With social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace leading the way in the new world of linking the world on the internet, LinkedIn is definitely the most useful in terms of networking and job searches. It has become customary for employees of reputable organizations to have a LinkedIn profile and network and joining this league can help you a lot with job searches.
Map your network. LinkedIn helps you map and manage your network whether it is your former and current colleagues, clients, or even college friends. Once you have joined and established contact with people you know, you have a profile and an established identity on the website. This means that not only does your profile show your work experience, education, skills, and interests, but it also shows your links in different organizations and places.
Leverage Contacts. How is this useful for job searches? Once you have mapped out your network, you can figure out which contacts to leverage or get in touch with regarding any upcoming opportunities that will suit your profile. With the feature of status updates, you can keep your network updated about your availability and preferences.
Build Credibility. Your network and references from colleagues and employers can help build credibility with contacts who do not know you that well. The features on the community site can help you ease communication with people that you have not talked to for years and will let you have better results on job searches.
Job Search Feature. The Job Search feature on LinkedIn is custom-built to help you find jobs in a specific location or industry. The difference between other job sites and this job search is that your profile is more representative and can prove to be a very useful tool to convince prospective employers of your resourcefulness and experience.
Industry Insights. Another useful feature that you can use by joining LinkedIn is the access to public profiles of millions of users. If you are looking for a job in a particular industry or organization, you can get additional insights from viewing the experience level and skill set of current employees and new hires. This will give you an idea of whether your experience matches that of current employees and which skills and background should you leverage the most in your application and interview.
Be Available To Recruiters. From the perspective of recruiters and Human Resource departments at organizations, LinkedIn is a huge pool of potential employees that they can scope for job openings. If your job skills and experience match their requirements, you may soon be hearing about relevant opportunities in your industry. So, with that respect, it may pay to keep your online “resume” or profile as up-to-date as possible.
LinkedIn provides an easy opportunity to use untapped resources on the internet that will put you forward in your search for a job or better career opportunities. If you do not have an account on LinkedIn, you should definitely head over there as soon as you are done reading this article. Even if you are not currently looking for a new job, now is the best time to lay the ground work before you need a network of friends and associates.
Don’t forget to sign up for a Twitter account as well. If you have a large following on Twitter, what a wonderful way to announce to thousands of followers instantly that you are back on the job market.
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