7 Values With LinkedIn For WPI Students
“Yeah, all I really do on LinkedIn is ‘connect with people’ and then log off. LinkedIn’s whatever.”
LinkedIn is where social media meets opportunity. http://tinyurl.com/linkedinphotoshot
The students that speak like this either don’t truly care about their LinkedIn profiles, or they don’t really understand how to leverage LinkedIn to their advantage. In the past three years, LinkedIn as grown exponentially (up 58 Million users since 2011!) and with over 5 billion searches in the last year, it’s no longer considered Facebook’s ugly duckling of a cousin.
Check out the 7 value I personally find within LinkedIn for students like you and me:
1. The number of of users (200,000,000+). It’s…well, a lot.
Not only that – LinkedIn does this really cool thing where instead of being that annoying relative at the family party who can’t wait to tell you all about “their cousin’s niece’s friend from Nypro,” LinkedIn takes all of that information and places a “1st” or “2nd” right next to the name of someone if you happen to be connected through a network affiliation. Pretty sweet, right?
The world's not so small anymore. Neither is LinkedIn. http://tinyurl.com/worldislinkedin
2. Facebook is great, but LinkedIn is your professional social media outlet.
The beauty of LinkedIn is that is somehow made the concept of resumes and job searches interesting and appealing. In fact, with updates like the Notifications, Messages, and Requests to Connect, it’s really not too far from the Facebook model, except you’ve got a shirt and tie in your Profile Picture instead of a adorable animals or friends planking.
3. It’s got relevant business articles that give you something to talk about.
Sometimes I really want to talk to an employer to gain a good impression, but after talking about an opportunity or event at hand, things tend to simmer down and get awkward. By reading a few of LinkedIn’s easily available articles pulled from sources like the Huffington Post and Forbes.com, you’ve now got some relevant things to mention in that industry.
Haven’t got that for that? Well LinkedIn’s got a mobile app (of course) – so use that elevator time or wait in the Dunkin’ line to get less aggravated and more educated!
4. You’re always in the know!
I hate trying to keep up with everyone’s business – thankfully LinkedIn does that for me. By notifying users about work anniversaries coming up, job changes, and how to improve your profile, it’s like a personal assistant that you don’t have to remember to feed.
LinkedIn Insights have all the things Facebook does. But without so many teenage users or "lawlz" comments.
5. LinkedIn Groups are networking gold.
My co-worker recently told me about this really epic group called “Network After Work” that you have to request to get into – it’s basically a cool way to keep a job and meet new people without sending the wrong impression. Uh – why not join?! With groups like this, there are 12,000+ organizations on LinkedIn to create powerful conversations through.(Network After Work; Professional Societies; university pages; CDC page)
6. Building credibility outside of a resume.
Endorsements from friends. Recommendations from professors. Personal websites or portfolios. Even technical skills and course work that don’t fit on one page. LinkedIn’s the place to put your life’s work in a beautiful interactive display.
7. It’s only growing from here.
With such credibility and extensive interactions, LinkedIn is only going upward in importance and workplace relevance. If you don’t have one yet — well, you’re missing out!
Happen to miss our CDC LinkedIn Lab this past week on campus? Talk with a counselor in Walk-In Hours or consult one of us in the Peer Advisor staff for more info on it! Lastly, you can check out JobFinder’s “LinkedIn And Your Job Search” CDC Handout, found under the Resources Tab of JobFinder for more info. Or, check out the articles listed at the bottom of this blog!
As always, thanks for listening to my rants and feel free to hit me up at amoreschi@wpi.edu for any job-related tips or inquiries!
Later,
Adam
Sources of info:
http://visual.ly/top-5-linkedin-stats-nov-2012
http://press.linkedin.com/about
