Seven Benefits to Being Involved on LinkedIn
July 5th, 2019Not sure LinkedIn can really support your career growth? Here are a few reasons to take a closer look. This unique social media platform differs from the rest of the crowd; on LinkedIn, people may not share pictures of their cats, and they may share way too many thoughts about “synergy” and “action plans”, but you still don’t want to be left out of these impersonal, work-focused conversations. Here’s why.
Professional networks can be even wider than social ones.
You don’t have to be friends to connect with someone on LinkedIn. In fact, friendship isn’t as important in this realm as shared professional interests and the ability to provide mutual support, now or someday in the future. If you’ve worked with, worked for, partnered with, hired, or simply brushed against someone in any professional way, add them to your network. No need to hesitate.
LinkedIn in allows recruiters to find you (and vice versa).
You can blow the dust off your phone book if you really want to go out into the world and track down recruiters in search of candidates with your skill sets. Or you can sign on with LinkedIn and let recruiters find you…in droves. A simple keyword search can bring recruiters right to your doorstep, and they’ll bring jobs that are a perfect fit for your needs.
Adjust your settings and site will show you open positions.
Let LinkedIn know you’re actively looking for work, and the site will send you job postings that match the terms and indicators in your shared resume. You can apply for these jobs if they seem like a good fit, or ignore them if they don’t.
LinkedIn helps you show off.
Too shy to boast about your skills and accomplishments in social settings? That’s good; most socially well-adjusted people are. But you still want contacts to know what you bring to the table, so send them to your LinkedIn profile and they can see for themselves.
Your profile provides a record.
Even if you don’t include every aspect of your profile in your formal resume (or every aspect of your resume in your profile), you can still add each job, employment date, accomplishment, published paper, leadership role, etc, to your site and consult the list when you need to impress an employer.
LinkedIn helps you stay in touch.
It can be difficult to reach out to an old employer you haven’t seen or spoken to in years and ask for a reference or recommendation. But with LinkedIn, the gap isn’t so wide—especially if share a public post or update now and then.
LinkedIn connects you with specific groups.
Individual connections are valuable, but group contacts can be valuable too. Connect with industry organizations or just casual shared-interest groups and stay in touch with changes and big players in your field.
For more on how to get the most of this popular platform during your career climb, contact the team at Merritt.