Having a profile carefully built on LinkedIn, you could sense the benefits of the professional social network. Already counting more than 120 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is looking to expand its number of profiles even further. In addition, the recently announced strategy points to a wider integration of tools meant to help both recruiters and job searchers.
The common misconception hints that the typical LinkedIn user is in mid-40’s with a strong career and is looking to connect with his or her peers on LinkedIn. Students and college graduates generally feel that there is no real point of having a LinkedIn profile until they reach that stage in their professional life.
However, Lindsey Pollak, global spokesperson for LinkedIn, explained recently that precisely the contrary is truth. Young people looking to polish their professional brand, and to organize their professional relationships and references should be active on LinkedIn. The more thought put into building a strong profile on this network, the more chances of being selected for the desired jobs.
Pollak suggests following five steps for the aspiring young professionals in search for a career. Managing the professional brand is the first action to be taken, as recruiters will probably Google any prospective candidates and LinkedIn profile rank high in Google searches.
LinkedIn profiles also offer great tools to gather and display recommendations. It could prove very useful to have colleagues and employers posting their opinions about the working relationships, at the request of the users. Sometimes asking for a recommendation could also be a good pretext in reaching out to a former colleague.
Organizing professional relationships are also easy on LinkedIn. In addition, it could prove more convenient to keep the contacts made through a career separate from friends from other social media networks.
