A friend of mine asked me to sign up for LinkedIn.com last year and until now I really haven’t played around very much with my profile. I’ve now gone in and added more info and I find it to be a great professional networking tool.
If you haven’t created a profile yet, simply go to LinkedIn.com and create a new profile — and then visit my profile and click on the button for “contact directly” to create a connection.
What is LinkedIn.com? Here’s an answer from their website:
LinkedIn is an online network of more than 6 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 130 industries.
When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you.
Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.
Through your network you can:
- Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended
- Be found for business opportunities
- Search for great jobs
- Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
- Post and distribute job listings
- Find high-quality passive candidates
- Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know
LinkedIn is free to join. We also offer paid accounts that give you more tools for finding and reaching the right people, whether or not they are in your network.
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I haven’t tried LinkedIn for myself, but have been reading up on it for the last few weeks or so. It seems that it’s kind of a crapshoot as to whether or not the site works for you. Some people report that all it does is increase the amount of spam they have to wade through each day, but others have had some success. Keep us posted as to how you fare!
Thanks for the warning. I’ve had a profile on LinkedIn for about one year and haven’t noticed any spam from it.
I have received emails from other educators in Texas who were seeking connections with people in my district for the purpose of employment. No one has access to my email address, but I do receive notices when messages are sent to me via the LinkedIn system.
My experiences so far have been positive and I see this as a tool with good potential for expanding professional connections and opportunities.
However, with all networking tools, there is always the potential for abuse. Hopefully any of us who use this tool will have positive experiences.
Interesting comments. I have actually had a pretty good experience on LinkedIn.
I typically have most of my trusted contacts on there, plus tons of people with whom I either share affiliations (same organization etc).
In the last one year, LinkedIn has provided several new business contacts and work. I agree, there is always a risk involved in such networks, but this is not lesser than the risks in real life.
This is where LinkedIn pitches in with the concept of “endorsements” where people who have worked with you can endorse you. I typically have a rule of thumb and trust upto the 3rd degree of contacts if they are endorsed.