LinkedIn Mania (Career Services Write Up)

So, as I am currently living in LA, I am unable to attend the career service events for the class.  However, as me and my coworker (also in this internship class) have found, there are a vast library of webinars available for ASU students.  To make up for my career service event, I chose to watch a webinar from November 15^th by Jennifer Rhodes.  The webinar is titled “How do I use LinkedIn for Networking and a Jo Search”.

I chose this webinar for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, I will be graduating next summer and could use any small advantage possible.  Second, I have been meaning to create a LinkedIn profile for a couple years now, but have never really gotten around to utilizing one.  I did actually start one about a year ago with the help of a friend, but I have not looked at it since that first day.  Needless to say, I don’t even know what LinkedIn is capable of.  I found this webinar very inspiring and informative.  I would recommend any student who is curious to check it out.  It was 56 minutes well spent. 

The first thing that jumped out at me was that the presenter highlighted that LinkedIn is a great networking tool.  She shared a statistic that over 70% of available jobs are never even posted.  This means that establishing networks and connections will likely be the most important method of finding a job opportunity. 

Another interesting recommendation that stuck out to me was to look up your interviewers on LinkedIn before going into an interview.  This is one way to gather background information and provide you with topics to use in conversation.  I guess it is like Facebook stalking, only to find a job rather than spy on your friends J. 

That said, all of the bells and whistles that are found on LinkedIn remind me of Facebook.  The LinkedIn interface allows you to input much more information than would be warranted on a resume.  You can get recommendations from previous employers and coworkers, or even upload presentations or previous work that you have accomplished.  You can even see key anniversary dates (hiring or promotion date) of those in your network.  This way you can congratulate them to maintain communication.  (I guess this is akin to the birthday feature on Facebook)

For anyone who is not a wiz at LinkedIn, I would recommend you go here to listen to this webinar.  I realize that I am not fully using all the tools that I have at my disposal.  I know what I will be doing tonight J.