LinkedIn or Linked out

Last week, I heard a lecture given on the advantages of using LinkedIn from Geralyn Mitchell, a career counselor of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Appalachian State University.

During her presentation, she used her own profile to showcase what the well-finished product looks like. She outlined how to find new connections and how to go about connecting with people you don’t already know. She emphasized the importance of keeping ‘resume information’, such as past employment and educational history well updated. Not underestimating the usefulness of volunteer experiences and featured skills, as well as endorsements for those skills from other LinkedIn users was also encouraged.

Geralyn also talked about LinkedIn’s uses beyond the user’s personal profile, such as job listings and even the home page or ‘newsfeed’, where users can post articles and other helpful links for their connections to see. From a purely social media aspect, LinkedIn can also help you keep connected with your friends and former coworkers from a business standpoint, seeing when they change positions or companies.

While I have owned a LinkedIn account for some time, I was more or less ignoring it and not using it effectively. Geralyn’s talk helped me strengthen my account and also learn about other ways I can utilize LinkedIn that I was not already aware of.