Link trin platform for professional communication. Thematic groups on professional interests

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From time to time questions come to me: What do you eat it with? What are the pros and cons of this network? How to use LinkedIn effectively, and what can you use it for? I decided to collect all the questions and answers in one place, I hope this series of articles will help you understand everything.

A short introduction, or why you need this at all. LinkedIn is not a fancy social network. Not bright. Not noisy. “The sleeping giant of social networks” was dubbed in the English-language press. However, despite this "quietness", LinkedIn is exerting more and more influence, connecting headhunters and job seekers, recruiters, colleagues, competitors, brands and entire industries.

The average LinkedIn user spends much less time online than the average FaceBook user or VKontakte. You won’t find here humorous videos, photos of cats, reposts of graffiti, heated discussions of the status “It’s raining outside, how to live on?” This workplace. People come here to do business. LinkedIn directors have said more than once: “We don’t have a goal to keep users on our site as long as possible. We want a person to come in, do what they need to do in a few minutes, and continue with their work day.”

LinkedIn has been growing slowly but surely since 2002, already works in 19 languages ​​(Russian included) and is approaching the mark of 200 million users. I think the globalization of the Internet space, as well as the current crisis with free-lance.ru, and the lack of decent alternatives will push many freelancers to register on this resource. And this is good. Well, I was planning a short introduction 😉 It’s time to get down to business.

First steps after registering on LinkedIn, or a Manual for beginners.

1. Profile.

Yes Yes. As in any social network, on LinkedIn, everything also starts with creating your own profile. When filling out your profile, we remember that we are here on business, not here to have fun. To make the most of LinkedIn, it is very important to fill out everything in detail and give maximum information to potential employers about your knowledge and skills.
LinkedIn has a metric "Profile Effectiveness", measured as a percentage from 0 to 100. The higher it is, the more seriously they will take your profile. Additionally, if you've listed, say, copywriting or SEO or SQL in your Skills and Qualifications, the more effective your profile is, the more likely it is that a potential employer searching for employees using those keywords will view your profile.
Here is a list of all the fields that LinkedIn recommends filling out for maximum efficiency:

• Photography (choose wisely 😉)
• Industry of activity and geographical location
• Current position - title and description
• Two previous positions
• Education
• Minimum of five skills in “Skills and Qualifications”
• Minimum 50 contacts (more on this later)
• Two or three groups of interests (more on this in the continuation of the post)
• General information

2. Contacts.

So, in order to reach the aforementioned “50 contacts,” you need to start building your network on LinkedIn. If this seemed complicated to you, don’t be afraid, I’ll tell you how now. So there are two ways, I recommend using both.
Method one. Notice the old traditional search at the top of the screen? Great! We enter the name of a person we know, find it among the results and “establish contact.” When you land on the results page, LinkedIn shows additional search filters. By default, they are all set to “show all,” which is what we need at the initial stage.

After you have added several contacts, refresh the page and go to your profile. In the top left corner you will see "People You May Know" with several photos. If you click on the inscription, it will open full list people, some of whom will probably actually be your acquaintances. We establish contact with them and continue :)

Where do "people you might know" come from on linkedin? Based on the information you entered (place of work, study, etc.) and already existing contacts algorithms make assumptions. The wider the circle of your contacts, and more information You have entered, so these assumptions will be more accurate. After all, it’s logical to assume that if you work with someone in the same company and you have ten mutual friends, you might know him?)) But we digress, let’s continue:

Method two. Any modern service has the “import contacts” function. Of course, LinkedIn also has it (how can you work effectively if you manually search 100 people one by one?). Top menu >> Contacts >> Add contacts.

As you can see, you can easily and automatically transfer and add your contacts from Outlook and any mailbox Email. Be careful at this stage, and carefully look at what boxes are ticked where during this process. It is not a fact that you will want to add everyone with whom you have ever corresponded to your contacts.

After you've added your email contacts, you can go back and look at what people appear in your "people you might know" list. After adding new contacts, the algorithm will offer more options.

3. Groups.

Groups on LinkedIn are gatherings based on common interests. Places where people ask and give advice, look for jobs or employees, communicate with industry colleagues, etc. Groups can be created as groups of graduates of a university or department, or groups of former and current employees of the company (not to be confused with the official page of the company!), or broader ones - say, groups of employees of the Nth industry.

The group can be either open - i.e. Anyone can join it, or it is closed. In the second case, the group administrator must approve your application to join. Most often this occurs among groups of graduates, and in very narrow professional groups.

4. Company pages.

Many companies, especially international ones, have their own official pages on LinkedIn. Unlike similar official pages on other social networks. networks, they do not serve for communication with the audience, branding, etc. LinkedIn even officially warns those who like to engage in self-promotion: “Posting updates too frequently may also be subject to legal action by LinkedIn, which may result in the removal of your company page.” On the company page you can see a list of employees, important corporate news, press releases and often hiring announcements are published 😉 You cannot “connect” with a company on LinkedIn, but you can “follow” its updates.

Following a company page can be useful if it is important for you to be aware of what is happening there. Observe the industry leader or competitors, take a closer look at potential partners. Well, most often - to receive notifications about the opening of new vacant positions)
Also, if you are going to send your resume, or are already going through an interview, it is useful to see if someone you know works in this company, or has worked, or is a friend of an acquaintance. Can be a valuable source of information in right moment, because a spoon is dear to dinner))

5. Vacancies, or Job Search.

The ability to find a job (or workers) through LinkedIn is one of the biggest advantages of this network, if not the very best. By clicking on "Vacancies" in top menu, You will see “Job vacancies that may interest you,” which LinkedIn algorithms have selected for you based on your personal data and open employer offers. At the very least, it's interesting to watch. Write the name of the desired position in the search bar, and you will be taken to a page with results and additional search filters. If someone in your network of contacts (direct contacts, or contacts of your contacts) works for a company that appears in search results, it is immediately visible. There are currently 80 open manager positions in Thailand. Anyone interested?

This was an introductory tour of LinkedIn. I hope this article will help you understand the basics, take your first steps, and effectively use LinkedIn for your purposes.
I will write about other services, elements and applications of LinkedIn in the future, so if you have questions or topics you want to know about, leave a comment.

What is LinkedIn for?

Google workers have an average of 47 connections on LinkedIn, while Harvard Business School graduates have 58. Users with more than 20 connections are more likely to receive job offers than those with fewer than five connections. All of America's largest companies are registered on LinkedIn, and there are more than five hundred of them.
Most people search through LinkedIn for either clients, business partners, or employers. And it bears fruit, because more than eight and a half million people from all over the world come into contact on this platform. But, even if a person has become a member of this professional Internet community, he by no means knows all the secrets that will increase efficiency and help solve important questions cooperation.

Tips for using the professional contacts social network Linkedin

1. Get noticed. If you only have five contacts, you won't be able to benefit from being on LinkedIn. Become a discovery, add new faces. Agree, you trust your friends’ acquaintances more than just a stranger, don’t you?

2. Describe everything. Most often, community members only write last place work, but this is their mistake, you need to indicate all the companies where you have ever worked.

3. Increase the level of resource indexing. This can be done if you include a link to your account when you blog.

4. Don't forget about links. When you are working on your own image, show off your resource, whether it is a blog or a website. In your account you can leave a link to different web pages. For this purpose there are categories “my website” or “my company”. In this case, you can also select the “other” item, where you are allowed to leave a link to another resource. And this, as you understand, additional source promotion (don’t forget to indicate “free access” in the settings).

5. You can check your potential employers and partners. Of course, it is accepted with accuracy and vice versa, but why don’t you check your future boss and the company. Using LinkedIn, you can find out about the intricacies of work, the environment in the team and, most importantly, whether you are suitable for the position and whether it is worth spending your time trying to get a job at this company. This may not be for you. Find out and talk to employees.

6. Monitor the supply market. Find people with your specialty and see where they work, in what companies? You can use advanced search, enter a keyword, for example, C++ and a list of potential employers is in front of you.

7. Prepare for the interview as much as possible. How? Try to find information about the person who will select employees for the vacancy. Perhaps you come from the same city or have common hobbies. A topic for conversation will never be superfluous.

8. Before submitting your resume, assess the state of the company. What is the staff turnover, how often do specialists with extensive experience leave for competitors, what are the shortcomings in the organization of work, etc. The best thing this information find out from former employees or bosses.

9. Evaluate the profitability of your business through LinkedIn. Naturally, every entrepreneur wants to know how risky his business idea is? You will get the most reliable information if you ask those who have the same business or have previously worked in this direction.

10. Track startups. you can find good partner with a profitable idea that will not cost much, and you can make good money on it.

11. If you have a question: ask! Now, thanks to LinkedIn, you can consult with other professionals in your field. Sometimes this is very useful.

12. Speed ​​up your acquaintance with colleagues and your integration into the team. If you feel out of place at your new job, find the profiles of those who work with you and make friends with them on LinkedIn.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site! Today we’ll talk about Linkedin, continuing the topic of social networks, the importance of which at the present stage can hardly be overestimated both from the point of view of the average user and in terms of their use as a tool for promoting one’s website, products or services.

Already at the beginning of the article, I partially answered the question in the first part of the title (however, the answer is already present in the second half of the title). Indeed, it's quite famous network, rivaling in popularity with sites such as Facebook, VKontakte or Odnoklassniki (and materials about these social networks).

Its difference from the above-mentioned resources is that LinkedIn has a pronounced professional bias. That is, users visit this site not for entertainment, but with complete specific purpose, for example, find a job.

Here you can communicate with colleagues in one direction or another. professional activity, along the way, visit (or create your own) interest groups, establish business contacts. In addition, companies use this network of professionals to create business pages and use other available tools to promote your brand.

What is Linkedin, its Russian version, why is it needed and reviews about it

So, we, in principle, found out that LinkedIn has a clearly expressed professional bias, unlike other major social networks, where users spend the lion's share of their time on entertainment and idle communication.

This is not the case on LinkedIn. Here everything is much more serious, everyone is created the necessary conditions in order to offer services to a potential employer or, conversely, to find an employee with suitable skills and education for your enterprise.

You can also establish business contacts by visiting thematic groups and communicating with professional colleagues, as well as expand the recognition and popularity of the company’s brand by creating business pages where articles, news and announcements will be published.

I'll say a few words about stories of the LinkedIn professional network. This company was founded in 2002 and launched a year later. Its founder is entrepreneur and writer, billionaire Ried Garrett Hoffman, a regular in the well-known Forbes magazine ratings.

Not everything went smoothly at first, but during its existence the social network Linkedin has achieved significant success. Let's say that today the number of registered members has exceeded 400 million from 200 countries.

The network is available in more than twenty languages, naturally, including Russian. This is quite logical, given the huge number of Russian-speaking users. This circumstance makes the LinkedIn website extremely attractive for residents of Russia and former Soviet republics.

Of course, its audience is quantitatively inferior in the vastness of the Runet to the same Odnoklassniki, Facebook or VKontakte, which is understandable, given the specialization of this social network. After all, far fewer people are looking for jobs or employees, as well as establishing business connections. Although in absolute terms the numbers are still decent.

I think you understand in general outline, why do you need LinkedIn, we will consider all the nuances of both technical and practical plans below. The main page of this resource has this URL:

https://www.linkedin.com/

Finding people and creating your network of contacts

At a certain stage of preliminary filling in your data, a window will appear offering you a network of contacts, which is very important, including for the general promotion of your profile. This is done by downloading address book .

If you skipped this step, but then changed your mind and decided to use this option, then, as I said, you can do this at any time in your account by calling from the drop-down menu item “Search for contacts”:

Here you need to keep the following in mind. If you decide to expand your network, then this has a specific purpose (business communication, contacts for the purpose of finding a job, etc.). Therefore, correctly indicate your e-mail when activating this function.

If you intend to find, say, business associates or professional colleagues, then enter the appropriate email address, which is intended for business or work connections.

Otherwise, you can find people for contacts who don’t need Linkedin for nothing and their activity there will be zero. You will get a bunch of people just for show, the real benefit from such communication is zilch, such a situation may even be harmful to you.

I don't think there is any need to be afraid of this. Typically, large and reputable services keep confidential information secret. After this, after a short period of time, the system will give you a list of people it found from the contacts of the e-mail you specified, who are already registered on Linkedin.com:

If you don't want to keep in touch with anyone on this list, just click "Skip" link. Otherwise, you can filter this list a little by unchecking unwanted users, or leave everything as is and click on the “Add contacts” button.

In the second step of the search, you will be asked to invite your acquaintances and friends to LinkedIn who are not yet registered here:

Make a selection using the same principle and either skip this step (then invitations will not be sent), or select the right people and add them to your network of contacts.

After this, Linkedin will periodically monitor the address book created based on your specified mailbox, and when new potential users appear in it, invite you to add them to your network of contacts.

There are other ways to find the right people for professional communication. Let's say Linkedin can offer you use system search(moreover, you can find not only new contacts, but also vacancies, companies, interest groups, educational institutions, articles or incoming messages):

To do this, you need to select the desired item from the drop-down menu (for example, “People”). Then enter the first and last name of a person you know, or use various filters in the left column, which will allow you to find potential colleagues by professional interests. After that, click the search button next to it:

If among the people found you recognize the right person, but he is already on your network, you can send him a message by clicking on the corresponding button on the right. Otherwise, click “Establish contact”. However, there is no need to rush and first it is wise to go to the LinkedIn member’s profile for a preliminary review:

And only after you are convinced that he is suitable for adding to your network, you can begin to establish a full-fledged connection with him by clicking on the button "To set up a contact". In this case, he will be sent standard message, which can be corrected by adding a few words of your own:

However, Linkedin has strict rules, so you need to keep the following in mind. It is assumed that for such an invitation you must know each other, otherwise he may indicate that he does not know you.

And then in each subsequent case when sending similar message you will have to provide the email address of the LinkedIn member with whom you want to connect. So be careful and pay special attention to this aspect.

If in the process of the above described option you did not get the desired result, then you can try advanced search:

However, to activate this option, which includes additional information, the contents of which are indicated in the right column, you must connect at least tariff plan "Business Plus"(“Expand and strengthen your connections”).

Here you decide for yourself whether you need it or not in the long term. Let me remind you that a month of Premium is given for free testing. You can go to the trial subscription page directly from the main menu:

In passing, I note that on the search web page (see screenshot above) on the right side there is a link to save the results found. You can return to them at any time by clicking on the “Saved Searches” link. There is also access to saved vacancies, which we will discuss below. Option "Profile Organizer" again available only for Premium.

In addition to the option described above, you can redirect your efforts a little and look for colleagues by profession or occupation among graduates, indicating the years of study, the name of the educational institution, setting filters by place of residence, work, and also by occupation:

If you look closely at the picture, you will see that there are two options for the information content of the displayed search results. Firstly, people with first and last names who are part of a network of contacts and whose profiles can be viewed without problems.

And secondly, users simply say “Linkedin member”. If you click on the picture with such a person, you will see a page with the following information:

From it it becomes clear that in order to view the data of participants located outside the network, and also send them messages via InMail (internal mail), again you need to upgrade your account status (that is, purchase a Premium account under any tariff plan).

Once you have collected enough contacts, you may need to organize them. To do this you need to go to special page by selecting the appropriate item from the “Network” section:

After that, it will appear on the left side in the “Tags” subsection and will include those people whom you have identified in this association.

Job vacancies and companies on Linkedin

As I already said, the system offers tools with which, with a high degree of probability, you can find a decent job, naturally, taking into account your education, experience and level vocational training. For such research, the top menu contains section "Vacancies":

Here, in the “Preferences” tab, you can customize the vacancy by using the sliders to indicate what kind of work experience you have (from an intern to a senior manager), as well as which company you prefer in terms of the number of employees. It would also be a good idea to add the region and industry in which you would like to work.

From the “Open new” subsection you can edit the saved data, either individually for each item or by going to the editing page using the “Update settings” link. It is also possible to set up an alert about available vacancies by clicking on the magnifying glass icon:

Here you can choose the frequency of notifications (daily or weekly) and the method of receiving them (email and/or internal Linkedin.com notification):

After this, the system will notify you of available vacancies that match your settings.

Naturally, you can manage the created alerts by changing or deleting them. To do this, on the same page for creating them, click on the gear icon in the top block, and then specify the required action:

Well, while you are waiting for pleasant news from the system regarding a free workplace that suits you according to all the criteria, you can try to find something worthwhile by clicking on the vacancy search button:

If you like any of the companies, you can immediately go to view more detailed information about it, and here a wide variety of actions on your part are possible:

For example, impressed by what you see, you can send feedback through the system, immediately offer your services, leaving a request on the company website, send a letter via internal mail (InMail) to the person who posted this vacancy in order, say, to clarify the nuances.

Among other things, if you wish, you can simply start tracking information related to this company (subscribe to news). And finally, you can even evaluate your chances in comparison with other candidates, but for this you again need paid account(I remind you that you get it for free for a month).

To get acquainted with potential employers when searching for vacancies, you can look at company pages created on LinkedIn. To do this, let’s use the search again, only now by company:

Select those that interest you and start tracking them. Then you can find all the information about them in "Companies" tab section "Interests":

There are two subsections: “Home” (all the latest news) and “Following” (a list of companies whose pages you follow). The right sidebar contains a link to create your own company page. This is an analogue, but we must keep in mind that on LinkedIn everything is much more serious.

Thematic interest groups

Using this option will have a positive impact on the promotion of your brand and your entire profile as a whole. It's better to use the same first general search, where, by at least, you can select groups in Russian:

Although, as I understand it, using the advanced search, where you can filter them by subject, is only possible if you connect one of paid tariffs. Therefore, you will have to filter them out manually, or activate Premium, since you can use it for free for a month.

Once you join selected groups on the desired topic, you can view information and manage your actions in relation to them from the "Groups" section:

The “My Groups” tab will contain those in which you are a member, as well as groups with a request to consider your application to join it. Here you can create your own group. Well, in the “Discover New” tab, LinkedIn will offer you new groups that you can join.

LinkedIn is a social network for finding and connecting business contacts, launched in 2003 by Reid Hoffman. The site currently has more than 380 million registered members representing 150 business sectors. The resource is available in 24 languages, including Russian.

LinkedIn is an unusual social network. This is not Facebook or VKontakte. There are no cats, funny videos, “life” statuses or debates in the comments. This is a purely business space where you can post a vacancy, install useful contacts with partners and clients, as well as just to chat about interests - business interests.

Using your LinkedIn profile, you can make something beautiful or create. We’ve already talked about how to promote your LinkedIn resume. Today we will talk about how to create a profile that allows you to present yourself as a super professional and earn respect in business circles.

Why fill out your profile?

According to statistics, only 51% of LinkedIn members have a 100% complete profile. And in vain. After all, the less information, the lower the effectiveness of the profile.

Profile efficiency is an indicator showing whether there is enough information about you and your professional qualities to establish new business contacts. The corresponding icon is located on the right side of the profile and is measured as a percentage: from initial to “star” level.

The search algorithm on LinkedIn is such that profiles with the highest performance scores are displayed first. Therefore, it is recommended to fill out your page as accurately and thoroughly as possible. Otherwise, recruiters and potential partners simply won’t notice you.

For maximum efficiency, you need to install a photo (more on the intricacies of its selection below) and indicate:

• field of activity and place of residence;
• current position (with description);
• two previous places of work;
• information about education;
• skills (minimum three);
• interest groups (at least a couple).

You also need to establish at least 50 connections with LinkedIn members. Read below to learn how to properly form your network and receive recommendations.

Basic settings

Do you want to stand out among millions of users? Please pay due attention to completing your profile.

Name

LinkedIn is a business network; nicknames and humorous nicknames like “sales star” or “development ninja” are not appropriate there. Please indicate your real name, surname and patronymic.

Professional header

This is the most important element on your page. His maximum length- 120 characters. Be brief but creative. The title should make it clear who you are and what you do.

The professional title, as well as the job description, should be optimized for search engines. But don't stuff these fields keywords, like a duck with apples: two or three relevant keywords are enough.

Use standard job titles and professions: not “copywriting guru,” but “copywriter.” However, it is acceptable to include any academic degrees you have in the title. For example, not a psychologist, but a candidate of psychological sciences. This not only speaks volumes about who you are, but also indicates how successful you are in your field.

Be sure to indicate your field of activity to be more visible in searches.

Link to profile

It should be simple and short so that people can easily find you. Your URL is in the light gray box below your name and title.

Click on the "Change your public profile settings" button and update your LinkedIn address to a readable format. It must contain from 5 to 30 characters.

Correct: linkedin.com/in/jameseaton.

There is no shame in placing a beautiful LinkedIn address on your business card.

Contact information

Be sure to fill out your contact information: number mobile phone, email, Twitter and so on.

General information

In this block, briefly (maximum 2,000 characters) describe career achievements you are proud of and your business ambitions.

Education

This block is most important for those who do not yet have work experience. Some HR specialists are interested in graduates of certain universities.

Member profiles with educational institutions viewed seven times more often. Be sure to indicate the name of the university (up to 100 characters), years of study and add a description (maximum - 1,000 characters), that is, provide several details. For example, “graduated with honors”, “defended a dissertation on the topic...”, “published in a scientific journal...”.

experience

68% of participants use LinkedIn to connect with former business partners. Be specific in your descriptions of past and current projects.

Be sure to include your position (up to 100 characters), company name, and period of employment. Don’t neglect the “Region” and “Description” fields either. Why miss the opportunity to highlight your mobility and the profit you brought to this or that company?

When describing a position, you should avoid pompous words and superlatives. Fewer adjectives, more verbs. Instead of writing “I am an excellent salesperson,” list your sales awards and performance in numbers.

Media content will also add loyalty points to your profile. Add links to presentations, videos, podcasts, blog posts, quotes, and more. This will allow recruiters to understand who you are and what you are worth. In addition, the longer users look at your profile, the higher the chance that you will collaborate.

Projects

Regularly update information about projects you have worked on. This great way demonstrate your competencies.

Essentially, this is your portfolio. 66% of companies hire employees based on their past projects. Don't forget to put links (if any) to the projects you participated in. Users viewing your profile should have the opportunity to get to know them in more detail.

Skills and their evidence

Profiles of members with skills are viewed four times more often. State what you can do and ask friends in your contact list to confirm those skills.

Tracked Content

Follow topics that interest you to stay up-to-date on what's happening in your industry, and join industry groups and communities.

In groups you can ask questions and give advice, communicate with industry colleagues or people from your alma mater. The group can be open, that is, anyone can join it, or closed - you need to submit an application and receive approval from the administrator.

A group should not be confused with a company page. Many corporations, especially international ones, have their own pages on LinkedIn. But, unlike pages on other social networks, this is not done to promote a brand. On the company’s page you can see a list of its employees (maybe some of them are your friends?) and learn about its news. By monitoring company page updates, you will be aware of open vacancies.

Profile blocks can be moved. Highlight what you are proud of and what might be of interest to potential employers.

Profile Pictures

“You're greeted by your clothes” - this saying is completely true when it comes to your profile images. So that it pleases the eye and loads quickly even for users with slow internet, use high-quality pictures of the correct sizes.

Background image profile should have a resolution of 1,400 × 425 pixels, in JPG format, PNG or GIF. The size should not exceed 4 MB.

Profile photo(avatar) must be 400 × 400 pixels, minimum 200 × 200 pixels, format - JPG, PNG or GIF. Maximum size- 10 MB.

If you are a Business Page Administrator, review acceptable and recommended image and logo settings. Everything is described.

Special attention You should pay attention to choosing a profile photo. Browse through the avatars of other users in your industry and put a photo that they and your customers will like.

Good avatar for LinkedIn	Bad Avatar for LinkedIn
Professional photography. A well-composed photo with good lighting is a long-term investment in your professional image. It can be used on many resources. How better photo, the more views your page gets.	Selfie in the bathroom. LinkedIn is not Instagram. Your profile photo should show you as a professional, not as a cutie.
Representative look. A stupid smile is as bad as a “brick face.” Ask your friends to tell you which facial expression makes you look most presentable.	Mister official. Wearing a sharp suit and a suffocating tie won't make you look smarter. Your appearance simply must match your position and preferences.
Portrait. Your face should be in the center of the frame and occupy most of it. Above, below and on the sides there is just a little framing background.	Photo with a cat. It's terribly cute, but it's better to leave cats, dogs and other animals out of the picture when it comes to your LinkedIn profile photo.
True photo. Your avatar should show you as you are Everyday life. Do you wear a beard or glasses? Don't shave or squint for a profile photo. Be yourself!	Photo against the background of the carpet. What is behind you should not distract anyone looking into your beautiful eyes. Choose neutral backgrounds. For example, just white.

Network of contacts

Without networking, it is extremely difficult to achieve success. For a LinkedIn profile to be effective, you need to add at least 50 contacts to your network. In general, it is recommended to have at least three hundred, but not more than three thousand friends. Otherwise, it will be difficult to manage communications.

So how do you replenish your network? First, import contacts from your email address book. At the same time, send invitations to those who can really be useful to you in business.

In LinkedIn, you can not only import, but also export contacts: menu “Network” → button “Export contacts” in the lower right corner of the page. This feature allows you to back up your contacts to protect your business communications.

Secondly, use search to expand your network of contacts. Moreover, it is an expanded version: this way you can find people who are part of not only the first, but also the second or third circle of acquaintances.

When the first contacts appear in your network, the system itself will offer you new friends. On the main page on the right top corner there will be a block “People you may know.” These recommendations appear based on your profile data. Most likely, these will be your classmates and colleagues.

How else can you expand your network?

• Meet through friends of friends. A second-level contact is a friend of your friend. If you need to start communicating with such a person, go to their profile page and see if you have mutual friends. If so, send a request for an introduction or click on the “Ask to meet” button.
• Take advantage of groups. You can send private messages to members of the group you are in, even if you are not in direct contact.
• If a member's profile is open, you can send him a message - InMail. Perhaps you will start a dialogue, and then friendship.
• Check who has viewed your profile. If these people are interesting to you, try to establish contact with them.
• Monitor news feed. It also helps you develop your network and interact with potential partners.
• Link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Then you can post your updates on LinkedIn to Twitter.
• Do you want to attract the attention of someone? Mention her in your posts using the @ symbol.

Offline employment in nine out of ten cases occurs through patronage. Employers ask their partners to recommend a smart employee, and the latter, in turn, ask their partners to put in a good word for them.

The role of recommendations on LinkedIn is also very high. They should not be confused with skill confirmations (Endorsements). The latter simply state the facts: “Yes, he can do it.” Any person from your contact list can confirm this or that competency in just two clicks.

A recommendation is a detailed review of your past and present colleagues, partners and clients about you and your work. The more recommendations, the higher the level of confidence in the data specified in the profile. Recommendations are displayed in the appropriate section of your profile (menu “Privacy and Settings” → “Manage Recommendations”) and are only available to registered LinkedIn users.

• Five to ten recommendations in your profile are enough to interest recruiters.
• Ask for recommendations from the most reputable people in your network.
• Try to get at least two reviews of your work in the company that you consider most meaningful.
• When recommending someone, indicate how you know the person and provide specific examples, demonstrating his professional strengths.

Show mutual respect. If someone validated your skill or gave you good recommendation, don't forget to thank him for this.

How to protect your profile

To take full advantage of LinkedIn, your profile must be public, that is, visible potential clients and partners.

Public profile is created automatically when registering on LinkedIn and published in the user directory. Google and other search engines periodically check the LinkedIn directory so that public profiles can be found online.

However, you can set individual settings privacy. For example, hide the display of websites, current position and other parameters in the profile from unregistered users.

You can also adjust your profile to suit your purposes in the “Privacy and Settings” menu. For example, if you are looking for new job and you don’t want your current bosses and colleagues to know about this, exclude them from the list of those who can see your activity feed.

There you can also specify who will see the list of your contacts, information about your rank, your photo, and so on.

To protect your account from hacking, you must:

• come up with a complex password (at least 8 characters, capital and lower case plus numbers and other characters; the password should not include dictionary words and your name, or be used on other resources);
• enable two-step login verification: “Privacy and Settings” → “ Account» → “Manage security settings”.

6 Secrets to Using Your LinkedIn Profile Effectively

1. Create posts on LinkedIn. This is a great opportunity to showcase your professional knowledge and present yourself as a leader in your field.
2. The best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday and Thursday, between 7 and 9 a.m. local time.
3. Enter self-censorship. Don't say anything on LinkedIn that you wouldn't say out loud on .
4. LinkedIn can be integrated with . Then your business cards, resume and notes will be in one place.
5. Users who regularly update their LinkedIn profiles receive more collaboration offers.
6. Install a LinkedIn button on your blog or website so that your followers and readers can share your posts on their LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn is not a typical social network. It was not created for entertainment and communication with friends; this is not a place for funny pictures and discussions of frivolous statuses. This is a resource that is used in professional activities and for business development. With its help, you will become part of a multimillion-dollar audience aimed at finding new partners, employees, and clients. Well filled LinkedIn profile– an online business card in the largest professional social network in the world.

Registration and creation of a personal page

Where to start on the path to professional success? Of course, from the page registration. This can be done through the browser version or using the LinkedIn app for Android or iOS. Let's go to home page resource – linkedin.com, click “Join”. A standard registration form opens:

In general, the registration procedure is the same as in other social networks. Simply follow the prompts and fill out all fields with accurate and up-to-date information. You can reduce registration time by logging in via Facebook. Then your first name, last name and email address will be filled in automatically. All you have to do is think about the password.

Once you've sorted out your LinkedIn registration, install the LinkedIn app on your smartphone to always stay in touch with your contacts. Where to look for it? Go to Play Market or App Store and enter the name of the application in the search bar.

How to fill out a profile so that it is effective?

The search algorithm on LinkedIn is designed so that profiles with the highest performance indicator appear first in search results. What does it mean? Those accounts that contain detailed information about professional qualities appear in the top. This indicator is clearly demonstrated by the “Profile Efficiency” scale:

What does creating an effective LinkedIn profile include? Everything is extremely simple if you follow simple tips regarding filling:

1. A professional headline is something a profile cannot do without. But simply indicating the name of your profession is not enough. LinkedIn will fill in this information automatically even without your participation. It is important for you to include all your specializations in the title. You can use a list using the delimiter (|). This will allow recruiters to immediately see information about your qualifications, without spending a long time studying the page.
2. Indicate your real name, write down your last and patronymic names in full. This is a business, not an entertainment environment, so nicknames and comic variations of the name are inappropriate here. Also decide on the filling language. If you work in a Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking environment, give preference to the Cyrillic alphabet, because transliteration makes many of our surnames difficult to understand. This can also lead to difficulties when finding your accounts on other social networks. It is not always possible to correctly reproduce surnames written in English letters in Russian.
3. Create a simple and short link to the profile. It should not exceed 30 characters, be easy to remember and compact. Also make the link neat so that it does not contain unnecessary numbers and symbols. You can edit it in the lower right corner of the profile page:

All information posted in the profile should answer the question “How can I be useful to the company?” It is not enough to simply list a list of past jobs and talents. It is necessary to emphasize work experience. For example, if you were involved in sales, then a comment in the style of “worked as a sales consultant” will not give a complete picture of your activities. Write - “I know how to work with cold and hot sales.” This way, a potential employer, when studying your page, will immediately be able to note how you will be useful to them.

Profile Pictures

The choice of profile photo, its “face,” deserves special attention. A high-quality portrait measuring 400x400 pixels is what you need. Your page visitors form their first impression of you based on your photo. You don’t need to choose an image with cats or a photo at the dacha by the fire as your avatar. This is allowed on other social networks, but not on LinkedIn. The avatar should show you as you are in everyday life, but at the same time have a personable appearance.

Also you can choose background image(cover) relevant to your activity (for example, company logo). It must be of high quality and not exceed 4 megabytes in size (important for download speed). The recommended image size is 1584x396 pixels.

Premium accounts

LinkedIn users now have the opportunity to test the premium version of the site for free to assess whether they need additional features. For whom is this relevant? For those who are active on LinkedIn and strive to quickly and effectively achieve their goals.

Examples of filling out a profile

I'll take my page as an example. I use it to establish business connections, so I regularly update the content and monitor the effectiveness of the social network.

I keep all the basic data up to date, periodically update the photo - this is how the page looks alive for contacts on LinkedIn. When I finish working on another project, I add it to the appropriate block. If I learn a new skill, I indicate it and immediately ask for confirmation from my contacts.

Here's an example of a not-so-successful profile filling:

Why are contacts important?

An effective page is one that has professional LinkedIn connections. The minimum number is 50 contacts. They are needed not only to keep in touch with the right people, but also to increase the visibility of your profile.

Creating a network of contacts

How to start building your network of contacts? The first way is to use the search bar:

By opening advanced settings, you can set certain search parameters:

This will help you find people you are interested in. For example, you can enter the names of previous jobs to contact old colleagues and add them to your network. Through the search you can also find your customers, contractors and other people with whom you have worked or are working in this moment. You will have additional channel connections with them. Also, LinkedIn itself will tell you potentially necessary contacts in the People You May Know section.

The second way to search for contacts is to import from email. Enter your email address in the special field to receive everything available contacts. People who do not yet have a profile on this social network will receive an invitation to join it.

Contact levels

Have you noticed that some users have numbers 1, 2, 3 next to their names? These are levels.

1. 1st level contacts are people with whom you have contacted personally or whose invitation you have accepted. You can exchange private messages with them.
2. Level 2 contacts are your acquaintances from other networks, friends of friends. You can contact them or send an InMail.
3. Level 3 contacts are friends of friends of your friends. If their profile is not limited by privacy settings, you can immediately establish contact with them. In other cases, InMail can help.

People who are members of one or more thematic groups with you are identified separately. IN search results A “Group” icon will appear next to their profile. This is useful because you can immediately understand what you have in common with this person, and also write a personal message without having to establish direct contact.

What is the difference between the "Contact" and "Send InMail" buttons?

“Establish contact” is analogous to a friend request. You send an application, the person receives it, accepts it, after which his profile information becomes available to you. InMail – paid option personal messages on LinkedIn for premium accounts. You will be able to contact the person even without a request to be added to your contact list.

Thematic groups on professional interests

On LinkedIn, finding a job is possible not only through targeted research into available vacancies (more on this later), but also through thematic groups. It is important to monitor their activity to improve the effectiveness of your profile.

Groups are sorted by professional interests, help expand your network of contacts, obtain useful information, and improve your online image. What's special about them? Here you can participate in discussions and comment on posts, which will affect your activity indicator. You will also increase your chances of being noticed by an employer or potential partner.

Search interesting group not necessarily on your own. In the Groups section, LinkedIn will automatically select for you a list of interesting communities that match the information specified in your profile. Great, right?

Tracked Content Settings

You can edit the content displayed in your news feed. If you no longer want to receive information about updates to certain user or company pages, simply remove them from your list of followers. If you find a low-quality post, you can also hide it and it will disappear from your feed. And in cases where you find content that violates the site rules, feel free to click on “Report post.”

Validation of skills - why is this important and why validate the skills of other participants?

How to verify skills on LinkedIn and why is it needed? It's simple. The more such confirmations you receive, the more trustworthy your profile will be. This is a win-win feature. Users validate your skills, and you can validate them in return. Interact with friends, colleagues, customers or managers.

In your profile, it is important to indicate and demonstrate your awards and achievements. If you have completed any courses or trainings, do not forget to mention this. Do you speak foreign languages? Specify the level. Do you have a certificate confirming your knowledge? Great, show it off!

Secrets to Using Your LinkedIn Profile Effectively

Having studied various tips to improve the effectiveness of your LinkedIn profile, I’ll outline the main ones for you:

- use the option to create publications available in the news feed - this is additional opportunity demonstrate your professional qualities and knowledge. Your articles will be able to be read by all network participants (depending on privacy settings) and shared. Also, when shared, your content will be visible outside of LinkedIn;

- establish self-censorship - avoid mentioning in your profile anything that you would not talk about in person;

— update your profile regularly and receive more cooperation offers;

- Do you have a blog or website? Place a LinkedIn button there so readers can share your posts.

Finding a job through LinkedIn. How to request and provide recommendations?

A list of available vacancies is displayed in the “Vacancies” menu.

It is generated automatically based on the information posted in your profile. You can also independently enter the position or company you are interested in in the search bar, and specify the desired geolocation.

LinkedIn recommendations will help you find a job. This detailed review about your work. Therefore, it is not only possible, but also necessary to request them from authoritative representatives of the industry that interests you. Having 5-10 such responses, you significantly increase your chances of attracting the interest of recruiters.

Profile protection

All new accounts are public. This means that they can be viewed by all network participants. Are you against such openness? In the privacy settings, you can set a certain level of privacy. You can hide the list of websites or current position, and also exclude some pages from the list of those who can access the information posted on your page. You can protect your account from hacking using complex password and two-step login confirmation.

Privacy Mode is a special feature on LinkedIn. Typically, if you view another member's page, they will also be able to see your name and professional header. When you set the mode to private, you will appear in the list of visitors as “LinkedIn Member”:

And when you click on your profile, the following message will appear:

Creating pages for companies

Companies can also create their official pages on LinkedIn. But they are not intended for communication or branding. Moreover, excessive self-promotion may cause your profile to be deleted. Why? Because such pages on LinkedIn should not be created for marketing purposes, but for information purposes. Such pages display the number of employees, the direction of the company’s activities, news and vacancies. For example:

What's the point for other users? Visitors to the page can analyze the above information, considering the company as an employer, partner or client.

Advertising on LinkedIn

— set targeting parameters - location, company, position, education, age, gender, etc.;

— select a tariff – the minimum daily budget is $10, you can pay using a card or an advertising coupon.

Have you already realized that the social network LinkedIn is not the usual VKontakte, Facebook and Instagram, created for entertainment? People come here to find new business contacts, exchange experiences, and express their brand. Therefore, advertising on LinkedIn is more aimed at promoting B2B services.

Did you like the article? Add as a friend - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bogutskiy/ to collaborate and share useful information within the largest professional social network LinkedIn.