By: Joel Beyioku
7) Thou Shalt keep thy profile professional and current.
On LinkedIn, your profile picture matters. When someone comes across your profile, it is the first thing noticed. Your profile is your professional brochure and many times your first impression. For your best chance of success, it is important to have up to date and relevant information as well as a professional and inviting profile picture that displays your charisma. Statistics show that profiles with a professional profile picture are 11 times more likely to be linked.
6) Thou Shalt Not be timid.
LinkedIn is a networking site, do not be afraid to reach out to connections, colleagues, or potential employers. Many time, reaching out and providing a meaningful note will give a reason to remember you. LinkedIn has over 150 million users, so it is important to be out going and stand out.
5) Thou Shalt join groups.
When you join a group on LinkedIn, it expands your network to everyone in that group. It also helps other to communicate with you and begin to know your interest. Be active in the group and post well thought reflective responses to interesting topics.
Also, don’t be afraid to abandon a group if it is no longer beneficial. There should be no hard feelings in the business world.
4) Thou Shalt Not “link for number.”
LinkedIn is not like other social networking sites where the objective is to gain followers or friends for bragging rights. This is a resource that should be used to create legitimate professional relationships. Do not just connect to people randomly to gain useless connections. It’s not a “numbers game,” Instead focus on people you know, trust, or genuinely want to get to know professionally.
Don’t be afraid to deny connections from people you do not know as well…
3) Thou Shalt Not be overly aggressive.
It is important to take it slow when trying to establish new relationships on LinkedIn. You should treat the attempt to make a new relationship online the same way you would in real life. You have to develop the relationship and build rapport to create a meaningful connection. You can request a connection immediately after meeting but be sure to add, in the note section of the request, a reminder of where and when you met the person, so it is easier for them to remember you.
2) Thou Shalt protect thy privacy.
An extreme update of a LinkedIn profile is the biggest clue that you are looking for a new job, and that may not be something you want your current employer to know yet. Change your profile settings to not publish all changes or groups you have joined. You can change your setting back to public after the changes have been made. Here is a link you can use to update your privacy controls.
1) Thou Shalt Not rely only on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool that can be used to jumpstart your career, but to remember that establishing real life personal relationships is most important to expanding your network and being successful. Use LinkedIn wisely and it will help you to maintain relationship, be remembered, and give your professional career the extra push to get you to where you want to be.
