LINKEDIN

http://www.linked.com

CCC - SHM

Bob Zoller – June 25, 2008

 

Linkedin has many features which this document will not try to cover - the purpose is only to cover the basics.

 

What is Linkedin?

Linkedin is an online network of more than 16 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.    Used for professional networking.

Your professional relationships are key to your professional success.

 

Linkedin is free to join. But they also offer paid accounts that give you more tools for finding and reaching the right people, whether or not they are in your network.  But for most uses, the free accounts are fine to work with.

 

When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments.

Include a "grabber" opening statement, then really detail what you did in your jobs.

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.

 

NOTE:  90% of the people in Linkedin are employed.

 

Other similiar Networks (Not really for Professonial Networking):

Facebook

MySpace

Friendster

Plaxo

 

Linkedin Basics:

1st Degree Contact - Contacts or Colleagues you know (I have 70) (you can contact them directly)

2nd Degree Contacts - Friends of Friends (I have over 10,700) (Can invite them if you know an email or get introduced)

3rd Degree Contacts - Their Friends Contacts are the Hiring Mangers themselves.   (I have over 2,095,800)

 

Home Page

Tabs (top):

People - a keyword search field where you can search for people

Jobs - (similiar to above) - a keyword field where you can search for jobs.

Answers - A help section to LINKEDIN where you can ask questions

Companies –

Left Side:

Home - A page showing news about your network i.e. people adding connections or new company colleagues joining the network that you might want to connect with.  Contains: Inbox, Your Company News, Network Updates, People you may know, etc.

Profile - Shows my own profile with options to edit

Contacts - Shows my own network in a alphabetical listing

Inbox – Invitations that have been sent to you

Groups – These are groups that you may be a member of in LINKEDIN – I have “NOCONET”)

 

 


Creating a profile:

 

A profile is like a webpage advertising you on LINKEDIN.  First create all your information in MS Word using bullet points, etc. which you can use to cut and paste into LINKEDIN.

 

Items to include:

Header area - Your professional “headline”

My Profile - Current Position

Recommendations

Summary (detailed) - What you are doing now and what you would like in the future

Experience (detailed) - The Past, list all jobs and work experience (don’t use too much text)

Education - The Past, College, schools, etc.  others can search and find you as alumni (don’t use too much text)

Additional Information (detailed) - Websites, interests, honors, etc.

Contact Settings- include email and phone number (don’t include your address)

There is a little [Edit] hyperlink next to every editable selection that you can change.

 

 

Notice:

* Also notice that I have edited my Public Profile (or URL) removing the numbers with my name i.e. “bzoller”.

* Remember to use key words that you wish to be found with by others.

* The Summary is a very important section - be sure to make it very effective with good key words that grab attention.

Select “Edit your public profile” (or : Public Profile setting: FULL VIEW [ Edit ]

(i.e. what you would like to make public from your profile):

 

 

 

Contacting others:

Invitation - You ask somone to join your network - already knowing their email.

Introduction - When you request to meet another via a 3rd party who has a closer connection to that person.

InMail - A feature that comes with the paid option of LINKEDIN (Business version) - lets you contact anyone you want directly without knowing their email.

 

NOTE:  When invited by someone else to join LINKEDIN always send a thank you reply.

 

Quick Ways to expand your network:

NOTE:  You must know their First Name, Last Name and Email Address.

1) To send multiple invitations - Select the Yellow button “Expand your Network” on the top right side. 

2) To send a single invitation - Select “Quick Invite” on the right side farther down.

 

It is strongly recommended to personalize your message to the other person.  Because if the person you are inviting does not know any better and refuses you by selecting “does not know you” -  LINKEDIN limits the numbers of refusals that you can receive otherwise you will be banned from using LINKEDIN.   Always personalize your notes - DON’T USE the generic note that Linkedin suggests.  It will be more effective and you don’t want to be refused by anyone.


Searching:

Refine your search by using “Advanced Search” (on the right side of the search field):

Examples to use:

* Company that you are targeting

* People you have heard of who may be in your extended network

* College that you have attended - alumni always as more sensitive and want to help other alumni

 

NOTE:  Remember to use the “Sort by” field on the right and the Location field to localize your results to the Denver area.

 

 

 

By selecting the individual you can see how you are connected to that individual (right side)

 

           

 

Since Ron Bates is a 2nd degree connection you cannot send a direct email to him with the LINKEDIN free service since I do not have his email address.  I therefore have to ask for an introduction:

 

Inviting:

To the right of his name select “Get Introduced through a connection”.   The 3rd party person you are using to help with the introduction will receive an email that they can just add something like: “I would like to introduce you to Bob Zoller.  A Systems/Software Engineer with many years experience in development and support.”

 

Note:  If you select “Invite Ron to connect on Linkedin”  (you need to know his email address using the LINKED free service) you will get a screen looking like it will send an invitation but - but as soon as you select “Send Invitation” it will return and say that you need to be a Business (paying) member.  

 

 

Select from the 8 choices of people you would like to use to get introduced – the above example has 8 choices of people.

 

Introductions:

If you want to contact a LinkedIn user who is two or three degrees away from you, you can request an Introduction through one of your connections. Your connection will, in turn, decide whether to forward it on to the desired recipient (if in your 2nd degree) or to a shared connection (if in your 3rd degree). Additional Introductions (beyond the 5 provided with a free basic account) can be obtained by upgrading to a premium account.

 

Find Collegues or Classmates:

 

Select People you may know

 

Select “Find Colleagues” (lower right hand side)

 

 

 

Under Ford Motor Colleagues - Select “Find now”

 

 

 

 

TIPs: 

* In the summary mention you are looking for a job

* Edit your URL for your public profile with your name and make it blue in color

* Edit your email and make it blue in color

* When including a space in your search use “  “: i.e.  “Production Engineer” then sort by connection #

* Use Word or another Word Processor to add bullet points.

* Include a “grabber statement” at the beginning to get someone’s attention and something that you want to be known by.

* Be sure to include your college in your profile so that other Alumni can find you.

* Ron Bates has the most connections in LINKEDIN - it will only show 500+ (connect with him)

* Mike O’Neil probably has the highest number of connections in the Denver area (connect with him)

 

 

Results:

Within a couple weeks after I started working, I was contacted by the HR person who did my paperwork to join his network.  Since then, I have been contacted by other colleagues including two from Rome, Italy who asked to join my network.  These people searched their network for our company name and found me.  Several other people at NOCONET have been contacted by recruiters, HR or others for jobs or just old friends and Colleagues.   I have also found several co-workers who I used to work with in Ford 15 years ago that live in Detroit who happen also to be on linkedin.  They are now part of my network who I could get recommendations from.    I have used Linkedin to find people at several companies I was targeting in Longmont who I could contact.

 

 

 

 

To learn more about LINKEDIN:

Mike O’Neil, President, Integrated Alliances

Email:  moneil@integratedalliances.com

Website: www.linkedin.com/in/mikeoneil

Telephone:  303-683-9600

 

Integrated Alliances hosts Linkedin workshops which cost $49.  Occasionally they can be only $39 if you can get a promo code after attending a free session in the Denver area.