Basics

“Relationships Matter”

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What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is an online tool that connects you to others and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. It lets you…

Establish your professional online identity

Stay in touch with colleagues and friends

Easily find new people with whom to connect

Share and find expertise and ideas

Explore career paths, companies, and job opportunities

Be found by others interested in your skills and competencies Why You Need a LinkedIn Presence LinkedIn is like a personal, professional homepage for yourself. It is a place you can showcase your projects /experiences, talents and recommendations as well as offer your insights and expertise to gain the credibility and trust of the people in your network. Furthermore, it allows you to establish yourself in a respected social media space – the space where potential employers are lurking. Approximately 50-80% of jobs are filled through networking. To find the best candidates among active and passive job seekers, more employers are turning to free social networking technology as an increasingly attractive alternative to paid job boards. In fact, a recent survey conducted by JobVite, Inc. revealed that 87% of major US companies are using LinkedIn to recruit talent. And depending on the industry (i.e. marketing, staffing), some companies will not even consider you if you don’t have an online presence on sites like LinkedIn. This is the best job searching social media space for most professionals – including graduate-level students. LinkedIn Facts

As of March 2012, new members are signing up to use LinkedIn at a rate of approximately 2 new members per second.

Currently, LinkedIn estimates over 150 million users in 200+ countries or territories

Nearly 4.2 billion professionally-oriented searches were conducted on LinkedIn in 2011

Over 2 million companies have LinkedIn pages

Available in 9 languages

Members include executives from all current Fortune 500 companies

Keeps you permanently attached to your connections

IT’S FREE How do I Begin to Grow My Professional Network on LinkedIn?

1. Sign up for an account at www.linkedin.com 2. Build your profile 3. Search for people you already know and invite them to join your network 4. Join LinkedIn groups to further grow your network 5. Identify new people you would like to connect with for career advice and information-sharing, by job

title, company, and/or industry of choice, and ask the people in your current network for help with introductions.

It’s really that simple.

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Free Account or Paid Subscription? Everything noted in this guide can be accomplished with a free LinkedIn account. Joining LinkedIn Groups is one of the best ways to use the free account. Who Should I Invite to Join My Network?

Grad student friends and acquaintances

College friends and acquaintances

High school friends and acquaintances

Community friends from home and abroad

Family members

Family friends

Neighbors

Professors you know

Conference and seminar attendees you have met

Professional association members you have met

Internship supervisors and colleagues

Former and current co-workers

Customers or suppliers with whom you have worked

Community friends from home and abroad

Anyone you have met or will meet

Customize Your Invitation The default wording for inviting someone to your network is, “I’d like to add you to my professional network.” Do not use this! Customize your invitation. Be authentic. Note: Only invite people you personally know to join your network. If you send an invitation to someone on LinkedIn, he/she has the option to choose “I don’t know this person.” If several people choose this option, you will be restricted from sending future invitations.

Students, I cannot accept personal invitations to connect so please join me in the Lehigh University Alumni Group. This group is open to all alumni as well as current students, faculty, and staff. This is the best source of networking within the Lehigh LinkedIn community.

In the example below, take a look at how 114 people you already know can help you gain access to over 2 million who can offer you career advice and information and potentially lead you to an open position:

The Power of “Weak” Ties People you do not know very well (such as your 2nd and 3rd degree connections), are referred to as your “weak ties.” The people you know well (such as many of your 1st degree connections) are referred to as your “strong ties.” Our strong ties are typically people similar to ourselves, who share the same networks and are exposed to the same opportunities. Weak ties, on the other hand, have different networks and are exposed to different opportunities which they could introduce to you, making them extremely valuable. The power of networking rests mostly with our weak ties. We will discuss reaching out to them on page 6. First, let’s discuss your profile……..

Student Profile Features LinkedIn has added new profile sections with some specifically targeted to students. See below – these additions can be found on your profile page, in “edit” mode.

More Profile Tips

Make sure your profile is 100% complete

Infuse your profile with key words relevant to your job or industry of choice

Upload a professional-looking, flattering profile picture

Use a powerful headline (or tag line) which markets your skills and abilities. It is your branding statement, or “elevator pitch” in a few words

Avoid using slashes between critical words (i.e. sales/marketing), as LinkedIn search technology does not always recognize the two words separately

You must have 3 recommendations to complete your profile

The more complete your profile, the more you will be present in others’ searches

Add your LinkedIn URL to your resume and email signature line

Recommendations After you have done great work, ASK for recommendations – from professors, internship/project supervisors and colleagues, and campus job supervisors. Also, give people you know great recommendations when you know they have done great work. To give someone a recommendation, click the “Profile” tab on the LinkedIn navigation bar on your profile page and select “Recommendations” from the drop-down menu. LinkedIn will walk you through the rest. How Can I Mobilize my Network to Create Opportunities? Search for people who are doing the work you would like to do, in the industries, companies, and geographic locations of interest to you. Remember, hiring managers prefer to hire people their colleagues recommend. Determine who, in your current network, can introduce you to new key people. Here’s how… On the LinkedIn navigation bar at the top of your profile page, there is a box to search for people on the right. Next to the box, click the word “Advanced” to do an advanced people search. As an example, let’s say you are interested in a marketing position with the company Pearson Education. Type in the word “marketing” in the title box, “Pearson Education” in the company box, and insert an appropriate postal code for the company. It will look like this:

Your Search Results Will Look Something Like This:

Select a person from your search results that you would like to contact. You usually cannot tell who is a hiring manager and who is not, but you want to select a person who is in your network as a 2nd or 3rd degree contact, ideally at a manager or director level. If a person’s title appears in your search results without a name, that person is not in your network and you will not be able to contact that person with a free LinkedIn account. To increase the number of people in your network, invite more people you know to join yours and join more groups.

Introductions In our example, let’s say you select Pamela as a person you would like to contact. Click on Pamela’s profile and you will see the choices to “Connect” OR a drop-down box next to the words “Send InMail.” Since you do not know Pamela, simply clicking on “Connect” and asking her to join your network will not have the same impact as asking someone in your current network to make an introduction. From the drop-down box, select “Get introduced.”

Introductions Continued… LinkedIn shows you how you are connected. In the “Introduction Request” screen, determine which of your current contacts you would like to make the introduction. In the example below, there is only one – so I would choose her (Donna Sweidan). LinkedIn walks you through the rest.

Once someone has accepted your request for an introduction, reach out by composing a brief self-introduction. Two samples follow, but be sure that your introductions are tailored to each situation and each specific individual. Self-Introduction Briefly state who you are and why the person’s profile is of interest to you in terms of what you want to learn or what you have already experienced. Ask if she would be willing to lend advice or expertise: Example 1: Dear Pamela, My name is _______ and I am a current graduate student at Lehigh University, majoring in education. I was excited to come across your profile since learning about the publishing industry, especially in the area of educational products, is very exciting to me. During my practicum teaching experiences, I realized first-hand the importance and impact of using learning materials customized to the needs of diverse groups of learners. I was so impressed that my career interests now lie in creating educational products for the k-12 population and educating teachers about them. I would

love to learn more about the educational products industry and want to ask if you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions and sharing some of your expertise? Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, (Your Name) Example 2: Dear _________, My name is __________ and I am a current student at Lehigh University, working toward a degree in ___________. I was happy to come across your profile since I see you are involved in _______________. My career interests also lie in this area and I would love to learn more about what you do. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions? Thank you for your time. Sincerely, (Your Name) Rapport-Building Questions Immediately asking someone about current job openings is a networking mistake. Most people do not like being asked this question. The typical reply is, “Just visit our web site,” and the conversation ends, eliminating your opportunity to learn something, find common ground, and make an impact for a personal referral to a hiring manager. A major function of networking for job seeking is to get yourself recognized from the masses of other applicants by making a connection and positive impact with a company insider who might keep you in mind for open positions and possibly refer you. The first step in this process is to build a positive rapport with company insiders, giving them a reason to refer you to a hiring manager. After a person has accepted your request for advice/expertise, consider asking just a few questions from the following list (and ask them one at a time). Also think of your own questions – what do you genuinely want to learn?

1. What’s a typical day like for you? 2. What do you like most about what you do, and what would you change if you could? 3. How do people break into this field today? 4. What are the types of jobs that exist where you work and in the industry in general? 5. What experiences do you suggest I pursue to make myself more marketable for a career in

this industry? 6. Where would you suggest a person investigate if the person were particularly skilled at (fill in

the blank – quantitative thinking, communications, writing, advocacy)? 7. What does a typical career path look like in your industry? 8. What are some of the biggest challenges facing your company and your industry today? 9. Are there any professional or trade associations I should connect with? 10. What do you read – in print and online – to keep up with developments in your field? 11. How do you see your industry changing in the next 10 years?

12. If you were just getting involved now, where would you put yourself? 13. How did you get your internship? 14. What personal qualities helped you land your current job?

Important – Don’t ask about everything you want to know at this stage. Create a “placeholder” for a future meeting. If the information exchange goes well, ask if you could meet in-person for a 20 or 30 minute informational interview over coffee in the near future. During these meetings, continue to ask for information, advice, and expertise. Giving Back Networking is just as much, if not more, about giving than receiving. As you are corresponding with others, always be thinking to yourself, “How can I help this person?” Listen for opportunities to offer assistance. You may offer a helpful article or book, or an introduction to another person you know who may have something in common that is valuable. Follow-through is important! Make sure you do what you say you will do – this is an important part of building your personal brand. Continuing the Relationship LinkedIn is a tool to help you make initial connections with others. It is not meant to replace other forms of connecting, such as face-to-face meetings. As mentioned above, if you would like to continue a relationship with someone, discuss a way to stay in touch. Ask if you could meet in-person, in the near future. Alumni Search LinkedIn makes it easy to search for alumni. Click “Contacts” on the navigation bar on your profile page. From the drop-down menu, select a school you attended. On the next screen, you may then target your search by dates of attendance, company name, title, geographic location, and/or key word. How Hiring Mangers Use LinkedIn to Search for You Hiring managers use LinkedIn to conduct searches on both active and passive candidates. They search the LinkedIn community by key words. Again, the more complete and key word-rich your profile, the more likely your profile will appear in search results. While this is a wonderful feature, it is passive on your part and you should not rely on it as a sole job searching method. Job searching requires a multifaceted approach. Be sure to reach out to others through active networking outreach and some job board activity. Groups and Discussions Joining LinkedIn groups gives you access to more people. When you join a group, all the people in that group become part of your network. Join groups related to your career interests as well as alumni groups. LinkedIn will offer you Group suggestions based on your profile information, as well as a Group Directory. Groups offer news articles, events, and discussions. Participate in discussions. Doing so will help you get recognized and establish your credibility and trustworthiness.

To search for Groups, click the “Groups” tab on the LinkedIn navigation bar on your profile page. You can search for groups by keyword or category, or create your own. The Groups directory will look something like this:

Search for Jobs Select “Jobs” on the LinkedIn navigation bar on your profile page. You can search for jobs by job title, key word, or company name and also conduct an advanced search using such filters as job function, experience level, and industry. Your search results will also reveal who in your network is employed by the companies posting the positions. Apply for positions that interest you and then also reach out, through an introduction, to the company insiders within your network. Integration with SimplyHired.com LinkedIn is now integrated with a job aggregator called SimplyHired.com. Go to SimplyHired.com and enter a job search key word. Then, on the upper right where it says “Who Do I Know?” log in to your LinkedIn account. When you do so, the people in your LinkedIn network connected to the companies in your search results, will appear. Additionally, you may log in to your Facebook account in the same area, to see whether any Facebook friends are connected to a given position. Other Ways to Use LinkedIn Explore career paths – Using the advanced people search tool, type in a keyword of interest to you. Profiles having to do with your key word will appear. Check out interesting profiles and the paths people have taken to current positions. Also look at the groups they belong to and consider joining. Research companies – Select “Companies” on the LinkedIn navigation bar on your profile page. Click on the tab “Search Companies” and refine your search by selecting different categories, such as location and industry. This type of search, as with all others, will reveal who in your network is connected to your companies of interest.

The “More” tab on the navigation bar (see below) allows you to seek help as well as learn about specific skills and add them to your profile. Note – the “Answers” feature will be discontinued as of Jan. 31, 2013.

Final Tips

Reach out to others. Remember, LinkedIn requires action from you in order to be useful. It is not enough to just build your profile and wait for things to happen.

Include your LinkedIn URL in your email signature line and resume.

Use the LinkedIn Help Center for more information. Click “More” on the LinkedIn navigation bar and enter a question or key word.

For additional help, contact Career Services at 610-758-3710