A Week of LinkedIn

Are you on LinkedIn? If NOT, why not?

Did you know these recent LinkedIn statistics…?

• 147 Million members worldwide (96.6 Million in North America and Europe)

• More than 2 Million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages

• Executives representing all 2011 Fortune 500 companies have profiles

• Over 40% of members are a Manager, Director, Owner, Chief Officer or Vice President

• 38% of members earn income over $100K

An article on Fox Business recently listed five reasons you should have a LinkedIn profile.

Note – for 2012, I will carry over one of my 2011 goals: Act rather than react. I will add an action item to each reason to join and use LinkedIn.

1. RESEARCH CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Without a question, the ability to find job opportunities on LinkedIn has become easier than any other resource. Some companies will post job openings only on LinkedIn. You have the ability to connect with professionals within the companies that are hiring. Also, the number of professional recruiters on LinkedIn has skyrocketed. You can research the company on LinkedIn and in most cases the leadership will have LinkedIn profiles for your review. The HR manager will most likely be on LinkedIn as well.

Action: Find the company you want to work for on LinkedIn and the employees will be listed that are on LinkedIn. Search the profiles of the employees and join the same groups they are members. Invite strategic employees to connect and patiently network.