Many people simply see Linkedin as a Social Network based around their CV. This is understandable to some extent as this was the original premise of the site – as a CV sharing platform.
However, viewing the platform in this way, these days, is extremely limiting – it offers so much more to you and for you
If you have completed the #TLH Essentials course, you’ll know that to stand out from the crowd, you need to really understand your value, you need to position this value in the most appropriate way and you must view your activity as a sales and marketing campaign, where you are the product!
By the way, if you haven’t completed the #TLH Essentials course, then I suggest that you do, as we will be constantly referring back to it throughout this Linkedin essentials course.
Seen through this prism, Linkedin becomes much more than a CV repository;
It’s a research centre – organisations and people within these organisations that are active on the site leave clues about what they are focusing upon and what their priorities are, within the material that they post or the comments that they leave. By understanding how to explore this and engage in the right way, you can uncover so many potential opportunities to explore further.
It’s a prospecting machine – ok, that may be stretching things a little too far, but because of its reach, it is highly likely that the people that you will be working with on future projects or in future roles are active on Linkedin – as such, you don’t have to go hunting for them – you just have to know how to search for them, how to connect with them and how to engage with them in a way that isn’t seen to be too ‘salesy’.
It’s a marketing platform – you have the same opportunities to position yourself, to differentiate yourself and to ‘sell’ yourself as everybody else, irrespective of whether these are individuals or large corporations. Linkedin provides you with the opportunity to adopt both a shotgun or a sniper approach to your ‘promotions’ – done correctly, you can position your materials/ thoughts/ comments directly with the right audience and start to get engagement really quickly.
It’s a networking opportunity – as it’s even more important than ever that “people know of you” given that over 60% of all jobs (contract & perm) are never advertised, your ability to build and maintain a strong network is critical to ensure a successful change and transformation career. Linkedin provides a whole array of opportunities for you to connect with, engage with and ultimately develop longer term relationships with people within your area of interest.
It’s a Job Board – Linkedin as an inbuilt job board, where organisations & recruiters advertise their open vacancies – make sure that you keep a check on the openings in those organisations that you feel you’d like to work with – it’s amazing what you can uncover in terms of future potential opportunities by keeping track of their recruitment activities.
Having said all of that, let’s not forget that recruiters and now more than ever, recruiting managers from organisations use Linkedin to source suitable candidates for their open opportunities. As such, it is so important that you set yourself up in the best possible way and really differentiate yourself so that when searching, YOUR PROFILE STANDS OUT!