Relationships Matter – Using LinkedIn to Move Your Resume to the Top of the Pile
December 17, 2008 
12 Comments
The internet has made it possible to network
in ways that our fathers could not have imagined in their wildest dreams. The advent of business and social networking sites enables the average person to connect to people worldwide who have similar interests and experience. MySpace and Facebook, which were once known as sites for teenagers or college students to connect with each other, have recently become platforms for business networking as well. By every measure of popular websites, each of these sites ranks in the top 10 sites in the world.
But the most appropriate networking site
for the serious professional is the venerable LinkedIn, boasting more than 30 million registered users in over 150 industries. Over 1,000,000 professionals join LinkedIn every month.
According to their own terms and conditions,
“The purpose of LinkedIn is to provide a service to facilitate professional networking among users throughout the world. It is intended that users only connect to other users who they currently know and seek to further develop a professional relationship with those users.”
What distinguishes LinkedIn from the other networking sites
is that they insist that you actually have a connection with the person you are trying to contact, and they do not permit any personal contact information to be exchanged. You probably will not amass 5,000 contacts at LinkedIn unless you actually know them, or have been introduced to them by someone you do know. You are also able to contact people directly, but LinkedIn asks a series of questions about how you know them and you have to have some kind of bona fide connection or you will not be able to get through to them.
The “introduction” is a unique feature of LinkedIn.
Let’s say you have a contact who has 300 connections, and one of the people on his list is someone who is a mover and shaker in your field. You can request an introduction to that person from your personal contact. Once some kind of rapport is developed with the mover and shaker, he may be willing to introduce you to some of his contacts. This is a very different environment from the social sites like MySpace and Facebook, where you can become “friends” with anyone and everyone from Donald Trump to Andy Rooney.
You can join LinkedIn for free,
but there are also three upgrades available that enable you to connect with more people in more ways. For $19.95, $50 or $200 per month, you can turbo charge your networking capabilities, depending upon your needs. There is even a special LinkedIn Recruiter option available for corporate recruiters looking for candidates for hard to fill or senior positions.
Regular, systematic use of LinkedIn to develop a network of contacts can prove invaluable
if you find yourself in need of someone to put in a good word for you at that company you have had your eye on in hopes that a position would become available. Once your ideal position does open up, your LinkedIn contacts can be invaluable in helping you get your foot in the door.
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Categories: Changing Careers, Job Hunting Strategies, Re-entering the Workforce
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I have found that personal introductions or referrals work best when trying to connect with a source.
Agreed, Betty. Even though LinkedIn is a great resource, nothing is as powerful as a personal connection. Referrals are the way to go.
Sarah Says recently posted..Secrets Of Online Job Applications
Very, very interesting stuff. I would love to learn more. There are some other great social networking sites for professionals, as well, such as PathConnect and Eons.
I’ve heard that social networking sites can get you into trouble with employers. I’ll look into LinkedIn. Thanks for the tip.
Social networking sites can get you into trouble with employers, but that mostly applies to places like MySpace where people tend to post inappropriate photos. Employers also check out your friends to see if there is anything about you on THEIR sites that would make you a high risk to hire. I don’t think that would be a problem with a Linked In profile.
Never thought of how important sites like LinkedIn can be. Thanks for the information.
Good overview of LinkedIn. Your reference to the distinction of LinkedIn is the attractive feature, whereas I do not receive unsolicited requests from most probable fictituous and deceptive “profiles.”
I enjoyed your introduction to LinkedIn. When reading it my first thought was “Boy why would I want to network only with people I know?” Then you answered my question, ask my friends to introduce me to their friends. It is said that we are all only 6 people away from anyone in the world. So my friends may know someone who knows someone who knows the CEO of the company I want to work for. Wow, a personal introduction.
I’ve just found this by dint of its being retweeted today. What I’m finding really interesting is that just under 2 years ago today, LI had 30 million users, whereas it presently has over 85 million. That’s a lot of growth!
Ed Han recently posted..Just a Few LinkedIn Best Practices
Thanks for promoting Linkedin, the more the merrier!
some things that have helped me:
I find it great to have an online rolodex where you’re updated on job changes of your network. Many times I wasn’t connected on Twitter yet to my Linkedin contacts. You can export the contacts to a csv, which via Gmail you can then import in Twitter, voila, you’re now following everyone of your LI contacts.
There’s a handy feature where you can search in the status updates of your network, for instance when wanting info on a certain topic.
Another cool feature is to see who viewed you, which gives you an idea on who’s reviewing doing biz with you or maybe has a job offer.
Get recommemdations of your managers, coworkers and partners, it will look great for potential hiring managers!