Royal Oak Mirror, Novi News       


Takin' Care of Business: Taking advantage of Internet tools
June 25, 2009 

By Jeff Livermore, Ph.D. and Brenda Meller

            Many professionals are using the LinkedIn Web site for professional 
      networking. Most of the social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace 
      are intended for social use while LinkedIn is designed for professionals 
      to build a network of colleagues and contacts. You could think of your 
      LinkedIn page as an abbreviated version of a resume, attached to a list 
      of your professional contacts with some of the bells and whistles 
      associated with a Web page. The most common reasons to use LinkedIn are 
      finding a job, networking, and business development.

      LINKEDIN FOR YOUR JOB SEARCH

      In today's tough economy, LinkedIn can serve as the focal point of a job 
      search. Some employers and recruiting firms are using LinkedIn to find 
      candidates with specialized skills or backgrounds. If possible, start 
      using LinkedIn before you begin building your network and continue to use 
      LinkedIn after you find a new position. LinkedIn should become part of 
      your professional life. If you are already looking for work, it is not too 
      late to use LinkedIn.

      LINKEDIN FOR NETWORKING

      Many people use LinkedIn to develop and maintain their professional 
      contacts. Once you have opened your LinkedIn account at 
      http://www.linkedin.com/, you begin by building your profile of previous 
      employers, specialized business skills, and professional associations. You 
      then ask your business associates to join your network of contacts. When 
      they accept your invitation, they will be listed on your LinkedIn page as 
      one of your connections. When you are building your connections list, 
      please be aware that your professional credibility may be judged by who is 
      in your connections list as well as the breadth of your connections list. 
      You may want to diversify your connections across industries and 
      professional disciplines. Look for people who are already among the 
      millions of LinkedIn users as opposed to trying to recruit new LinkedIn 
      users.
      There is a feature on LinkedIn that allows you to recommend one of your 
      connections or for you to be recommended by other LinkedIn users. 
      Recommendations help build your creditability and make you more attractive 
      to employers or potential business partners. In addition, many 
      professional organizations such as the Walsh College Alumni Association 
      have a group page on LinkedIn that allows members of that group to form 
      connections based on common interest. Joining these groups paints a 
      picture of your interests and the types of professional associations that 
      you belong to. Groups also help you to find potential connections to round 
      out your professional network.


      LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

      LinkedIn is an excellent vehicle for business development. LinkedIn serves 
      an electronic Rolodex. Think of all the business cards that you have 
      collected over the years; you can use LinkedIn's search feature to track 
      down these colleagues to find where they are now. Not only can you renew 
      old acquaintances, you can reconnect with valuable potential business 
      opportunities. For example, one of the authors has a binder full of 
      business cards from a 30-year industry career that he has used to initiate 
      searches for all old friends and colleagues. LinkedIn allowed him to 
      reconnect with some old co-workers from Ford Motor in the 1980s.
      We have found LinkedIn to be a valuable job search and networking tool. 
      LinkedIn presents you as a professional to firms around the globe. 
      Whatever you put in your profile and whoever you add as a connection will 
      make a statement about you to everyone and every business that uses 
      LinkedIn to evaluate you as a business professional.

      Jeffrey A. Livermore, Ph.D., is the chair of Business Information 
      Technology and information Assurance at Walsh College. He teaches in the 
      BIT, Information Assurance, and Doctorate of Management in Executive 
      Leadership programs and is currently researching the ethics of teaching 
      information security. He can be reached at jlivermore@walshcollege.edu.

      Brenda Meller is the marketing manager at Walsh College and has experience 
      using social media tools such as LinkedIn.com, Facebook, and Twitter for 
      job search and networking. http://www.linkedin.com/in/brendameller.