Category Archives: Career Search

Dear College Students, here are 3 steps to take when connecting with your alumni on LinkedIn

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This is a follow-up of a post called Dear College Students, please the following 10 LinkedIn tips.

college student2Dear College Students,

Now that your profile is in tip top shape, it’s time to think about how, as a new college student, to connect with other LinkedIn members. It’s time to develop your online network.

To help you do this, LinkedIn has a neat feature called Find Alumni, which is located in the Connections drop-down menu. 

Why is it important that you’ve created a profile and must now develop your network? Because the sooner you start your network, the more useful it will be when you graduate and have to look for a job. An old adage is: in the working world, the best time to network is when you’re working. So it stands to reason the best time to network is while you’re in school.

Finding alumni with whom to connect

Assuming you haven’t made any connections with your alumni, which also include those who attended your alma mater before you arrived, you’ll want to connect with them because they’re probably currently working and may know of opportunities or, at least, people with whom you can connect.

First go to How You’re Connected to the far right of the second screen. Most likely you have very few, if any, 1st degree connections. That’s alright. Focus on your second degrees. Select your 2nd degrees by clicking on that bar. You’ll see the other categories shift, the numbers decrease. This narrows your search for potential alumni contacts.

If you’re a communications major, you’ll focus on people who are connected with you under What They Do, e.g., Media and Communication. Look at where they work, what they studied, what they’re skilled at. This will give you a sense of your commonalities, as well as some talking points when you connect with them.

Connecting with your alumni

The largest advantage you have is your common bond with people who are going to school with you or who have attended years before. When you attempt to connect with them through their profile, the option Classmate has already been chosen for you.

This is where, as an aspiring LinkedIn professional, you need to carefully craft your invite messages. Under no circumstances will you send the default LinkedIn invite; that’s plain laziness. Instead, you’ll write a personalized note, which will show the professionalism LinkedIn members expect from each other.

Note: Even though you can hit Connect under the person’s photo, it’s still best to open their profile and choose to connect after reading it thoroughly.

Here’s what you might write after reading your potential connection’s profile:

Dear Mr. Schmidt,

As you’re an alumnus at the University of Virginia and are in the field of Marketing Communications, I’d like to take this time to reach out and invite you to my network. I will contact you to see if we can be of assistance to each other.

Completing the process

Your new invite accepts your personalized invitation because both of you share an interest in Communications and, most importantly are alumni. In your invitation you mentioned being of assistance to Mr. Schmidt. Where many people fall down in the process is not following through.

Be true to your word by contacting him via e-mail when he accepts your invite. Also write down some questions you’d like to ask Mr. Schmidt regarding the line of work he does. Make them intelligent questions; don’t waste his time. Ask him if he might know of anyone who you could also speak with. Finally, tell him you’re at his disposal should he need assistance.

The process of building relationships can be  a long one, but because you’ve just begun your education, you have plenty of time developing long-lasting relationships. These are connections that can be of great help to you once you’ve graduated college.

Job Search Tip #2: Assess your work values

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In the last article we looked at the importance of beginning the job search almost immediately after losing a job. Now let’s look at assessing one’s work values, which is something people often overlook.

Wes Welker, a former wide-receiver for the New England Patriots, declared that the walkout of NFL players some three years ago was “pretty sad.” He further told reporters that he was happy when he played and never imagined he’d be making the money he was. It’s obvious he loved football.

This made me think of two things: one, there are professional players who wanted to play that season and two, money wasn’t everything to some. Surely pro athletes make more money than most of us could imagine, but for a pro athlete to almost imply that he was making more money than he should is remarkable and refreshing.

Perhaps the lesson we can take away from Wes Welker’s statement is that money doesn’t define the success of one’s career. What defines the success of one’s career is how rewarding it is. Yes, some would say that money is their most desired value; but it’s a known fact that the majority of employees hold other values closer to their heart.

In a workshop I deliver at our urban career center, I conduct an exercise on work values, asserting that we have values that make work rewarding. Many of the workshop attendees list values such as:

  • Achievement: Being able to meet your goals.
  • Balance: Time for family, work and play.
  • Independence: Control of your own destiny.
  • Influence: Able to have an impact on others.
  • Integrity: Stand up for your beliefs.
  • Honesty: Telling the truth and knowing that others are telling the truth.
  • Power: Control over others.
  • Respect: Care and trust of self and others.
  • Spirituality: Believing in your core beliefs.
  • Status: Having influence
  • Creativity: Able to express your personality in your work

Over the years our values may change. Some of our jobseekers now see health as their number one value, and this comes as no surprise as they are mature workers and our bodies are changing. Personally, I value balance, creativity, and autonomy. Like Welker, who now plays for the Denver Broncos, money is not my number one value.

In your search for a career, it’s important to to be fully aware of your values because having them met will make you happy and more productive. Not having them met will make you feel like Welker did when he was waiting for the kick-off of the season, a kick-off he probably would have returned for a touchdown.

Next Friday, we’ll look at assessing your skills.

3 ways introverts need to promote themselves in the job search

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I’m cleaning the house, going room to room, and come across a test sheet attached to the refrigerator with a magnet that says Welcome to Massachusetts. The test is one of my daughter’s and it says in large red ink, “100%!” Upon close inspection, I notice the test was taken in September of last year. I throw away the test.

I go to the living room and start watching the Celtics/Heat game and suddenly jump out of the seat. I stride to the trash. There I retrieve my daughter’s test sheet and put it back on the refrigerator.

I don’t do this because the test covers a stain on our refrigerator—I do this for a different reason. When my daughter attached her test to the fridge, she did it because she wanted to promote her achievement. I want her to know that self-promotion is acceptable.

My colleague, Wendy Gelberg, is a champion of introverts. I believe she would call my daughter’s act of tacking her test on the refrigerator a healthy way for a teenager to promote herself to her parents; and in fact we were very pleased when we first saw her grade…almost eight months ago.

Introverts who have a hard time promoting themselves must learn how to do it correctly. Especially when it comes to jobseekers who are trying to make a great impression in the job search. In her article, Alternatives to Self-Promotion, Wendy suggests three ways for introverts to promote themselves without looking boastful:

  1. Let others speak for you
  2. Bring a portfolio
  3. Report the facts.

Of the three ways mentioned in Wendy’s article, my daughter illustrates “bring a portfolio.” She is providing a visual aid for us when she attached it to the refrigerator. She can tell us every time she does well, but she feels that showing proof of her success would deliver the message more effectively.

“We all know that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words–and sometimes having some visual aids can help you promote yourself,” Wendy states.

The portfolio jobseekers show potential employers acts as a picture. Wendy gives “work samples, news articles, certificates/licenses, letters of praise, or other documents” as examples of bringing a portfolio. Bringing a  portfolio to the interview also helps introverts get over the fear of “boasting,” as it confirms to introverts of their accomplishments; it is concrete. Furthermore, employers are convinced of said accomplishments.

The third way to promote yourself in the job search, Report the Facts, is also imperative to doing well at the interview. This means you must back up what you claim. Wendy suggests answering question with the Problem-Action-Result (PAR) formula, and I agree. The PARs explain the skills you’ve demonstrated in the past and also uncover other valuable skills, skills the employers might not ask for but will be happy to hear.

The Celtics are down by nine points, the bathroom still needs to be cleaned, and I have to make dinner; but I’m feeling a sense of pride for what my daughter has accomplished, even if it was eight months ago. More to the point, I’m proud of her for realizing that self-promotion is necessary, even if it’s only for her parents. Self-promotion will be more important in her future job search. This is something I’m going to tell her when I have the chance, even though she’s only 16 years-old.

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900 ways I got to the top of LinkedIn’s expertise list

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Keywords3Over time I’ve enviously watched my LinkedIn connections rise toward the top of LinkedIn in their respective areas of expertise on LinkedIn.

When I’ve entered in Search words like LinkedIn, LinkedIn Strategist, Career Strategist, hoping to find myself, I’m no higher than the second page.

And every so often I check out their profiles to see how they’re using these keywords to get to the top of the list. I wonder if they’re gaming the system.  You know, loading their profiles with the aforementioned words. I’m happy to say I haven’t found one instance of this unethical practice; all my connections have integrity.

But I couldn’t help wonder where I would end up on the list of LinkedIn Strategist (currently I’m 13th on the list*) if I were to dump keywords onto my profile. I’ve seen it done…not by my connections, mind you. I came across one web designer who was so intent on being numero uno on LinkedIn’s ranking that he repeated the words “web design” over and over…like 400 bloody times.

It’s not only a matter of lost pride being on the second page of my fellow LinkedIn Strategists; I also wonder if I’ll go missed by someone who is looking for a person who can help him/her with their LinkedIn strategy and profile, something I’ve been doing for quite awhile now.

I reached out to one of my recruiter connections to see how many LinkedIn pages she goes through before giving up on her search for talent. She said she will read through three or four pages to find the right people to contact. And according to my recruiter friend, the second page–near the top of the second page–is nothing to sneeze at. Nonetheless, I so desperately want to be on at least the first page.

To see what it feels like to be on the first page, I created a company called LinkedIn Strategist, a title called LinkedIn Strategist, and I copied and pasted “LinkedIn Strategist” into the description 900 times. Wouldn’t you know, I shot immediately to the top of the LinkedIn Strategist list, above many of the deserving LinkedIn Strategists. And for a moment I felt pretty damn good. But only for a moment.

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* After writing this post–acting on the advice of a friend–I added a job I’ve been doing for awhile. I call it LinkedIn Strategy and give myself the title LinkedIn Strategist. I’ve also written a description of what services I offer–all legit. Well darn tooting if I’m now ranked on the first page, near the top as a LinkedIn Strategists.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

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Job search tip #1: Don’t wait too long to start the job search

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tip

Today begins job-search tip#1. Check back here next week to read tip #2.

It’s tempting to take a break after you’ve lost your job to recharge your batteries—live off the severance package and UI benefits, go on the three-week vacation you promised the family, or take the summer off—but this is a huge mistake.

As an example I give you a former customer of mine, a talented hardware/software engineer who did exactly what I mentioned above. He lived comfortably off his severance and UI benefits until he realized he had to get his butt in gear and look for work.

This was a year after being laid off from a job he’d held for more than 22 years. Fortunately he was able to land a job, but he lamented that he wished he’d started the process immediately after losing his job.

What are some of the pitfalls of taking too much time off before starting the job search?

1. There’ll be a learning curve. If you haven’t had to conduct a job search in many years—some people haven’t had to look for work for 10, 20, 30 years or more—you’ll soon realize the job search has changed dramatically.

My client who put off his job search didn’t realize the way resumes are written today has changed, had never used LinkedIn, and was unprepared for interview styles. He felt like a babe in the woods. But we worked on his confidence and things turned out all right.

2. Your employment gap is going to stand out on your résumé. Some companies won’t consider people who’ve been out of work for over a year, let alone three months. Unfair? Yes, but true.

The long-term unemployed (LTU), unemployed six months and longer, have a more difficult time of finding a job, regardless of their occupation. You must avoid this, if you can.

3. Your skills start to diminish, particularly if you’re in a highly technical occupation where software and hardware change dramatically. A solution to this conundrum is to pursue training in applications like PaaS, SQL Server, PageMaker, or get your PMP certification which is often required for project management jobs.

Lack of job-related, or technical, skills is a huge complaint of employers who are trying to fill positions. Despite the large number of people unemployed, employers are screaming that their’s a skills gap. This enforces the need to stay on top of required skills.

It’s understandable that you’ll need time to get over the trauma of  losing your job and to develop a strategy to penetrate the job market, so some time of reflection—not to be confused with self-pity—is healthy.

Give yourself a week, at most, to get over the shock of losing your job and then put your best effort in beginning your job search. It will be hard at first but eventually you’ll generate momentum and see the job search for what it is, a challenge.

Check back next week for Tip #2!

Photo: Flickr, vamsi

“Hey, listen up” revisited. 4 thoughts on listening

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I wrote this blog more than a year ago, but I continue to encounter people who haven’t mastered the art of listening. These people would prefer to talk over actively listening. The short anecdote below illustrates what I mean.

I recall a time when my father was shopping for a car. In his mind he had a series of questions for the eager salesperson—who had been trained to go over all the bells and whistles with the potential buyer—and wanted clear, concise answers.

The salesperson proceeded to introduce himself and launch into a monologue on all the interior features of the car, before my father even had a chance to ask about the performance of the car—the engine’s power and mileage. My father could have cared less for the seat warmer, radio controls on the steering wheel, and climate control.

Needless to say the sales person didn’t have a chance to get my father to take a test drive and certainly didn’t get good ole’ Dad into the buyer’s chair. The sale was lost before it began, and it’s too bad because my father was a willing buyer at that moment. The sales person had failed at the art of listening.

The art of listening is never as imperative as it is when you’re at a networking event. Those who attend these meetings know that one of the main goals is to show your willingness to listen and share advice and information. Here you must not only acknowledge the person with whom you’re speaking by maintaining eye contact, smiling, holding a firm posture, etc.; you must also process the information for follow-up conversations, if appropriate. Thus, active listening is an essential component of networking.

The appearance of listening is not only important; actually hearing what the person is saying is paramount. One of the tricks to help you remember what someone says is to jot down notes on the back of the person’s business card, much like taking handwritten notes at an interview. But mainly you must enter a conversation with complete willingness to listen, resisting the urge to speak until it’s your turn. Many people are formulating what they’re going to say and, therefore, are not actively listening to the person with whom they’re speaking.

The art of listening is just as important when you’re engaged in superficial networking. Let me give you an example of a recent interaction I had with a basketball dad who will be out of work in a week’s time. He will be looking for a new position in engineering in the defense industry. Even though I was there to watch my son play ball, I was listening to the man’s current situation, what type of company he’d like to work for next, what his skills and strengths are, etc. I now have my antennae up and will certainly keep my ears to the pavement for him. Some believe that more jobs are gained through superficial networking than organized networking.

Who make better listeners, introverts or extraverts? Extraverts are better verbal communicators and feel more comfortable “working a room,” whereas introverts prefer the intense one-on-one conversations with a few people. Hence, introverts will give you that undivided attention and process more of what you say. This is the theory, at least.

I’m an introvert and wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a great listener unless what the other person has to say is of great interest to me. I work with extraverts who are great listeners, though they tend to talk a lot. So this theory is a generalization at best, in my mind.

Listen and follow up. Master networker Joe Sweeney, Networking is a Contact Sport; harps on the importance of follow-up. To keep people in your network, whether in business or in the job hunt, you must follow up with the people you meet. Without listening intently to what they say and jotting down notes on the back of their business cards, this can be difficult when it comes to recalling a conversation you had four days ago. How uncomfortable would it be to call someone you met at an event and say, “Hi, Bob, I’m just calling to follow up on our brief chat the other night, but I can’t remember what we spoke about”? It would be very uncomfortable.

Sweeney writes, “Be a great listener and ask open-ended questions. Remember, God gave you two ears and one mouth, so use them in proportion.” I think this sums up the importance of listening when it comes to networking.

I’ll reveal my little secret. I sold cars as a young adult. I was terrible at it for various reasons, but one thing I knew how to do was wait for the customer to tell me what he was looking for in a car. I resisted the urge to launch into the benefits of the Subarus I sold. For this reason, I never had someone walk away before a test drive. It was during the test drive that I lost many of my sales. We all have to realize that listening is key in effective communications, whether we’re selling cars or networking.

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Checklist for 26 job-search topics for the New Year

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For Christmas my wife sent me to the grocery store for various ingredients for our holiday dinner. I knew trying to remember all the ingredients was going to challenge my waning memory, so I asked her to write a list of said ingredients.

She rolled her eyes but understood how important it was for me to return with the proper ingredients–so important that her list numbered in the area of 25.

The lesson I learned from my shopping spree–by the way, I got all ingredients–was that it was akin to the list of must do’s in the job search.

In reading the list of must do’s below, ask yourself if you’re doing each one in your job search. For example, do you have an elevator speech? Have you attended informational meetings? Consider this the checklist below a partial list of your “ingredients” for the job search.

  1. Understand your workplace values.
  2. Determine what you want to do…what you really want to do. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a great tool.
  3. Hannah Morgan, Career Sherpa, suggests, “a personal marketing plan. It ensures better information gathering during networking meetings and more proactive rather than reactive job search actions.”
  4. Ask for an informational meeting to talk to someone to make sure you’re on the right track, or to introduce yourself to a company.
  5. Assess your skills and accomplishments. Make a list for both.
  6. Learn how to write your résumé. Attend workshops offered by your college or local career center.
  7. Write a targeted résumé with highlighted experience and accomplishments.
  8. Write a cover letter template, which will later be targeted for particular positions.
  9. Create a personal commercial or elevator speech which explains your value to the employer.
  10. Determine how you’ll approach the job search, making networking your primary method.
  11. Join LinkedIn with full intention of engaging, not using it as a place mat on the Internet.
  12. Copy and paste the contents of your new résumé to your LinkedIn profile, which you’ll modify to be a better networking tool.
  13. Develop a networking list that includes past colleagues and managers, as well as others who we’ll call your superficial connections.
  14. Formally let people know you’re out of work. How can they help you if they don’t know you’re looking?
  15. Develop business cards for your business—the product you’re selling is you.
  16. Attend networking events. Make sure you bring your business cards.
  17. Follow up with everyone with whom you’ve conversed and exchanged business cards.
  18. Send approach letters/e-mails to companies for which you’d like to work.
  19. Organize your job search by keeping track of your inquiries, contacts, résumés sent out, etc.
  20. Prepare for telephone interviews. Make sure all of the above written communications are in place.
  21. Ask for mock interviews which should be recorded and critiqued by a professional career consultant.
  22. Do your research on the jobs and the companies to which you apply.
  23. Double check your first impression, including attire, body language, small talk, and portfolio.
  24. Be prepared to answer the difficult questions concerning job-related, transferable, and personality skills.
  25. Have your stories ready using the STAR formula.
  26. Write thank you notes via e-mail or hard copy.

Have you been doing everything on this list, or the majority of them? If you are missing any of the above, make sure to nail them this year. Let me know of others I’m missing. Perhaps we can double this list. And yes, the meal was excellent.

My nomination for person of the year for 2013

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On December 11, 2013, Time announced its Person of the Year, Pope Francis. I suspect because of his stance on the poor, women, divorce, and marriage. Or maybe because he chooses to live in a spare hostel surrounded by priest, rather than in the papal palace.

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Last year I declared my Person of the Year; and because I believe in tradition, I will again announce my Person of the Year. This may come as no surprise to many of you; I am going with the same “person.”

The Jobseeker.

Although the Jobseeker is not the Pope–who prays all the time, even while at the dentist–he or she demonstrated dignity and professionalism, networked and paid it forward, wrote compelling marketing material resulting in interviews, and finally (after more than a year, in some cases), landed a job. Or maybe not.

There were many Jobseekers who demonstrated true heroism throughout the entire year, simply by the way they handled themselves. They:

  • Woke up every morning to put in a full day of hunting for work, leaving no stones upturned and considering every possibility.
  • Maintained that screw-the-economy-I-will-get-a-job attitude.
  • Knew that every day was a day when they might have run into a person who could hire them, or someone who knew a person who could hire them.
  • Took a break every once and awhile to recharge their batteries, but not too long of a break. A day or two at the most. They even networked during the holidays.
  • Followed their career plan of revising their résumé, creating a list of companies they research and contacted, building a LinkedIn profile that meets today’s standards, and other best practices.
  • Attended workshops and took advantage of job-search pundits’ advice, learning that things have changed in the past ten years, but, nonetheless, trudge on.
  • Accepted and embraced the Hidden Job Market, making penetrating it a priority in their job-search plan.
  • Attended interview after interview until they hit a home run with an employer smart enough to hire them. The Jobseeker will never give up, despite the challenges they encounter.
  • Never forgot the important things in life, like family and friends, and taking care of their health. They didn’t let the job search consume them.
  • Faced despondency or depression with courage and perseverance.

These are just a few of the reasons why The Jobseeker  is my Person of the Year. If you think of other reasons, let me know by commenting on this article. I think I should send my reasons to Time and demand a recount.

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What the Hunger Games shows us about the job search

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Join me in reminiscing about the first Hunger Games movie and the Hidden Job Market. The scene where all but two of the Tributes–one being Katniss– rush to the weapons is analogous to how the smartest jobseekers go where the majority of the jobs are, unadvertised. 

Almost two years ago I saw The Hunger Games with my daughter and one of her friends. When we got into a discussion about the various scenes in the movie, we all agreed that Rue’s death was the saddest.

There’s another scene I would classify as more bloody and kick-you-in-the-gut than sad. It’s when the tributes race from their platforms and charge to the Cornucopia to get the weapons of their choice.

Wham, like 12 kids get wiped out. It’s at this point when I thought this is not an appropriate movie for two 14-year-olds or, for that matter, me. It began to look like a scene out of Platoon or the Deer Hunter on steroids.

Prior to this scene, Haymitch tells  Katniss to head for the high grounds, not the weapons. “Water will be your best friend,” he advises. The things-career-related freak I am, I immediately saw a parallel to the career search and this scene.

Obviously the higher grounds, where the water is, represents networking one’s way to the Hidden Job Market, where 80% of the jobs exist unbeknownst to many jobseekers. It appears only two people in the movie make this wise move, Katniss and Peeta, while the others go for the desirable weapons and other goods.

The Cornucopia and the weapons, on the other hand, signify the advertised jobs, representing 20% of the available jobs. The tributes who race all at once for the weapons are the majority of jobseekers vying for the measly number of available jobs. Don’t you see it?

You may think it’s silly to equate a scene in a teenage movie to the job search and, further, you may think me a lunatic. But you don’t know me; I’m always thinking about how the job search relates to…almost anything. In this case, it’s about taking control you your job search. Shuck off the job boards (the Cornucopia), The Hunger Games tells us, and unlock the HJM.

Haymitch’s advice was wise and followed by Katniss, thus saving her life. Certainly the makers of The Hunger Games didn’t devise that scene with the job search in mind. It was merely to point out the best and worst way to survive in a battle to the death, albeit a bit extreme to compare it to the job search, that’s the way I see it. Are you as obsessed with the job search as I am? Probably not.

Beginners’ guide to using LinkedIn effectively

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linkedinThis is a guest post from Rich Grant, a valued LinkedIn connection and college Career Advisor. He has a great way of explaining how to teach LinkedIn to beginners. 

When I meet with students – two to four each day – in my college’s career center I almost always ask, do you use LinkedIn? Most students say “yes’” but the real question we start exploring is, are you using LinkedIn effectively?

I’m pleased that almost every college junior or senior I meet with has a LinkedIn profile. Very few students, however, have taken full advantage of the networking power of LinkedIn. This is where I come in. I love showing students the nooks and crannies of LinkedIn.

I typically have about 10 – 15 minutes within a 30-minute appointment to provide students with an overview of LinkedIn. That’s just about enough time to cover the basics. So, here is my 10-minute tutorial on using LinkedIn to make connections and as a resource in a job or internship search.

Defining LinkedIn. For students who have not seen LinkedIn, I tell them about the similarities to Facebook (connecting with people, posting a status and / or links, joining groups, etc) and then quickly add, But it’s NOT Facebook! I also explain that social media networking (LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, and others) does not replace traditional face-to-face networking, but it complements your overall networking efforts.

About the profile. I talk briefly about how to beef up your profile. Don’t set up a bare-bones profile and think you’re done. Change / expand your headline, create a summary, and describe each job with appropriate key words. Add skills and highlight projects. I talk with students about posting a professional profile photo and customizing their URL, both of which are easily found when you’re in “edit profile” mode.

Making connections. With whom should you connect? Initially, I tell new LinkedIn users to connect only with people they know and trust who also know them reasonably well. I explain the concept of 2nd degree and 3rd degree connections, that is, your connections’ connections and so on. If you connect with people who know you well, you will have better success in getting referred to your 2nd degree connections. I tell students to avoid the “LinkedIn Open Networkers” known by their acronym LION (a better description might be “Spread-thin LinkedIn Unselective Trolls”)

Participating in groups. Find your college’s alumni group and seek groups within your professional interests. Don’t just join groups, participate in them. Post discussion topics, comment on discussions. Engage with people within groups… you know, be “social” on “social media.”

Using “advanced” search. Click “advanced” to the right of the search bar. On the left side, you’ll see several fields. You can search on one variable or multiple variables. I usually show students how to search on keywords, company, college (filling in the name of our college), and zip code. You can also search by industry. I run through a couple of searches to show how easy it is to identify relevant 2nd degree connections.

Now what? Once you find a 2nd degree connection that you’d like to contact, you can see who your common connections are. You can get in touch with your connection or connections to facilitate getting through to the person you don’t know. In my job searches, I would typically contact my connections by phone or email. You can also message people on LinkedIn, or from the 2nd degree connection’s profile, click on the down arrow by the “In Mail” button and use the “get introduced” feature. It’s worth repeating a key point: connect only with people you know and who know you. If you identify a 2nd degree connection, it’s no use to you if your common connection is a LION in another country.

Basics of networking. I would be remiss if I just showed the technical aspects of LinkedIn, so I talk with students about proper networking etiquette. As you start reaching out to your 2nddegree connections, you need to follow the same guidelines / protocol as you would if you were meeting someone at a networking event… or meeting someone new on campus. You wouldn’t meet someone for the first time, and say, nice to meet you; let’s rent an apartment together. Don’t come on strong. Build a rapport before you ask for anything. Get to know people first, and don’t put them on the spot.

As you connect with new people on LinkedIn, it’s important to build your relationship with an information-seeking perspective rather than jumping in and asking about job openings. That’s a conversation killer. Most students I meet with truly can benefit from exploring career options by having conversations with people who work in those career fields (aka “informational interviewing”). Most professionals are willing to help college students who are looking into potential career fields. And by using LinkedIn properly and effectively, your connections most likely will be willing and able to help you get in touch with their connections, provided they are also connecting with people whom they know and trust.

This has been my quick tour of LinkedIn that I provide to new users of LinkedIn. I rarely talk about job postings on LinkedIn; to me, LinkedIn is about networking. I have started to show students “University Pages” found under the “Interests” pull-down menu (look for “Education”)

What do you show new LinkedIn users in your overview?

Rich Grant ● http://www.richcareer.net

Photo C. 2013 by Fred Fieldfredfield.comRich Grant has a background in business planning, freelance writing and higher education. Rich was recently the director of career services at a small four-year college in Maine and is currently filling an interim role as a career adviser and internship coordinator at a private college. He serves as the president of two professional associations. Find Rich on LinkedIn and Twitter, and become a regular visitor to his blog where he imparts his words of wisdom once or twice a week.