In today’s tech savvy business community, professional networking sites such as Opportunity, PartnerUp, VisualCV, Meetup, Xing and LinkedIn all provide excellent online locations to help you grow professionally, but to date as stated by Forbes;
“LinkedIn is far and away, the most advantages social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today”
LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world with over One billion users, of which 40 million are students, its available in over 200 countries in 40 languages, and your basic account is free to set up. You can use LinkedIn for a variety of different reasons from promoting your company, job seeking (six people are hired on LinkedIn every minute), growing your brand, attaining information, promoting your blog, promoting jobs and most importantly, it’s a super location to network with professionals across the globe.
To setup your free LinkedIn account you will need to submit your email address and create a password, and please make sure your email address is a professional one. You will need to add your contact details, summary section (include up to date industry buzz words), work experience, qualifications & your interests. You can also add in specific skills which people will endorse you for, and you can also get recommendations from colleagues and friends to strengthen your claim to professional knowledge.
Things to remember; LinkedIn is a Professional networking site (not Facebook) so only post work related topics in a professional manner. Have a professional photo, keep your profile current and without spelling or grammatical mistakes, try to get recommendations from people you know, and be specific. Join LinkedIn groups and forums and contribute value adding information. Connect with people you know, people that might benefit from knowing you, but do explain why you would like to connect. Connect with recruiters but be careful connecting with companies you would like to be employed with, particularly in the way you approach them, and before you do any of this ensure your profile is fully completed.
Top Tip: Ensure your LinkedIn profile matches your CV.