Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Two every second: That's how many people join LinkedIn as new members, many of whom hope to exploit the platform's rich resource for industry contacts. That means that by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have on average 250 people and counting to compete with for the professional world’s attention.
7 comments:
I find these articles a little bit difficult because many of us do not have a profile that fits the Linked-In style. I find it really hard to fill out my profile for two reasons: one is that it's been a long time since I've done any work that is worth showing off and two our industry is hard to put on paper. Every time I get the resolve to revamp my profile, I tend to get worn out figuring what I should put and what I shouldn't and where some things will go. I hope that in a few years when I start doing "real" work I can start to make my profile a little more attractive, but you need experience to gain experience.
LinkedIn still feels like a bit of an enigma to me. Like all dutiful college students looking for internships, I have a profile that is reasonably up to date, but my biggest problem is the two different branches of experiences I have. On the one hand, I have a lot of experience working with children, and in retail. On the other, I have my theater work. I'm vaguely working on a mission statement (TBD, probably this summer) that integrates these two "career paths" more smoothly because I feel as though everything I do is connected together and working towards some kind of ultimate goal (again, TBD ???). All this is to say I want to find more reading on people with two or more different types of experience, because I can't be the only one.
I have such a hard time with my linked in profile. I find the site to be incredibly limiting which is a shame because it is hard to tell who people are based on the profile. I never really set a status because it is so informal compared to the rest of the site. It makes sense that people are more engaged by profiles with a status. I think I big part of having a linkedin profile is about being able to bring people's attention to an outside website, an online portfolio type thing which I do not have. That will probably be the next step in the online profile development on my part.
I usually would these articles have helpful tips, but in this case not so much. They do have good examples to reference and some tips on word usage. But overall, not so much in terms of actual content and where that content goes. I wouldn't even know how to make theater fit on there, let alone theater and Information Systems. However, I might just need more time to figure things out before I try putting it on LinkedIn.
This article has some great advice, especially for those of us who are just beginning to think about building a linkedIn profile. I think it will be easier for me to fully flush out a profile using all of the tips once i gain some more professional experience, but for now its good advice. I think a lot of the things that the article was talking about are just generally good professional presentation skills though. These are things that are very applicable to things like websites, resumes, and portfolios also, especially in an age where many times, this stuff is being communicated electronically.
I don't really like LinkedIn. I find it extremely limiting and like Lindsay, I have two different skill sets, but no way to accommodate both on my profile. I also feel that because it is open to so many different employers, and you don't want to close yourself off from any opportunities, there is no real way to make your profile targeted, like you would a resume for a specific job opening.
My question is how many employers actually look at linked in? I know many people have them but is it worth it? To me, it just seems like it is another social network that allows you to tell people all about your life. In this case, your professional life. I just don't really see why someone would have a linked in over just creating their own website.
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