The other day I met with a client who's a professional in his 40's who is not on LinkedIn. He admitted this fact rather sheepishly, and was not surprised when I "assigned" him the task of joining it and setting up his network.
It's time to get over your fear of transparency or procrastination or whatever it is that is keeping you from bothering to join LinkedIn! Even if you're not looking for a new job, get on there. Like it or not, LinkedIn has become an incredibly useful tool to build and maintain your contacts, and in today's climate, working your contacts is Job #1.
One caveat: don't join LinkedIn if you're not willing to commit. By commit I mean bothering to set up a complete profile, and by complete profile I mean writing compelling copy about yourself, getting recommendations from others and writing recommendations.
Like any other tool, LinkedIn is only helpful if you use it. Signing up and not showing up gets you the same results as paying for the gym membership and staying home to watch TV.
It's easy to prowl around on the site and learn about its features, but there are also more ways you can learn how best to take advantage of LinkedIn. Here are just a few:
- The official blog
- Linked Intelligence, the unofficial source for all things LinkedIn
- I'm on LinkedIn, Now What? It's a book by Jason Alba, and there's a blog, too.
So what are you waiting for?
I'd love to hear your story about how LinkedIn has helped you in your career.
