The theory behind LinkedIn is that everyone is six steps or fewer, by way of introduction, away from any other person in the world. This means a chain of ‘friend of a friend’ statements can be made to connect any two people in the world in a maximum of six steps. Hence, it’s seen as a powerful tool to enable you to quickly connect to individuals who may be helpful to you in terms of developing your career. Here are a few ways it can help you.
Raise your profile:
Once you’ve set up an online profile on LinkedIn, it’s like having your CV online for everyone to see, including potential employers.
Network by joining groups:
You can draw attention to your online CV by joining groups relevant to the kinds of jobs that interest you, and join in on online group discussions to build a professional reputation as someone who is genuinely interested in that sector.
Joining groups is also a good way to get the latest news in that type of work.
Job / work experience hunting:
You can look at job adverts placed by individual organisations on LinkedIn.
Having a positive online profile might help you come to the attention of potential employers and will support any speculative approaches you make to your contacts.
Research individual organisations on LinkedIn who might be offering jobs or where you might enquire about jobs.
Contact individuals on LinkedIn to try to organise work shadowing or work experience.
Get careers information:
Search for other people’s profiles by job sector or by the organisation they work for to get a feel for what job options there are out there. Explore individual online profiles to see what sort of qualifications, skills and experience are needed to get into a particular profession.
Contact individuals on LinkedIn™ to try to organise ‘informational interviews’ (i.e. talk to them about their job, how they got it, good/bad elements, top tips for getting into it yourself), work shadowing or work experience.
As you become familiar with LinkedIn™, you will discover other ways you can use it to develop your career.
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