LINKEDIN – Your do-it-all Professional Networking Website

by Veena

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), which is a hugely successful business-oriented social networking site, is today a unified network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can search, join and collaborate with qualified professionals of your interests and work areas.

Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. LinkedIn also launched a mobile version of the social network in 2008. As of 2009^[update], LinkedIn has more than 55 million registered users. Most of the Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members. This definitely sings aloud all the rewards of joining this amazing network.

It is not only beneficial for your social networking purposes but your professional network of trusted contacts gives you an advantage in your career. The recommendations one receives and the number of connections for a given person determines his/her professional value on the site. It is important that you reach out to as many people as possible who you think may give you a good recommendation or join your LinkedIn profile. This helps in expanding a professional network and helps the people you trust in return.

Once you join LinkedIn, you can create a profile that summarizes your professional expertise and accomplishments. The site allows registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business by inviting them to connect with you. The people in the list are called “Connections”. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. A contact network is built up of one’s connections, the connections’ connections (termed “second-degree connections”) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed “third-degree connections”). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish through a mutual, trusted contact and thus linking you to a huge number of qualified professionals and experts.

Through your network you can easily access these following features:

• Manage your Professional information and profile
• Search for and view potential clients, service providers, and subject matter experts
• Pool resources on projects, gather data, share files and solve problems
• Gain new insights from discussions with likeminded professionals in private group settings

• Find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one’s contact network.
• List jobs and search for potential candidates.
• Review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of your existing contacts can introduce them.

Apart from the above, the site can be used to research companies with which one may be interested in working. The statistics about the company is provided which may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company’s headquarters and offices, or a list of present, past, and former employees.

All these features make the website hard to miss and exceptional when compared to other networking or job sites. It is highly recommended to try the site out and enjoy the benefits as well.

• AVG LinkedIn Starter Guide (slideshare.net)
• It’s a new year: Time to update your resume (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Establishing Social Media Friending Etiquette on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (siliconangle.net)