Now that you’ve got your profile looking all shiny and new, it’s time to start connecting with people and creating a solid foundation of contacts that can shape, influence and help develop your career. Part 2 – growing your online network.

 

7: How to grow your network

The easiest way to do this is to sync your profile with your email address book. This will then bring up a list of connections that you can vet before sending a connection request to.

I try to be more personal when connecting with people by sending them a message with the request. It takes no more than 30 seconds to do this and gives the person an idea of why you want to connect.

 

If someone sends you a connection request/accepts yours, don’t be afraid to send them a message to thank them for connecting. Best to not go in with a sales pitch in the first message, as this tends to rub people up the wrong way!

 

8: Request recommendations

Recommendations are as good as a reference in some ways. They are personal testimonials written to illustrate the experience of working with you. There’s a drop-down menu in the recommendations section of your profile, that makes it easy to select a contact you want to ask to recommend you. Have a think about who and why someone would recommend you and when you send the request, make it personal.

 

If a colleague, ex-boss, mentor/mentee has gone out their way to recommend you, then this is always a good sign. You can recommend them back too – but both are visible on your profile, so keep it professional!

 

I never look at people’s endorsements when I’m sourcing for a role. I’ve been endorsed by nearly 100 people for finance. None of them have ever worked for me, some never met or even spoke to me….list your skills and if you get endorsed for them, great. If not, it’s not the end of the world.

 

Creating content

Now that you’ve got the profile and you’ve got the connections, it’s time to start creating some content.

 

Having an active and engaged profile on LinkedIn is a great way to show your enthusiasm, passion and understanding for your industry, and can be perfect to demonstrate this to future employers/employees.

 

9: Share content:

Sharing news which is relevant to your industry, business or your interests can help people understand what makes you tick and what you’re trying to get from LinkedIn. This will increase profile views, connection requests and general engagement. It also shows passion and commitment to what you do!

 

10: Like & comment:

Depending on what you want from LinkedIn, it’s important to engage with content and like/comment on posts to get noticed. Maybe you’re looking for a new job? By actively showing an interest in possible employee’s content gives a good first impression before you’ve even met them! A comment expressing a viewpoint starts to establish your opinion and thought-leadership. This will encourage other connections to comment, meaning your profile becomes more visible to non-connections.

 

12. Publish an article

In my opinion, this is one of the most underused functions on LinkedIn.

 

Publications is a feature on LinkedIn to showcase your knowledge, opinions and to give advice. They also give you a great chance to stand out from your competition. Maybe it’s an eBook or blog that you have written relating to your profession – use your expertise and interests to grow your network on LinkedIn. If people like what you write, then they will follow you to keep up with any future content you post.

 

So that’s it, my complete guide on creating a compelling LinkedIn profile! You can email me at sam@refind.co.uk.

 

To view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.