LinkedIn is the largest and most dominant social media in the professional area. Completely different from Facebook, LinkedIn is used to maintain professional relationships. Other functions of Linkedin include finding work, recruiting new employees, finding sales sources, even getting news about your business.
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Method 1 of 6: Register
Step 1. Join LinkedIn here
Click on the link, fill in the relevant personal information, and click "join LinkedIn."
Step 2. Create your profile
Your profile is a summary of how the professional world will see you. A good profile will describe someone who is successful and has many connections whereas an unupdated and short profile will describe someone who doesn't care or want to be cared about.
- The LinkedIn Profile Wizard will direct you through the steps to enter your religion, industry, company, and current job title.
- You will also be asked if you are an employee, business owner, freelancer, or student.
- This information will complete your basic profile.
Step 3. Confirm the email account you used to create an account via the given link
This will help you complete the next step, which is finding connections.
Step 4. Add your connection
Connections are professional contacts you know or want to know. The connections you add on LinkedIn will become part of your social network.
- LinkedIn will help you find connections by looking at the contacts in your email. You can use this help to find out who the contacts in your email are who have already joined LinkedIn.
- You can choose to skip this step if you want to find the connection yourself.
Step 5. Continue to build your profile
Enter your previous job or education information. Then include a summary of who you are professionally in a few sentences.
Step 6. Upload your profile photo
Unlike other social media, this photo should reflect your professionalism. No photos drinking, hugging girls, smoking cigarettes, even if those are “good” pictures. Choose photos that reflect your professionalism such as traditional passport photos or photos while you work.
Use a clear vertical rectangular photo
Step 7. Add specialties in your profile
Incorporating a specific ability or specialization makes it easier for others to find you.
Step 8. Add your personal or company website and your twitter or blog
The more information other people can find in your profile, the more valuable your LinkedIn profile will be.
Step 9. Invite connections recommended by LinkedIn based on your list of work experience and education
Method 2 of 6: Getting Started
Step 1. Ask for recommendations
LinkedIn allows you to request recommendations from your connections and place them on your profile. You will see this recommendation and agree to it. Other people can see these recommendations when viewing your profile.
LinkedIn recommendations are known to be overrated. Focus on asking for recommendations from people who can actually make good recommendations like your customers or your former boss
Step 2. Ask for an introduction
Requesting to be introduced to connections from your connections is a fast and friendly way to add connections. On the free version of LinkedIn, you only have these 5 introductory requests.
If you see connections from your connection, you can ask them to be your connection. Do this only if you do know them. You can also ask your connection to introduce you by sending a profile and message to someone on their network
Step 3. Join and participation in LinkedIn group
You can increase your network by starting and contributing to discussions. Local groups will notify you of network events and activities.
Step 4. Maintain and update your profile regularly
This is your most visible professional profile. It will rank at the top in search engines for your name.
- This information is up-to-date and you should add the latest updates in the space provided.
- Members of your LinkedIn network will be notified when you update your profile or add a new contact.
Step 5. Continue to build your network on a regular basis, adding new connections with personalized invitation messages
It's a good idea to invite connections who are likely to give you good recommendations. Think twice before adding a connection to someone who is not very close to you.
Step 6. Keep in touch with your connection
Respond to their latest news by sending them congratulations on a new position or achievement. The most important connections to maintain are those from your previous job or other people you haven't spoken to in years.
Method 3 of 6: Finding a Job
Step 1. Know that LinkedIn can help you find a job
LinkedIn is the best choice if you know what you want to do, you just need to talk to the right people.
Step 2. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is accurate, up-to-date and shows the best of you
Set aside the majority of your time to ensure that your profile has a comprehensive list of your accomplishments and specialties. If you've ever been in an article, covered in the media, or any other "cool" thing, make sure you mention it on your profile.
- Lying with your resume is a bad thing. Your prospective employer can check your LinkedIn connections to be sure.
- Don't worry too much about filling in recommendations and skills on your LinkedIn profile. Employers know that recommendations are sometimes too overwhelming and capabilities are only useful as search keywords.
Step 3. Know that an updated profile can bring the job to you
Building your profile with the right skills can sometimes bring good work to you.
This is often the case for people with special abilities that employers are looking for
Step 4. Search for the job posted on LinkedIn
You can check the Jobs tab on LinkedIn to find jobs that match your preferences.
- LinkedIn job announcements are very helpful and you should look for them. Compared to free job boards, they tend to have high quality jobs.
- Searching through LinkedIn is best if you have the skills employers are looking for. You may find employers looking for someone like you.
Step 5. Consider signing up for LinkedIn premium job seekers
This premium job finder is the best to help you find specific people/companies. You only need to pay USD$20 - USD$50 per month.
- The premium job finder allows you to see the names of the people in the companies you are interested in. Better yet, it allows you to contact them directly via InMail.
- LinkedIn only gives you a few premium messages a month, so you better know exactly what you're looking for.
- Getting the opportunity to become a Featured Applicant can sometimes be counterproductive because you may be seen as too desperate to find work. So make sure you are looking for a specific position rather than just looking around.
Step 6. Use LinkedIn for other purposes if you are only looking for a non-specific job
If you're looking for a job that many people can do, you'll realize that LinkedIn isn't very effective.
For jobs like this, the key to using LinkedIn is to target companies you're interested in, or find people in your network to contact
Method 4 of 6: Recruitment
Step 1. Find out what kind of candidates are best found on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is great at helping you in:
- Find candidates with specific abilities
- Target people from specific companies
- Reach people who are not looking for work (passive job seekers.)
- Search for a contact from contacts. It is good to make friends from your current job.
Step 2. Find out what kind of candidate is not working well through LinkedIn
You won't be successful if you search for people with:
- A very common ability.
- University fresh graduate
- Hourly workers
Step 3. Make sure your company profile looks good
When you contact people via LinkedIn, it's perfectly normal for them to check your company profile. So you want them to be able to find helpful information and put the company in the limelight.
- Search LinkedIn to view your current company profile. For example, the Wikihow is: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wikihow. Look in the "Careers" section.
- If the company profile is not to your liking, ask the appropriate person in your company to update it.
- If there is no company profile, create it from Companies>Add a Company. You can then follow the suggestions to verify your identity and fill in the Overview, Careers, Product Pages, Employees and Statistics sections. It is clear that the part that you should prioritize is the “Careers” section.
Step 4. Post job announcements on LinkedIn
You can pay to post a job without a recruiter account. It's not cheap, but you will get suitors. The quality of applicants you get is usually better than Craigslist.
- Like Craigslist, this isn't very effective when you're looking for people that companies are after.
- It will be more effective if you have specific skills for you to use as keywords. For example, if you want to hire editors in Sydney, you will find that many people can easily find you and apply. You should ask yourself if there are too many applicants (Sales in London) or no applicants (actuaries in Marfa, Texas.)
Step 5. Sign up for a LinkedIn recruiter account
This account is especially effective if you are trying to reach a specific person. They are a bit unsuitable if you are trying to find people who are not looking for work.
- This account is expensive. The best accounts can reach USD$10,000 every year.
- You can find the right people and contact them via "LinkedIn InMail." InMails are opened all the time, and more often than regular email. Some people don't check their LinkedIn, so sometimes you have to follow up with a regular email or phone call.
- Finding people who are not looking for work can lead you to highly qualified candidates. Of course it will take a little longer, but you will get better people.
- You can also see who viewed your profile, so you can find out which candidates are interested and you can follow up on them.
- An old-fashioned way to use LinkedIn cheaply is to find the person you want on LinkedIn and contact them outside of LinkedIn. LinkedIn makes this difficult by hearing how to hide the surname of the person you are looking for. With a recruiter account, you can see the person's full name and contact them directly with InMail.
Step 6. Know that LinkedIn is very effective for background checking
You will be amazed at how quickly you can find people who know the various candidates.
- Check the references of your available candidates, to make sure what your candidate says is the truth.
- Find “back-track” references using LinkedIn. Look for people with similar jobs from the company your candidate is from, and you can find people who can provide you with useful information about that person.
- Ignore recommendations from your candidates. It is useless.
- Skills and expertise rarely help. This may not be accurate.
Method 5 of 6: Getting Sales
Step 1. Know that LinkedIn is great at finding sales
LinkedIn can help you to:
- Connect with lesser-known companies
- Can't find the right people in big companies to sell
- Looking for big sale
- Selling to a company where no one else picks up the phone
Step 2. Know what LinkedIn can't help you with
- Selling items that are limited to only being sold to individuals.
- LinkedIn is great for finding sales. But if you're already connected to the right people at the company you're aiming for, this won't be very helpful.
Step 3. Consider signing up for a LinkedIn premium sales account
This account will help you to find the right buyers and contact them.
- When you search with a premium account, you will be able to see the full name of the person you are looking for.
- Premium account holders can also send a limited number of "LinkedIn InMails" directly to prospects they find. This message is guaranteed by LinkedIn. Which means, if this message is not opened, you don't have to pay for it and can try it on someone else.
- Sales accounts are valued in the hundreds of USD$ to USD$1000 each year.
Step 4. Find the job title of your sales prospect
LinkedIn search is very easy to use, but it still takes a little practice to find the right people.
- You may already know who your potential buyers are, but you don't know their title.
- For example, if you want to set up a meeting with the material manager of a food manufacturing company, you simply set up the search filter to show people with the title of material manager in a food company.
- You may need to add additional keywords to find the exact people you are looking for.
Step 5. Contact your prospects with LinkedIn InMails
InMails are messages sent to prospects you want to contact.
- Consider “decorating” the message to your prospects. LinkedIn only provides a limited number of InMails, and you have to pay for them, so make sure each InMails is made to the fullest.
- Remember that writing personal notes that reference your connections will dramatically increase your chances of success.
Step 6. Don't waste your InMails
Since you only have a limited number of them, you should try other ways to contact your prospects without LinkedIn, such as:
- Guess their email address.
- Using a sales database.
- Phone call
- Facebook messages. You may have to pay for this, but it's pretty cheap.
Step 7. Use LinkedIn for sales referrals
LinkedIn allows you to view the contacts of your contacts, who could be sales leads.
- Make a list of your customers who might introduce you to their friends.
- Add this customer as your connection on LinkedIn.
- Look at your customer connections. You may find some connections that can be your sales prospects.
- You can approach these prospects in a variety of ways. You can give them an InMail, request a LinkedIn introduction, contact them offline, or ask your customers to introduce you.
- Remember that adding your customer as a connection is also risky. Smart competitors can see who is connected to you unless you set your privacy settings properly. You can avoid this by hiding your connection.
Method 6 of 6: Building Personal Branding
Step 1. Look in Google and other searches
LinkedIn displays how often your profile is searched and what people are looking for when they find you.
By adding more details about what you do, you can immediately see how many people are finding you online
Step 2. Don't add people you don't know, but keep building your contacts
The more you add, the more people will see your updates.
Step 3. Announce updates on your profile regularly
They probably won't get comments like facebook, but they will get a lot of reads.
Step 4. Contribute to the right groups
The most important announcement you can make is in a LinkedIn group of professionals like you. They may be interested in what you announce.
Step 5. Know that you will get the most visibility when LinkedIn designates you as an "Influencer
Influencers can have followers and their announcements can be featured on LinkedIn Today.
Influencers can also write mini blogs that include images, which will make them more interesting to read
Step 6. LinkedIn's criteria for becoming an Influencer have changed and are currently officially closed
- There is a way to show LinkedIn that you can be an Influencer. You can link your personal blog to LinkedIn so LinkedIn knows that readers of your blog will drop by LinkedIn too.
- If you want to become an Influencer, you can send an email to [email protected]. Another great way is to email people who work on LinkedIn.
Tips
- LinkedIn reports that users with complete profiles (photo, resume, skills, recommendations) are 40 times more likely to be offered opportunities through the network.
- The basic LinkedIn membership is free. Additional levels with additional features such as improved profiles are available if you wish.
- Write a statement on your LinkedIn profile, descriptions of past jobs and specialties with keywords that the employer or client will be looking for.
Warning
- Choose the connection carefully. Your connection can see who is on your connection. Furthermore, you can demonize your network if you add people without any specific filter.
- Avoid "spamming" your connection with irrelevant updates. This will make you a nuisance rather than an asset to your LinkedIn connection.
- Keep the information on your profile professional. Use other social media for hobbies, family updates, political discussions, and other personal uses.
- There are people who call themselves "LIONs" where they enjoy adding thousands of connections. This is disturbing, because it's obvious they don't know their connection.
