I happen to like LinkedIn a lot. But you can't just post your resume out there and cross your fingers. You've got to actually work LinkedIn. You need to find colleagues from previous jobs, classmates from college and even high school, and more. Those little connections often open up a dialog. Sometimes its just a quick email through the LinkedIn system. But suddenly, you're listed on John Doe's profile and you're just a little closer to the front of his mind than you were yesterday.
When Jane X goes looking, in my case, for an instructional designer, she'll see that her connection, John Doe, happens to know me. She can then reach out to me directly or via John Doe. Either way, my very connection to John Doe gives me some credibility. Go to my profile and see that I have a couple recommendations. That lends credibility as well - someone was willing to announce how great I am via the Web for the world to see. Wait, you can also see that I've recommended people. I'm not the kind of person to just take recommendations - I also give them.
You can learn a lot from LinkedIn. If you're interviewing for a job, you can actually research that job, that company, and the person with whom you're interviewing through LinkedIn. You can find out a lot about the people you work with in a new firm. You can find out how often people have left your new position.
Guy Kawasaki lists these tips, and several more, in his post "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn." So many of my friends and business associates bemoan LinkedIn and that it never seems to do anything. That, folks, is because you don't use it correctly. Go read Guy's list. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
My last two clients (and a potential third) have all found me via
LinkedIn. Not only that, but googling "Michelle Lentz Cincinnati"
brings up my LinkedIn profile first. I couldn't ask for better than
that.
