You will be able to see at a glance the connections you share with any profile, you can choose to allow anyone to contact you free of charge via OpenLink, and you’ll get priority customer service.
There’s loads more too, you’ll also be able to save profiles and notes using Profile Organiser. The number of folders you can use depends on your upgrade package. 5 with Business, 25 with Business Plus and 50 with Executive. You’ll be able to set Saved Search Alerts so you’ll be informed when a new profile meets your search criteria. You can set 5 of these a week with a Business Account, 7 with Business Plus and a huge 10 a day with an Executive Account.
Advertising on LinkedIn
Placing an advertisement on LinkedIn is a great way to reach a target audience effectively. You can really tailor who your advert is shown to, you can specify a certain profession, geographical area, age, gender or LinkedIn Group for example. so you know you’re not paying for exposure to people who will have no interest in your business.
Advertising on LinkedIn can all be set up online. It’s a fairly straightforward process. The first thing you need to do is create your advertisement. You’ll input a headline of up to 25 chars and a Description of up to 75 chars. You’ll then add in your company name, an optional 50×50 pixel image and a link to your website for viewers to click on. All adverts must be written in English.
You’ll then set a budget so you’ll never spend more than you intended to, and you’ll choose whether you wish to pay for impressions or clicks. There is no set rate card for LinkedIn adverts, it works on a bid system. The more you bid per click for example, the more likely your advert is to be shown. You’ll pay that sum each time someone clicks on your advert until your budget limit is reached. You can also choose to pay for impressions, ie. your bid is the amount you will pay for every 1000 viewings of your advert, regardless of whether anyone clicks on your link or not. Payments are made via credit card.
There are various advert display areas within LinkedIn. Your advert could be shown on a users profile page or their Inbox, the LinkedIn homepage, the search results page, or on a group page.
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