Linkedin what is it. What is important to know about LinkedIn in order to use the resource effectively? What kind of network is linkedin?

On the Internet there are several dozen large international general-purpose social networks, hundreds of regional ones, and perhaps thousands that are almost unknown to anyone. But besides them, there are also specialized ones, one of which is LinkedIn. In this article, I will tell you what LinkedIn.com is and why it is needed.

What kind of network is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a social network that positions itself as a place where you can easily find and maintain business contacts. Simply put, this is a site where specialists from different fields add each other as “friends”, communicate one-on-one and in groups.

As of 2016, the interface of the LinkedIn.com website has been translated into 23 languages, including Russian. Relatively recent data shows that over 400 million user accounts are registered on the LinkedIn service, however, how many of them are active is not reported.

In the summer of 2016, the LinkedIn project changed its owner. Microsoft has agreed with the former management of the company to transfer the site under the management of the software giant. The transaction amount was 26 billion, 200 million dollars. This is one of Microsoft's largest acquisitions in the entire history of the corporation. I hope you understand that this is LinkedIn, now let’s look at using the social network.

Who uses the social network LinkedIn

The service represents 150 business sectors in 200 countries. However, the majority of users (almost 50%) are people living and working in the United States. Thus, we can assume that almost every professional American has an account in this service.

The percentage of users from Europe (including Russia) is 25% or about 100 million people. India is in third place with just over 2% or 10 million users.

Features of the social network LinkedIn

What does LinkedIn mean for online business? The functionality of the social network was created to serve users interested in finding and/or maintaining work contacts and communicating on professional topics. LinkedIn provides a simple interface for inviting (importing contacts, so to speak) people from other services, such as your email contact book, social media friends lists, etc. It is also interesting that many Runet users do not yet know what kind of site LinkedIn.com is.

LinkedIn users can complete profiles. It is possible to indicate in them: contact information, information about education and places of work, skills, etc. This is necessary so that other users of the service can find the person and, for example, hunt him (invite him to a job interview).

The site has the ability to publish materials (as in a Facebook or Twitter feed/microblog), exchange messages, communicate in interest groups, etc.

Who needs LinkedIn and why?

The social network LinkedIn is a service for those who are used to separating work and personal life. It can be used to have a convenient means of communication with employees, colleagues and/or business partners, without embarrassing them with your posts that are not related to work (as would be the case if work contacts were present in the Facebook or VKontakte friend feed ).

In addition, it is known that LinkedIn.com is a site that can help you find interesting and well-paid jobs or new business partners.

) is not a very typical social network. There is no typical communication here, as on Facebook or Vkontakte. Initially, LinkedIn was the same social network, but with poorer functionality than it is now. However, after Facebook appeared and almost completely destroyed all the social networks of the past, LinkedIn did not compete with the social network of the future and went to the side in order to repurpose itself. As a result, LinkedIn is now the largest business social network and one of the largest social networks in the world. Today, the presented social network sets trends not only for social networks, but also for many job search sites, being a leader in this area.

Registration will not force you to fiddle with it for a long time. Registration consists of 8 stages. Basically, the stages are divided into tabs, which alternately ask you to fill out information about yourself, find connections or companies. All you need to do is go to the registration page www.linkedin.com/reg/join. Enter your data there: email address, last name, first name and patronymic, password. Be careful when registering on this social network; you only need to enter your full name; nicknames and pseudonyms are prohibited, referring to the user agreement.

LinkedIn functionality

It is worth noting that I call linkedIn the second Facebook, but in professional activities. linkedIn is primarily a social network not for idle communication, but for finding a job, improving skills in your field and for professional communication.

This social network is constantly looking for ways to improve. So, the company is buying up other smaller social networks in order to increase its audience. Currently, the number of users who use linkedIn reaches 175 million. Why do professionals choose this social network, you ask? Yes, because there is a more convenient interface than on job search sites and more extensive opportunities.

If you don’t see an employer on job search sites, and he and all actions are performed blindly, then this social network allows you to see the employer, see reviews about him and learn more about the scope and methodology of his work. This layer of information is very useful at first. So, let's get back to the interface and functionality.

No wall

At the top of the profile there is a search bar where you can try to find your colleagues, acquaintances, companies or groups that interest you, and yes, there are groups here too. When you set the cursor to search, you are immediately offered four categories in which you can search for the object or person you are interested in. Thus, the problem with confusion and chaos was solved when all categories with the same name are presented in the form of a list.

At the top of the console there are three icons:

messages
events
adding as friends

There is no need to explain anything here; it is very clear that messages are responsible for dialogues and communication, etc.

The next element that clearly catches your eye is the large space with the inscription Home. This tab button is responsible for the news that you have chosen to watch. For example, when registering, you indicated that you are interested in business, and all new posts about business will be displayed in this tab.

Now let's move on to the main thing. 7 tabs located at the top:

Home page, all information about your profile is located here;
People you should know, here you are automatically invited to make friends with people you may know or who are in your professional circle;
Connections or contacts, simply “Friends”
Work, this tab distinguishes this social network from the rest. Here are vacancies that may be of interest to you. It is thanks to this function that you can find a job directly with the employer, without going through interviews, but simply by talking and communicating, possibly on distant topics;
Companies. Here are the companies that suit your interests.
Groups. There is nothing to explain here, just the groups you are in;
Pulse. This point is also particularly interesting and has no analogues on other social networks. User blogs are published here, ranging from the most popular blogs and news from the entire Internet, and not just those posted within the network;

Benefits of linkedin

Exchange messages with users;
Search for contacts and companies, expanding your business network;
Blog;

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Oddly enough, Linkedin is on a par with such familiar tools as VKontakte, Facebook or Odnoklassniki. Yes yes it is social network.

But not simple, but with a business twist. Most people come into it not for entertainment, but for business. What kind of things could these be? Well, mostly looking for a job. Not necessarily urgent, but with a reserve for the future, because even with a bird in our hands, we don’t mind grabbing a pie in the sky.

You need to understand that this indicator will even affect the ranking of your profile in LinkedIn search results, and, of course, it will indicate the seriousness of your intentions to find a job.

You can configure the profile either using a wizard or manually. To do this, you can go to the “Profile” tab - “Edit profile”, or directly on the profile page add new information or edit old ones (just click on them with the mouse and you will have the opportunity to make changes). Perhaps the minimum required will look like this:

Affectionate photo
Area of activity and geographical location
Name of your current position
Indicate at least a couple of positions you previously held
Fill out everything in detail about education
Please indicate five or ten skills
Don’t be lazy and make at least fifty contacts first
Specify several groups of your interests
And, of course, don’t forget to add some general information

I advise you to click on the “See more” spoiler (located just below) to fill out all the available resume fields.

Setting up a public profile page

Please note that you can change the URL of your public LinkedIn profile page at your own discretion. For example, I have it like this:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ktonanovenkogoru

In principle, I don’t know what kind of cartoon, but still. You can do this by clicking on your profile page (you can get to it by selecting the menu item of the same name from the top menu) on the button with the page address located under your photo:

And on the page that opens, in the right column, you will certainly notice the “Create a personal URL” button, which you will not click. That's all, all you have to do is enter the desired ending to the URL of your profile and you're done.

Below you can, if necessary, remove some part of the information from the public ().

Well, just a little lower (all in the same right column) you will be asked to copy the code for a public profile business card, which, after pasting it into a website or forum, will look something like this:

Connections, communication and job tracking in Linkedin companies

From all of the above, we can conclude that the main thing is to completely fill out the profile itself, as this is essentially your resume for recruiters and potential employers. Personally, of course, I cheated, but there is an explanation for that. I’m not looking for work through LinkedIn (yet, anyway), but I use it to cross-post announcements of new articles on my blog.

It’s true that the H1 content (the same for all pages) is always torn out, so I have to edit the title by simply clicking on it and entering the correct option. It is difficult for me to assess the prospects of using LinkedIn for such selfish and non-specific purposes, but so be it. Although, at the same time, the social network itself interested me and I decided to write this article from fresh memory.

Making contacts

When viewing someone else's profile, you can try establish contact with this person:

However, in the next step you will be asked to enter the Email of this person, and without this you will not be able to send him an invitation. Apparently this was done to avoid spam. After all, this is not Contact, where you can offer friendship to everyone. That's why There are two main ways to make contacts.

You can work with existing contacts in the Address Book, which you will find in the same “Network” top menu item:

If you want to group them, then tags will help you with this. Check the boxes next to the users you want to place in one group and click on the “Edit Tags” button. You create a tag, it appears in the left column, and when you open it you will see the users added there. The Profile Organizer tool is available, as I understand it, only on a paid account.

Professional interest groups on LinkedIn

Like any other self-respecting social network, there is the opportunity to create, join and communicate in groups. For the most part, they are divided by professional interests, but there are exceptions. Once you've completed your profile and made your first contacts, it's time to move on. Communication in the right groups will allow you to expand your network of contacts, learn something you need on topics that interest you and, of course, show your best side (raise your image).

To begin, you will need to select “Groups” from the top drop-down menu “Interests”. Here you will be offered a list of groups that Linkedin has selected for you based on the data you left in your profile and other places on the network.

If he missed, then in the left column you will find the “Find a group” button, and you can even create your own if nothing that already exists suits you.

Group search is a type of general search. By default, you are offered a list of groups in your language, but you can add other languages in the filters. By the way, groups are open and closed. You can join the first ones without problems (by clicking on the “Join” button), but closed groups can only be viewed.

In the group you joined, you will be able to create messages (discussions), comment on existing ones and do other things typical of groups. The right column will display an indicator of your activity in this group, which can be very useful if you are serious about using LinkedIn to find a job that interests you.

Company pages and search for job vacancies

Actually, in addition to groups on Linkedin, there are also company pages (but much more serious). In principle, you can create a page for your company, but they do not serve the purpose of communicating with potential clients or branding on this network. Moreover, for adding too much new information to a company page, you can get a penalty from the moderators.

On the company page you can see a list of employees who are LinkedIn users, as well as read news and, possibly, job advertisements. Therefore, it makes sense to click on the button located in the upper right corner "Track" to keep abreast of all updates to this page and not to miss any new vacancies.

On this page you can also find that one of your contacts or the contacts of your contacts works or worked in this company. This can be an invaluable source of information before you submit your resume for a job. IMHO.

Naturally, you can not only fill out your profile and wait, but also try to actively search for vacancies using the means available in this business network. There is a separate button for this. "Vacancies" in the top menu. By default, Linkedin will already select something for you based on the data you specified in your profile and the available suitable jobs (if you are an employer, the “Post a vacancy” button on the right will be relevant for you).

At the very least, it's worth checking them out. If you don’t find anything suitable there, then use the search bar located at the top (or the advanced search, which lives under the spoiler of the same name). If looking for a job is extremely important for you right now, then you can subscribe to email alerts using the link shown in the screenshot.

In principle, I have already told you all the basics, but there are some details that may be useful to you, for example, when you look for a job using it.

Let's say that you decided to start looking for a new job while still on the old one (quite the optimal solution). However, if your company is represented on LinkedIn and employees have accounts there, then it is likely that (in the hope of catching a vacancy) they will become known to your current employer.

However, this can be avoided by simply turning off notifications about your activity on this social network. To do this, click on the icon with your photo in the upper right corner and select “Privacy and Settings” from the drop-down menu:

On the page that opens, on the “Profile” tab (from the left menu), select “Enable or disable notification about your activity.” A pop-up window will open where you will need to uncheck the box there and click on the “Save Changes” button.

When actively searching for a job, you yourself will most likely be actively viewing the profiles of those people who interest you in terms of finding a new job. This means that it is important that, if necessary, could receive information about you(Linkedin has such an opportunity to receive information about those who viewed your profile, if it is open to access).

Just in case, check what you have set in “Indicate what others will see if you looked at their profiles” (the path to this point is the same as in the setting described just above).

I also want to say that with the help of LinkedIn you can study the people who will make the decision to hire you quite well. By more closely following them online, studying their profile and other posts, you can find something useful. And just show activity in the same places on the network where they showed it. Perhaps they will notice you and remember you, which may be useful in the future.

Even when filling out your profile, it is better not to leave suspicious gaps. Even though during this period you were doing things completely unrelated to your desired job, it is still better to indicate this and write it down in detail. A complete picture always looks better, and you don’t know when and to whom your seemingly unrelated skills will be useful.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

Why fill out your profile?

According to statistics, only 51% of LinkedIn members have a 100% complete profile. And in vain. After all, the less information, the lower the effectiveness of the profile.

Profile efficiency is an indicator showing whether there is enough information about you and your professional qualities to establish new business contacts. The corresponding icon is located on the right side of the profile and is measured as a percentage: from initial to “star” level.

The search algorithm on LinkedIn is such that profiles with the highest performance scores are displayed first. Therefore, it is recommended to fill out your page as accurately and thoroughly as possible. Otherwise, recruiters and potential partners simply won’t notice you.

For maximum efficiency, you need to install a photo (more on the intricacies of its selection below) and indicate:

field of activity and place of residence;
current position (with description);
two previous places of work;
information about education;
skills (minimum three);
interest groups (at least a couple).

You also need to establish at least 50 connections with LinkedIn members. Read below to learn how to properly form your network and receive recommendations.

Basic settings

Do you want to stand out among millions of users? Please pay due attention to completing your profile.

Name

LinkedIn is a business network; nicknames and humorous nicknames like “sales star” or “development ninja” are not appropriate there. Please indicate your real name, surname and patronymic.

Professional header

This is the most important element on your page. Its maximum length is 120 characters. Be brief but creative. The title should make it clear who you are and what you do.

A professional title, as well as the job description, should be optimized for search engines. But you shouldn’t stuff these fields with keywords like a duck with apples: two or three relevant keywords are quite enough.

Use standard job titles and professions: not “copywriting guru,” but “copywriter.” However, it is acceptable to include any academic degrees you have in the title. For example, not a psychologist, but a candidate of psychological sciences. This not only speaks volumes about who you are, but also indicates how successful you are in your field.

Be sure to indicate your field of activity to be more visible in searches.

Profile link

It should be simple and short so that people can easily find you. Your URL is in the light gray box below your name and title.

Click on the "Change your public profile settings" button and update your LinkedIn address to a readable format. It must contain from 5 to 30 characters.

Correct: linkedin.com/in/jameseaton.

There is no shame in placing a beautiful LinkedIn address on your business card.

Contact information

Be sure to fill out your contact information: mobile phone number, email, Twitter, and so on.

General information

In this block, briefly (maximum 2,000 characters) describe career achievements you are proud of and your business ambitions.

Education

This block is most important for those who do not yet have work experience. Some HR specialists are interested in graduates of certain universities.

Members' profiles with educational institutions are viewed seven times more often. Be sure to indicate the name of the university (up to 100 characters), years of study and add a description (maximum - 1,000 characters), that is, provide several details. For example, “graduated with honors”, “defended a dissertation on the topic...”, “published in a scientific journal...”.

Experience

68% of participants use LinkedIn to connect with former business partners. Be specific in your descriptions of past and current projects.

Be sure to include your position (up to 100 characters), company name, and period of employment. Don’t neglect the “Region” and “Description” fields either. Why miss the opportunity to highlight your mobility and the profit you brought to this or that company?

When describing a position, you should avoid pompous words and superlatives. Fewer adjectives, more verbs. Instead of writing “I am an excellent salesperson,” list your sales awards and performance in numbers.

Media content will also add loyalty points to your profile. Add links to presentations, videos, podcasts, blog posts, quotes, and more. This will allow recruiters to understand who you are and what you are worth. In addition, the longer users look at your profile, the higher the chance that you will collaborate.

Projects

Regularly update information about projects you have worked on. This is a great way to demonstrate your competencies.

Essentially, this is your portfolio. 66% of companies hire employees based on their past projects. Don't forget to put links (if any) to the projects you participated in. Users viewing your profile should have the opportunity to get to know them in more detail.

Skills and their evidence

Profiles of members with skills are viewed four times more often. State what you can do and ask friends in your contact list to confirm those skills.

Tracked Content

Follow topics that interest you to stay up to date on what's happening in your industry, and join industry groups and communities.

In groups you can ask questions and give advice, communicate with industry colleagues or people from your alma mater. The group can be open, that is, anyone can join it, or closed - you need to submit an application and receive approval from the administrator.

A group should not be confused with a company page. Many corporations, especially international ones, have their own pages on LinkedIn. But, unlike pages on other social networks, this is not done to promote a brand. On the company’s page you can see a list of its employees (maybe some of them are your friends?) and learn about its news. By monitoring company page updates, you will be aware of open vacancies.

Profile blocks can be moved. Highlight what you are proud of and what might be of interest to potential employers.

Profile Pictures

“You're greeted by your clothes” - this saying is completely true when it comes to your profile images. To make it pleasing to the eye and load quickly even for users with slow Internet, use high-quality images of the correct size.

Background image profile must be 1400 × 425 pixels in JPG, PNG or GIF format. The size should not exceed 4 MB.

Profile photo(avatar) must be 400 × 400 pixels, minimum 200 × 200 pixels, format - JPG, PNG or GIF. The maximum size is 10 MB.

If you are a Business Page Administrator, review acceptable and recommended image and logo settings. Everything is described.

Particular attention should be paid to choosing a profile photo. Browse through the avatars of other users in your industry and put a photo that they and your customers will like.

Good avatar for LinkedIn	Bad Avatar for LinkedIn
Professional photography. A well-composed photo with good lighting is a long-term investment in your professional image. It can be used on many resources. The better the photo, the more views your page will receive.	Selfie in the bathroom. LinkedIn is not Instagram. Your profile photo should show you as a professional, not as a cutie.
Representative look. A stupid smile is as bad as a “brick face.” Ask your friends to tell you which facial expression makes you look most presentable.	Mister official. Wearing a sharp suit and a suffocating tie won't make you look smarter. Your appearance simply must match your position and preferences.
Portrait. Your face should be in the center of the frame and occupy most of it. Above, below and on the sides there is just a little framing background.	Photo with a cat. It's terribly cute, but it's better to leave cats, dogs and other animals out of the picture when it comes to your LinkedIn profile photo.
True photo. Your avatar should show you as you are in everyday life. Do you wear a beard or glasses? Don't shave or squint for a profile photo. Be yourself!	Photo against the background of the carpet. What is behind you should not distract anyone looking into your beautiful eyes. Choose neutral backgrounds. For example, just white.

Network of contacts

Without networking, it is extremely difficult to achieve success. For a LinkedIn profile to be effective, you need to add at least 50 contacts to your network. In general, it is recommended to have at least three hundred, but not more than three thousand friends. Otherwise, it will be difficult to manage communications.

So how do you replenish your network? First, import contacts from your email address book. At the same time, send invitations to those who can really be useful to you in business.

In LinkedIn, you can not only import, but also export contacts: menu “Network” → button “Export contacts” in the lower right corner of the page. This feature allows you to back up your contacts to protect your business communications.

Secondly, use search to expand your network of contacts. Moreover, it is an expanded version: this way you can find people who are part of not only the first, but also the second or third circle of acquaintances.

When the first contacts appear in your network, the system itself will offer you new friends. On the home page in the upper right corner there will be a block “People you may know.” These recommendations appear based on your profile data. Most likely, these will be your classmates and colleagues.

How else can you expand your network?

Meet through friends of friends. A second-level contact is a friend of your friend. If you need to start communicating with such a person, go to their profile page and see if you have mutual friends. If so, send a request for an introduction or click on the “Ask to meet” button.
Take advantage of groups. You can send private messages to members of the group you are in, even if you are not in direct contact.
If a member's profile is open, you can send him a message - InMail. Perhaps you will start a dialogue, and then friendship.
Check who has viewed your profile. If these people are interesting to you, try to establish contact with them.
Monitor your news feed. It also helps you develop your network and interact with potential partners.
Link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Then you can post your LinkedIn updates on Twitter.
Do you want to attract the attention of someone? Mention her in your posts using the @ symbol.

Offline employment in nine out of ten cases occurs through patronage. Employers ask their partners to recommend a smart employee, and the latter, in turn, ask their partners to put in a good word for them.

The role of recommendations on LinkedIn is also very high. They should not be confused with skill confirmations (Endorsements). The latter simply state the facts: “Yes, he can do it.” Any person from your contact list can confirm this or that competency in just two clicks.

A recommendation is a detailed review of your past and present colleagues, partners and clients about you and your work. The more recommendations, the higher the level of confidence in the data specified in the profile. Recommendations are displayed in the appropriate section of your profile (menu “Privacy and Settings” → “Manage Recommendations”) and are only available to registered LinkedIn users.

Five to ten recommendations in your profile are enough to interest recruiters.
Ask for recommendations from the most reputable people in your network.
Try to get at least two reviews of your work in the company that you consider most meaningful.
When recommending someone, include how you know the person and provide specific examples that demonstrate their professional strengths.

Show mutual respect. If someone validates your skill or gives you a good recommendation, don't forget to thank them for it.

How to protect your profile

To take full advantage of LinkedIn, your profile must be public, that is, visible to potential clients and partners.

Public profile is created automatically when registering on LinkedIn and published in the user directory. Google and other search engines periodically check the LinkedIn directory so that public profiles can be found online.

However, you can set individual privacy settings. For example, hide the display of websites, current position and other parameters in the profile from unregistered users.

You can also adjust your profile to suit your purposes in the “Privacy and Settings” menu. For example, if you're looking for a new job and don't want your current boss or colleagues to know about it, exclude them from the list of those who can see your activity feed.

There you can also specify who will see the list of your contacts, information about your rank, your photo, and so on.

To protect your account from hacking, you must:

come up with a complex password (at least 8 characters, upper and lowercase letters, plus numbers and other characters; the password should not include dictionary words or your name, or be used on other resources);
enable two-step login verification: “Privacy and Settings” → “Account” → “Manage Security Settings”.

6 Secrets to Using Your LinkedIn Profile Effectively

Create posts on LinkedIn. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate your professional knowledge and present yourself as a leader in your field.
The best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday and Thursday, between 7 and 9 a.m. local time.
Enter self-censorship. Don't say anything on LinkedIn that you wouldn't say out loud on .
LinkedIn can be integrated with . Then your business cards, resume and notes will be in one place.
Users who regularly update their LinkedIn profiles receive more collaboration offers.
Install a LinkedIn button on your blog or website so that your followers and readers can share your posts on their LinkedIn profile.

Linkedin is a popular social network useful for expanding and establishing professional contacts. It is registered more than 100 million users(50% US residents), representing 150 different business sectors from more than 200 countries.

The number of Linkedin users is 100 million, which is ten times less than the number of Facebook audiences - 1 billion. However, if you pay attention to the level of quality of users for business contacts and networking, the opposite phenomenon is observed here. The quality of the Linked network audience is much higher than the social network Facebook, which makes it possible for the “network for business contacts” to place expensive Google advertising.

It should also be noted that the business network was previously mainly focused on IT specialists, and due to this, the first people interested in using this network should be IT specialists.

Why is this Linkedin network needed, functions

Linkedin gives registered users extensive opportunities to create and establish business contacts for business communications.

Contacts are established for a variety of purposes:

it is presenting oneself through existing contacts and their expansion;
search for highly qualified employees;
searching and finding business partners;
you can search for contacts of companies and groups (or create groups);
publish a vacancy (for example, to search for a job).

Additional features include the ability to post additional information about future conferences, business trips and favorite books.

The principle of operation of the Linkedin business network is as follows: all users, when adding their good friend, include him in the very first level of their contacts. Friends, partners or close acquaintances are added to the first level. Recent acquaintances or potential partners are added to the second sub-level and so on.

How to use this network

For more accurate and faster results on a social network, it is highly recommended filling in all registration fields, however, registration is also possible by filling out the form with minimal information about yourself.

http://ru.linkedin.com

For a registered user, LinkedIn offers find and invite friends, acquaintances, colleagues, classmates in this network. You can only enter the first and last name of the person you want.

The network has a well-implemented search feature. establishing new contacts and the ease of keeping in touch with friends.

Still, the main function of a business social network is the ability to realize the career and professional opportunities of users. A larger number of network services are designed to search for people and further work with them, receiving various reviews and recommendations.

Below is an overview of job search opportunities:

This is what the page is for. Job Search” in the “Work” tab.