LinkedIn the largest social media site for Professionals like YOU

Should you be LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is one of the largest social media websites for professionals. Unlike Facebook and Twitter most people use LinkedIn for their career not for pleasure. The mechanics of LinkedIn are similar to those of Facebook: you create a profile that has all your information and you make connections (LinkedIn’s version of friends). LinkedIn works off of the premise that most people would rather hire someone they know, or have had referred by someone they know, than a stranger. While the benefits of networking seem obvious for individuals looking for a job, does a website like LinkedIn provide a substantial benefit to companies? We think the answer is yes. Here is the most basic way companies use LinkedIn.

Recruiting

It doesn’t take a genius to think of using LinkedIn for recruiting. Because LinkedIn is so widely used by people trying to find jobs it makes sense that companies would also use it to find employees. LinkedIn allows you to create job postings that will be available for everyone to see on LinkedIn. However, simply putting up a job posting is not substantially different than posting something in the paper or on craigslist or on your website. If you really want to find the perfect person for your company use LinkedIn how it was meant to be used: for networking.

Build Your Network

The first step of networking is quite obvious: build your network. If you don’t have a network you’ll never find anyone in it. LinkedIn makes building your network easier than ever. Just create a profile and start finding all of your different connections: friends, coworkers, clients, suppliers, bosses, and anyone else you know. My only word of caution here is that you actually know people in your network. You don’t have to be childhood friends, but you should know them well enough that if you ran into them on the street you’d say hello.

Use Your Network

Before we get started here just let me warn you not to be selfish on LinkedIn. While it’s fine to use your network to find what you’re looking for, also be willing to help people in your network find what they are looking for. Should be common sense enough, but figured it was worth mentioning. So the way I see it there are two ways to use your network for recruiting, actively and passively. Using it actively is when you have an opening and you go to your network and ask for recommendations or suggestions on how to find a candidate. While this might take a little work it often pays great dividends. The second way is passively. This is when someone approaches you about an open position and you use LinkedIn to see who the candidate knows and to see if you know anyone that knows them. If you do, ask for a reference and see what your connection says.

The key to LinkedIn is that it allows you to expand your network and to see other people’s networks with the click of button. We’ll have more on LinkedIn in the future.