LinkedIn is a professional networking site with over 225 million members across 200 countries and territories making use of the services. Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has helped countless people find their dream job.
A legacy begins
What started out as a small website for professionals to keep in touch with each other, has grown into a reckonable force that brings guaranteed success. LinkedIn's management team is made up of seasoned executives from companies like Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, TiVo, PayPal, and Electronic Arts.
As a publicly held and diversified business, LinkedIn's revenues come from member subscriptions, advertising sales and talent solutions. Given its current growth and popularity, LinkedIn is now almost the new resume.
Replace or complement?
Some habits die hard; just as the older generations read physical newspapers out of force of habit till date, so does the paper resume continue to remain in existence. However, it wouldn't seem too far-fetched to assume that LinkedIn today is as important if not more, than the traditional resume.
Studies show:
Head-hunters spend under six seconds of looking at a resume before deciding whether or not to call the potential candidate for an interview.
Head-hunters spend under six seconds of looking at a resume before deciding whether or not to call the potential candidate for an interview.
So, the task for a job-seeker to get the recruiter's attention is difficult enough. On top of that, most recruiter's today also look up potential candidates on LinkedIn. In fact, it's their first 'go-to' tool when it comes to checking up on an applicant's background.
In such a situation it is important to have an optimized, updated LinkedIn profile. After all, the last thing you want is for your paper resume to impress a recruiter, only for him to find a shoddy LinkedIn profile and thereby kill any chance of you getting an interview call.
The Google of Employment
We live in an age where 'Googling' something is commonplace, transforming Google into a verb. Just as Google is to information search, LinkedIn is to job search. While LinkedIn is a great place for job-seekers to find information and job leads, it also works the other way round. Whenever prospective employers want to hire a new person, besides going through the usual channels such as advertising on job portals and going through recruitment agencies, they also run a search on LinkedIn.
Imagine not having a LinkedIn profile in the first place! You've already taken yourself out of the running in this case. Thus, it is extremely important to have a LinkedIn profile. In such scenarios, it is almost like a substitute resume - it tells the employer about your past work experience, skill-sets, qualities you are adept at (by way of endorsements) and also your personality traits (by way of descriptions that you include about yourself, or through recommendations from others).
Imagine not having a LinkedIn profile in the first place! You've already taken yourself out of the running in this case. Thus, it is extremely important to have a LinkedIn profile. In such scenarios, it is almost like a substitute resume - it tells the employer about your past work experience, skill-sets, qualities you are adept at (by way of endorsements) and also your personality traits (by way of descriptions that you include about yourself, or through recommendations from others).
Case in point
Stories abound about how LinkedIn has been useful in helping individuals and even companies carving out successful careers for themselves, thanks to this wonderful tool. For example, Jay Graves, a technology and marketing consultant, almost lost his client (a Fortune 500 company) because his company wasn't listed as approved vendor for email marketing by any big consulting companies. He then found someone who gave him a step-by-step tutorial in going about the process of becoming a ranked service provider, at no charge. Needless to say, as a result of this gentleman's help, Graves' company was listed as a 'strong performer' in a major consulting company's annual report on email marketing.
Networking first
Thus, LinkedIn is an important networking tool. You never know who you might come across or who might chance upon your profile in this virtual world. Just as you might hand out paper resumes at a job fair in the hope that some company calls you for an interview (and often companies 'poach' resumes from other companies' databases and as a result people who might've applied to company A get call ups from company B instead), likewise, LinkedIn is a tool that can come in handy similarly. you never know where that call might come from; it could even be just someone from a shared interest group on LinkedIn (for instance a fellow 'Freelance Writers' group member).
Thus, LinkedIn is an important networking tool. You never know who you might come across or who might chance upon your profile in this virtual world. Just as you might hand out paper resumes at a job fair in the hope that some company calls you for an interview (and often companies 'poach' resumes from other companies' databases and as a result people who might've applied to company A get call ups from company B instead), likewise, LinkedIn is a tool that can come in handy similarly. you never know where that call might come from; it could even be just someone from a shared interest group on LinkedIn (for instance a fellow 'Freelance Writers' group member).
The perfect LinkedIn profile
So treat your LinkedIn profile just as you would your resume - with diligence and attention to detail, and it just might land you a job. But if you don't have a clue how to do that, worry not; we at Style Resumes will make sure that your LinkedIn profile reflects the best that you have to offer. Let us carve out the perfect LinkedIn profile for you and wait for those interview messages and calls!
About the Author
Go to http://www.styleresumes.com to get one step closer to your dream job!
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