Do you want to have a larger network? You have written and received recommendations and connected with people you know. Look at your network statistics. That is how many people can find you easily on Linkedin. If you are job hunting, you may want to increase that number.
There is always a controversy on whether you should be an open networker, in other words, a person who connects with strangers as opposed to only friends and colleagues. There are pros and cons. The major pro is that more recruiters and hiring managers can find you to tell you about an opportunity. The drawback that many people fear is that they will be inundated with spam from all their new connections. As someone who has a few thousand connections, the spam has been very minimal and as a recruiter it has been worth it to me to be able to find potential candidates easily. Make up your own mind as to how open a networker you wish to be. I am just going to give you a tip to increase your connections if that is what you wish to do.
Today’s Tip:
Join and participate in the groups on Linkedin.
There are groups on Linkedin and you can belong to as many as 50 of them. Belonging to the groups will increase the size of your network as a whole. You can join groups related to your career, your hobbies, your school, former companies and other interests. To find groups, do a search under “groups”. If you pick “art” as a keyword, groups related to art will populate and then you request to join the groups that you have chosen.
If you would like to increase the size of your network, there are groups for that as well. There are the “Happy to Connect” group and the InvitesWelcome.com group, to name two. Look for groups related to LIONs, which stands for Linkedin Open Networkers. Most of these groups have rules saying that you will not IDK (hitting the I don’t know tab) on any invitation you receive from a member of the group. The archive button is always an option to ignore an invitation.
So, what groups do you belong to on Linkedin? What groups would you recommend? And have you had a very successful networking experience because of participating in a group there?
Tags: career tips, job seekers, Linkedin, social networking
Good info - I will have to re-think my use of groups in LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has gone from a contact tool to a new business medium and is certainly a good resource for job seekers and employers. It’s also a great way to position yourself as an expert in related fields. Certainly agree with your thoughts.
Thanks Glen and Rebecca!
I think these guys are great. They really try to do their best for every candidate.
Thank you so much!
Great tips for career social networking via. LinkedIn.
Thank you.
Good advice. I’ve found it useful to reconnect w/ old college friends through my alma matter’s Linkedin groups.
This is some great information. Great for networking
Thank you both.
Very informative and should be helpful in getting connected.
Thank you, Ira.
Great advice for using Linkedin.
Thanks, Jaime.
I really enjoyed reading your comments. As I am a networker as a Financial Advisor, this is very useful information to me.
Thanks, Avid.
Great advice for professional networking.
Thank you, Marla.
Great insight. I’m a big user of the social networks! You constantly need to market your abilities. Keep up the great work. Things will get better and lets keep the faith!
Thank you, Frank, you are right.
Great advice! I agree that groups are a great way to expand your network! I am in the “Happy to Connect” group, and love how it makes it easy to connect with new people. I also recommend posting on the discussion boards for the groups - being active within the LinkedIn groups really increases the number of people who will want to link up with you!
Great advice, Caralie.
Networking is a key factor when looking for a new position, unfortunately you don’t always have the time to attend networking events in person, doing it online does make a lot of sense.
And Networking should begin before you need a new job.
This info is really helpful with all the different “platforms” out there, in this environment. It’s great to have a place to go where they help you cut through to whats important or helpful. Just another example of HCR’s value added approach. Thank you!
Thank you! What a nice compliment.
Great points and thanks for the tips. Everyone in the marketplace should take advantage of these sites and opportunities.
Thank you, Jacob.
Audrey, Thanks for taking the time to put together several great articles to help explain ways to leverage LinkedIn professionally.
For me, LinkedIn has helped me reestablish contacts from prior businesses that I didn’t want to lose. Also, currently, as an art dealer, various “art” groups have allowed me to strengthen my contacts within my own industry and expose me to people in other geographic areas as one to turn to for specific areas of knowledge related to fine art, ie American paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries.
I look forward to reading your future tips and will pass along this site to others.
Thanks, Jim. I appreciate that.
This is a great recource for people trying to network - in every business networking is KEY - thanks for the info -
Thanks, Eve.
I see many positive comments here but I’m wondering if anyone is willing to share numbers and case studies. Has anyone seen their revenue opportunities increase by a significant amount through social networking tools like LinkedIn?
Doug,
That is great question and I will give two personal examples in the next post.
I think this is a superb tool
Thank you, Michael!