LinkedIn is a fantastic business resource. Maintaining your profile can open up many career opportunities, and be helpful in ways you may have never even thought of. Every person in business, and every student in business should have a LinkedIn profile. If you think you don’t, hopefully your views will change by the end of this post. So, without further introduction, here are 10 ways you can use LinkedIn that you may not have considered.

1. Learn more about your employer’s work ethic – With resumes and references, employers always get to go into potential employee’s lives and learn more. With LinkedIn YOU can actually learn about your employer. Any job is a mutual relationship, and so while they evalute you, you should evaluate them. LinkedIn allows this to occur.

2. Market yourself to potential employers – To be honest you probably knew LinkedIn could help you with this. Updating your LinkedIn profile is essential to helping you get more job opportunities. The best thing you can do is make sure your profile is clean and presents you in the best light possible

3. Introduce yourself to new people in your industry – Every industry is different. Someone is not just in business. You are in marketing, finance, accounting, etc.  Linked in can help connect you with other people in your area. Wether you meet someone new who can set up a meeting with a potential employer, or if you just make a new connection that can be helpful if you need advice, LinkedIn can help connect you to your industry in a way you never thought of.

4. Join industry groups to meet new people and help potential employers find you – On LinkedIn, you can further imbed yourself in your industry by joining industry groups. This is another great way LinkedIn can help you meet other professionals or students who have new experiences and insight to offer. Additionally, recruiters often go through groups to seek out talent. You certainly want to be there.

5. Let people know what you look like – Some people like to have a face to the person they are looking to potentially hire. Linked in allows you to post a picture of yourself on your profile. Be sure to pick a flattering, professional picture, because recruiters WILL look at it.

6. Rekindle old friendships, and old connections – The sheer amount of people on LinkedIn is staggering. If you lose contact with someone, chances are you might be able to meet them again on LinkedIn. The ability to reconnect with your peers is one of the greatest features of LinkedIn. Some people even think LinkedIn can be used as an espionage tool!

7. Meet members of the opposite sex – Okay so LinkedIn isn’t INTENDED for you to meet a potential love interest, but you could use it that way. There are thousands upon thousands of profiles, and it would be a good way to make sure you meet someone who has at least similar work interests. Or, perhaps, if you have a particular affinty for one profession, you could use LinkedIn to achieve that end.

8. Find out who at your workplace went to a rival school – When gameday approaches, it’s nice to know who will be rooting against your team, so you can gloat to them at the office the next day. Using LinkedIn, you can find out if your quiet coworker went to your schools chief rival. For example, if you are an Ohio State grad, finding all the Michigan grads is a great way to have good watercooler conversations the Monday after a win.

9. Get recommended by peers – Recommendations are one of the best parts of LinkedIn. You can get reccomennded by peers which looks great in the eyes of potential employers, and potential customers depending on what type of business or field you are in. I talked to someone who once was recommended on both a blog and in his LinkedIn profile. Talk about great exposure!

10. Keep yourself occupied at work – While LinkedIn is supposed to be for improving your career, you can also use it to procrastinate. Updating your profile while you are at work is not the best idea if your boss is around, but if you have significant downtime between projects, then there’s no problem in making sure your profile makes you look like the hardest, most dillligent worker.

LinkedIn is a very valuebale resource for any professional, but especially those in the business sphere. A lot of business is purely about connections. LinkedIn is the ultimate place to get connected. You can find people who you havent seen or worked with in years, and meet new peoiple who can help you advance your career. LinkedIn can be a fantastic resource, if you use it correctly. However, you may not have thought of some of these interesting ways you can use it. In fact, there are even LinkedIn applications that allow you to check it from places other than your computer. You don’t want to be the person who doesn’t get hired because you didn’t have connections. So if you haven’t already, go make your profile, and start connecting in ways you never thought possible. If these aren’t enough ways to use LinkedIn for you, there are others who have come up with more great ways to use LinkedIn.
 

If you enjoyed this article, please bookmark it at del.icio.us »

Categories: Business Skills -- Trackback