How many times have you made a New Year’s resolution to do a better job networking with other professionals? The old saying, "It’s not what you know, it’s who you know" continues to reign true, and more so than ever in today’s technology-driven society.
Successful people understand the power of having strong networks, which can provide invaluable resources and opportunities, and lift your career to new levels. Keeping in contact with professional friends, classmates and former colleagues can help you to find your dream job, negotiate a higher salary, locate important information and people, draw on the expertise of others to solve problems, make more informed decisions and better use of your time. Imagine if, when you had a question, you could easily tap into a network of people who could offer first-hand advice, based on their own experiences.
Maintaining a network used to require more time and energy than the workday allowed. But now, advances in technology and the advent of online social networks have made it easier than ever to keep in touch. Many of the social networks out there focus on keeping personal relationships alive. LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com), a professional network of over 17 million users, focuses on how to make the best use of your professional network.
Here are five New Year’s Resolutions from LinkedIn on how to get the most out of your professional network in 2008:
Build your online brand
Your online image can affect the way other professionals see you, just as much as your offline image. Create your own online professional brand by developing a LinkedIn profile. Make sure to keep information on your professional experience and other relevant information up-to-date. You may be surprised to learn how many recruiters and HR departments use online networks to locate potential candidates. According to an ERE Media Survey, 64% of recruiters indicated use of professional sites such as LinkedIn to conduct background research and 66% of hiring managers said they would not hire a person for the job if they found something in their profiles they did not like. Make sure you are putting your best foot forward at all times — if you’re a member of non-professional social networking sites, make sure personal information intended for close friends stays private. You don’t want coworkers and potential employers looking at personal photos of your vacations and party shots. If you’re curious about who is checking out your online brand, you can use LinkedIn’s "Who’s Viewed My Profile" feature to find out.
Be at the forefront of people’s minds
In order to get leads and recommendations through your network, it’s important to keep in touch with former colleagues as well as your present circle. LinkedIn allows professionals to remain at the forefront of people’s minds by easily and efficiently keeping in touch. Using LinkedIn, it’s easy to see who’s been promoted, switched jobs, moved, won an award, and more. LinkedIn’s InMail messaging system is a perfect way to reach out and keep your connections fresh, without cutting into your personal time.
Make smarter decisions
Being a great leader is not always about becoming an expert at everything — it’s really about knowing where to find knowledge and expertise when you need it. The LinkedIn Answers feature allows professionals to quickly and easily solicit input and gain perspective from their own connections or from the broader LinkedIn community. Learn how others approach new markets, revamp processes, and resolve problems. Draw on the collective knowledge of your trusted connections — and their connections — and benefit from the experience of others.
Prioritize how you spend your time
Everyone understands the importance of time management in today’s accelerated workplace environment. Successful people are often beseeched with requests from unknown people for meetings, events, speaking engagements, and more. The LinkedIn network can be used to quickly and efficiently check out these contacts and requests before committing. A quick search reveals anyone you might know in common, gives you a capsule impression, and helps you allocate your valuable time wisely. And if you need to prepare for a meeting, the Advanced Search feature can also save time by allowing you to find specialists on almost every topic, industry, or company you want to research.
Stay on top of what’s going on in your world
If you want to be truly great at what you do, it’s essential to stay on top of industry news at all times. LinkedIn News makes it easy for every professional to read the articles they need to read, by leveraging the power of their business connections. It starts by delivering news about key daily topics: a user’s company, industry, and competitors, drawn from more than 10,000 publishers and blogs. Then, LinkedIn News uses the wisdom of each user’s "crowd" of colleagues to determine the handful of articles that are the most important to their business — the articles they need to read that day. LinkedIn News is currently available in beta to a select group of users, and will be expanded to all LinkedIn members in the New Year.
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn takes your professional network online, giving you access to people, jobs and opportunities like never before. Built upon trusted connections and relationships, LinkedIn has established the world’s largest and most powerful professional network. Currently, more than 17 million professionals are on LinkedIn, including executives from all five hundred of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as a wide range of household names in technology, financial services, media, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, and numerous other industries. LinkedIn is backed by world-class investors including Sequoia Capital, Greylock, the European Founders Fund, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on January 4, 2008
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