LinkedIn for the Beginner Part 3

For the past couple of days we have been discussing how to get started on LinkedIn.  The first post dealt with the benefits of using LinkedIn, getting your profile setup and getting your contacts into LinkedIn.  The 2nd post focused on uploading contacts and searching for specific individuals/companies.  We now jump into even more LinkedIn features and how to utilize them.  

1. RECOMMENDATIONS on LinkedIn not only provide a personal commentary about you, they link to the person providing the recommendation, allowing the reader to check up on the person providing the recommendation.
   1. TO RECEIVE, ONE MUST GIVE.  You want recommendations?  Provide some recommendations.  Doing so also puts you on other’s profiles.  If you provide a recommendation, be sure it is personalized.  If possible include specific examples of the person’s skill set.
   2. REQUESTING.  Do not use the Request Recommendation feature.  If you know someone well enough to ask him/her for a recommendation do so verbally, being careful to state that doing so is completely up to that person.  Do not push a request for a recommendation as that is sure to backfire. 
2. REFERENCE SEARCH.  If you would like a reference from someone who worked with a particular individual, use the Reference Search tool under People.
3. WHO'S VIEWED MY PROFILE.  This feature tells you how much exposure you have.  You can find it on your LinkedIn Home.
4. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?
   1. WHAT AND WHY.  This is your current status.  Update it whenever you visit LinkedIn.  State truthfully what you are doing or what you are interested in but try to make it of interest to those visiting your profile. 
   2. NO OLD STATUS.  Since you will not update this status daily, remember, this post may be on your profile for multiple days.  After 5 days, LinkedIn will remove your status so that you do not have an old status on your profile.
   3. SHOULD I?  Having a current status on LinkedIn is up to you.  If you do not update your status, your profile will simply not have one.  I recommend you update your status weekly as the status is another means of engaging the person reading your profile.
5. ANSWERS AND GROUPS:  
   1. ANSWERS.  LinkedIn calls this feature Answers rather than Questions.  Users pose questions and others answer the questions.
   2. GROUPS.  These are essentially affinity groups. 
   3. JOINING GROUPS:  Join Groups of interest to you.  You will be
      personally invited to some, others you will find on your own by using
      the Groups Search in the top right of any LinkedIn page.  You will
      quickly learn which groups are active and useful to you.  Groups with
      OPEN in the title encourage folks in the group to request connections
      to others in the group.   You can change the Settings per group so as
      not to clutter your inbox with messages you are not interested in
      receiving.  Within the particular group choose Settings to adjust your
      Contact Settings.  You can also choose whether or not a particular
      Group’s icon is publicly displayed on your Profile.
   4. ANSWERING QUESTIONS AND TOPICS: Some folks provide answers in the Answers feature of LinkedIn as a means of helping establishing themselves as an expert.  Similarly, this is also why folks respond to topics in Group Discussions. Both the Answers and the Groups Discussions can truly be a means of accessing experts.  Experts want to be heard so they watch for questions they can answer.  If you want to be regarded as an expert, and you have the time to sort through the non-questions, respond to questions and topics on Answers and Discussions.  If you are short on time, I recommend skipping this feature as both Questions and Topics can be filled with promotional non-questions/non-discussion items.
   5. POSING QUESTIONS AND TOPICS.  If you need expert advice, Answers or Discussions can be a very useful tool.  Because others want to be seen as experts, it is likely you will receive multiple responses.
6. JOB POSTINGS:  LinkedIn pays their bills with job posting fees collected.  If you are job searching be sure to check out the Job postings on LinkedIn.  If you find a position of interest look at the Posted By to see how close of a connection you have with the person who posted the position.  If the connection is too distant, enter the company’s name in the Search People to determine if you have a closer connection than the person who posted the position.

Whew, enough?  Want more?  Next up we'll get into the LinkedIn Applications.  Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Post ‘em here.  No question is too simple.