Top Five Tips for Using LinkedIn Effectively

By Deborah Katz Solomon, Coach and Career Advisor

Want to grow your professional network in 2011? Here are five tips to help you use LinkedIn to boost your business development or job search efforts:

1. Cast a wide net. Look beyond your immediate circle of active contacts and reach out to those with whom you have lost touch over the years. It’s never too late to reconnect, so consider sending invites to former colleagues, clients, classmates, co-counsel, opposing counsel, friends, and former neighbors. LinkedIn is a socially acceptable tool for getting back in touch, even if it has been five years or more.
2. Send a personal note. Rather than use LinkedIn’s automatically generated language when sending an invitation to connect, take a minute to write a sentence or two of your own. Express your interest in connecting (or reconnecting) and perhaps add a question or reference to the common link you share.
3. Update your profile. Fill in the details of your employment and educational history with your current goals in mind. For example, if your focus this year is business development, highlight work experience and matters that are most relevant to the clients you wish to attract. If your focus is a job transition, sharpen your brand by showcasing experience in the area or role in which you’d like to transition.
4. Monitor your network. Sign up for the weekly LinkedIn Update email, which will automatically brief you when your contacts make changes to their profiles. Use this free service as a prompt to reach out with a personal note of congratulations when your contacts change jobs, earn promotions or add something noteworthy to their profiles.
5. Offer and request introductions. In addition to getting back in touch and following your contacts’ professional moves, challenge yourself to use LinkedIn to help your contacts by making introductions or referrals. Similarly, do not hesitate to request introductions to your contacts’ direct connections. These introductions are especially helpful during job searches, including the informational interview stage, and to prepare for client development pitches.