LinkedIn, The Website

We have discussed a lot of ways to use LinkedIn before talking about the Website that makes all those things possible. Now let’s look at all the features and benefits available on the LinkedIn Website itself.
First, let me do what I always do, which is look for dissatisfied users, because there are always a few. In this case I searched “is LinkedIn useful?” and guess what? I found an article by exactly that title, “Is LinkedIn useful?” The author seems to be saying LinkedIn isn’t useful. But what does he say in his post? He used it to find the best contacts for another friend to meet in order to find a job, he enjoyed seeing his friends’ connections, some extra traffic comes to his blog because postings are shown on his LinkedIn home page, it helps to keep up with people who change e-mail addresses, and LinkedIn will be a good indicator of the right people to meet face-to-face over lunch when trying to find a new job for himself. So, how is this post negative with respect to LinkedIn? Seems to me the author is heaping a lot of praise on it.
I reviewed many ways people are satisfied with LinkedIn and a lot where people disliked it. You will always find people who don’t like anything; our country is 50-50 on every subject, making it difficult to accomplish anything. However, for a serious user trying to find qualified associates, or a job, or answers to questions, LinkedIn certainly has many more fans than detractors. Let’s see how to make the most of the Website’s many functions.

Here’s what happens when you click the links across the head of your LinkedIn page. We’ll pass on the LinkedIn button and come back to it later. The next link is “People” which takes you to a page with many questions to help you find other members of LinkedIn. You only have to enter as much of a person’s name as you know, but a much better search can be made by aiming your search specifically with keywords, location, industry affiliation, or group membership. If you want to save the results of your search, you can when the “Save Search” box appears at the end of each search. To recall your saved searches, just click Saved Searches at the top right of your People page. There is much more information on exactly how to use the features in the People section which is listed when you click “Learning Center” on the far right of the Advanced Search line.



LinkedIn is using a new form of People Search. A very nice benefit is you will often see, in the bottom left corner of your search, the names of people you know in common with someone you are searching. This may give you an unexpected connection you want to make. The People Search page should be one of the most-used parts of your LinkedIn Website. This network, because of its professionalism, is quite different from Facebook or YouTube; there isn’t the constant chatter here, it’s mostly serious conversation among people who know each other. My view is that LinkedIn is a kind of Internet Master Mind Group described in “Think and Grow Rich,” except you have 30 million minds instead of five or six.

The next heading link is “Jobs” which takes you to the Jobs page. This page has two main divisions: the Jobs section dealing with your personal quest for employment and the “Need to fill a position” section for employers looking for workers. The Jobs section has two areas—“Jobs Home” and “Advanced Job Search.”

Jobs Home is simple to use. In the Keywords box, enter the kinds of jobs you want. You may also specify the country where you would like the job to be and the zip code of the exact location. When you press Search, a list of available jobs will come up. To narrow your search, click the “Lookup” link below the ZIP code block; you will go to a list of postal ZIP codes to find one you want to use. If no jobs turn up, try another ZIP code location or click Advanced Job Search. First, however, look at other options on the Jobs Home page. On the right sidebar, at the top, you will see data showing how many times your profile has been examined. Below it is a list of companies where some of your contacts are employed; this may be useful for getting you a job. On the bottom portion of the page you have the ability to update your profile, get recommendations, or add connections, all of which will aid your future job searches.

If you are having poor luck with your job search, click Advanced Job Search. Here you can expand your job requirements and you may find more opportunities. On the right top of the side bar you may click “Read our search tips” for ways to improve your employment opportunities. Ignore the “Hiring Solutions” link for now; it is for employers looking for workers.

If you are looking for employees, click the “Need to fill a position?” link on the top right of the Jobs line and you will be taken to “Find the best job candidate fast.” Here you can post jobs for a fee and make other upgrades to help your HR people. The rest of the section relates to actual job posts and managing your job opportunities.

Let’s go now to the “Answers” top link. Before you do this, read “Why Is LinkedIn Answers So Useful?” The author says Answers provides three major benefits: There is great content, it provides alternative thinking to stimulate new ideas, and you can meet and connect with other LinkedIn Members. He goes on to break Answers into sections with further descriptions you should read to see how best to use Answers. The parts discussed are:

1. Asking a question
2. Answering a question
3. Reading questions
4. Reading the answers to questions
5. Having the best answer
6. Becoming a topic expert

Now that you have read the blog, click the Answers link and go to Answers Home where you will see the newest questions anyone has asked. To me, this may be the best benefit of LinkedIn; right away I see the question “What get’s you up in the morning? (sic)” and this pushes a little button in my mind that this may be a wonderful subject for a future article—look out, you may see it before long. This is why many people feel this is the most important part of LinkedIn. I passed over the first block which allows you to ask a question on purpose. You ought to look around and read things people are asking before jumping in; the right sidebar has many categories you can browse. You may even want to answer a few questions; after that, ask whatever you want.

Something you will quickly see is the idea of “expertise;” to find out more, click the link at the left bottom corner of the page. This is a pretty straight forward process; you just have to make good answers to a lot of questions in your area of knowledge.
The Advanced Answers Search allows you to find questions of interest to you. No matter what you want to know, with 30 million people looking at your questions, you are bound to find some excellent replies. The My Q & A tab shows all the questions you have asked as well as answers you have made to the questions of others under the My Answers tab. The Ask a Question tab lets you restrict the people who are able to read and answer your question. The Answer Questions tab shows all open questions and has a tab to read all closed questions. Under this tab you can also find another tab where you can view a list of experts—there are many.

Use the “Companies” tab to locate places you would like to work in hopes you can also locate employees of that company you know with the hope they can help you in some way. You can also use this feature to find companies that are part of a research project or that can present subjects for writing or similar activities. LinkedIn first presents companies that appear to relate to your personal interest as shown in your profile. If these don’t meet your requirements, you can “Browse all industries.” The companies tab also has a link to “Service Providers,” a list of recommended people who can provide various services to the world; you can be listed by getting recommendations from your connections.

The next place to go on the page heading is the very important “Account & Settings.” This tab is where you control everything about your LinkedIn account. The first encounter is where you can upgrade your account beginning at $19.95 per month; I have not done this, but the more I begin to use LinkedIn the more I believe an upgrade will be needed. This is an individual decision, and it’s hard to give advice. Finally, there is the most important Settings section where you control everything. Pay special attention to your Profile Settings; list everything that could possibly interest other LinkedIn members.

The next tab is “Help,” where you can find 34 pages of FAQs with over 500 questions and answers. A search for whatever problem you have will just about always find an answer here with all those Q & As. If that won’t do the job, “Ask Customer Service.” My experience with this is they get back to you when they say with a satisfactory answer. The last tab on the heading is “Sign In/Sign Out” which is self-explanatory. One caution, if you forget your password and ask them for it, the way they do this is to ask you for a new password—be prepared.

When you log in to LinkedIn, you are taken to your personal home page, a three column layout. The left sidebar may be considered your control panel. You can access every part of your LinkedIn information from this column.

First is the Groups section: you come into LinkedIn naked, as at birth, and you must add various items of clothing to your being to make yourself attractive to searchers and to further your own goals. Joining a group is available to all members—everybody has a connection to some group of people somewhere. LinkedIn will display a few possible groups for you to join based on your profile. However, you need to look around a bit in the “See all” section because there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of groups available. Each LinkedIn member is limited to 50 group memberships, and some people do have that many (don’t think there is time to actively pursue more than 10 at the most). When you click See all, you go to a page with three tabs including a My Groups tab showing your memberships, a Groups Directory with a very short list of Featured Groups (you can search for a group using the search box on this page), and a Create a Group tab so you can make your own group. Groups are important because they contain questions unique to the group, provide specialized information, and offer ways to meet new contacts not otherwise available to you.

Next on your panel is your Profile, perhaps the most important part of your page. Why? Because it is a showcase of your life, your education, work history, and your accomplishments. Click the + (expand) button beside Profile and you can edit your data; pay attention to this and update your profile as new accomplishments become available. Another important function you should do is to click Recommendations to manage what people say about you; three recommendations are required for 100% completion of your profile. You can request a recommendation for any position or educational experience listed in your profile; some of your contacts should be able to recommend you from most of your profile situations. It is courteous for you to offer a recommendation in return.

Contacts is the heart of your LinkedIn site because it is a list of people you know and trust who represent a wide variety of skills and occupations. When you expand this area you will see Connections which is a list of all your close contacts; click the Edit link below each name and you can add other basic information like addresses and telephone numbers. The Imported Contacts tab shows possible connections from Outlook, Yahoo!, Gmail, and other Internet e-mail accounts. You can invite all these people to join you. The Network Statistics tab provides valuable information about the industry composition of your connections. This enables you to narrow your searches for information about specific companies or the work your contacts are doing. You can use this tool to focus searches on particular living areas as well.
Expand (+) the Inbox link and you can access answers or e-mail replies you have received from using the various functions of your LinkedIn account. This can be important if you are tracking a large number of invitations or introductions. You can also send a limited number of InMail through the LinkedIn system.

The Applications link shows a number of widgets approved by LinkedIn. One or two of these can increase your exposure to other LinkedIn members. I’m using the WordPress application to display recent articles from my blog; it lets others know exactly who I am. Use these little programs to place a poll on your site , show important slides, and do many other things to attract attention to your professional qualifications.
The middle column on your LinkedIn page has an enormous amount of information. You can invite connections from a number of sources including former classmates, and you will see constant updates of activity among your contacts and all the things going on in your groups.

The right sidebar begins with a list of people you may want to invite as a connection; these are based on your location and information in your profile. You will also see information about how many people have viewed your profile during the past couple of months. The Amazon reading list is useful because it shows what others in your network are reading; use this area to stay current with your thinking. The events section lists a lot of things like seminars, online seminars, conventions, and similar kinds of activities. The Answers block lists several questions posed by members of some of your groups; you may miss these if they are not posted here. There is also a list of job openings you may like; they are also based on statements in you profile and related comments. If you use an application like WordPress, the last thing in the right sidebar will be entries from your blog.

This just about covers your LinkedIn home page, except for one thing. Across the bottom you will see a list of constantly updating tips about best uses of LinkedIn; one set that stands out is by Guy Kawasaki. All are very important; read them.

This is the last in my series of articles about LinkedIn. I was late getting into any kind of social network activity and I find Facebook, YouTube, and the others to be lacking in substance. LinkedIn has backbone to it; it can be used for many things including ways to make money because it can act almost as a business. Try it—you may feel as I do; at the very least you can reconnect with old friends and colleagues.