Your LinkedIn Body of Evidence

If you’re on LinkedIn to improve your career, or to keep your options open, yet all you do is “connect” with people and maybe once a year visit the site, sigh enviously over the sterling careers other people seem to enjoy, and then, grumpily, log off in a hurry, wondering why you even bother…well, now that’s something that both you and I can agree on. You might be surprised at how many individuals come to me, with 500+ connections, wondering, “I don’t even get it, Carlota, what’s the point of LinkedIn, anyway?! I have all these connections, why won’t they help me?”

Good question! Have you tried to help anyone on LinkedIn? Do you even know what kind of help you want? (Oh, Carlota, you and your weird fetish for logic…when will you ever learn?)

LinkedIn isn’t all things to all people, but if used correctly, it can actually be very useful to many people. Today, I’m going to give you some quickie ways to help LinkedIn help you.

1. Think of LinkedIn as your living, breathing body of (professional) evidence, so instead of telling people that you’re awesome at your field, why not show them? (“Carlota, you so smart!” *giggles, tosses hair* “Oh, you, stop…!”) Share photos from the conferences you attend, attach articles you’ve writen, or videos you’ve made. Over time those photos, videos, articles, books are going to confer their own authority on your resume. You can tell me, till you’re blue in the face, that you’re a hard-hitting journalist…or you can routinely share your articles and videos, giving me a reason to become engaged in your work, and thus a reason to think, “Wow, Joe really is a talented journalist.” Eventually, other people will start sharing and commenting on your work, which means that eventually more and more people will know you and engage with you, eventually growing your professional opportunities.

2. Tag people. Earlier this month, my friend Marie Segares and I spoke at BlogHer2015, and the next day, on my LinkedIn status, I shared that photo, tagging both Marie and the BlogHer2015 group. That means, that anyone who is following either Marie, and/or BlogHer2015 will see my photo in their feed. Anyone who gets on LinkedIn and does a search for Marie Segares or BlogHer2015 will see my photo. Before you roll your eyes and vomit, this isn’t about just one photo, but about contributing to my overall social media presence as an expert coach. (Now, you can roll your eyes and vomit. Jealousy is a disease, haters, get well soon!) I tag photos from my various workshops and events, articles I’ve written for sites like Huffington Post, this blog,  career articles I’m quoted in….see what I did there? I’ve had clients tell me that they’ve been following me on LinkedIn for months, if not years, as they comfortable with me, and made the decision that I can help them achieve their goals.

3. Join your LinkedIn alumni association(s). Right now. Before you tell me how much you loathed your undergrad/grad experience, um, I don’t remember asking, and I don’t really care. I will ask you however, “Do you want to achieve your goals?” (No, really, take your time, I’ll wait. Sure, what else could I have to do on a busy Monday?) Oh, you do want to achieve your goals? Bueno. So STFU and join the relevant LinkedIn groups, since that’s where the jobs and connections live, because most of the people in those groups are absolutely rabid about their alma maters. These are the people who, first and foremost, want to help other men and women who went to their schools. These are the people who want to help you. Sunshine. For you, college may have been four years of unfortunate clothing and body shots, but there are many people for whom college was the emotional highlight of their lives, and they want their money, and jobs in their organizations to go to fellow alumni.

Go join your LinkedIn alumni group(s) and see if there are any intelligent conversations you can contribute to, or, even better, start. You don’t have to dominate the conversation, you don’t have to be a genius, but you might be startled at how many people in those groups have a soft spot for their colleges/grad schools and, if they are able to, will help others, solely for the sake of (emotional) memories.

If your college or grad school doesn’t have a LinkedIn group, no worries: go start one! Or, go start a women’s alumni group, or a black lawyer’s alumni group, or an entrepreneur’s alumni group, or…you get the picture. Your group, your rules: your power. (You’re welcome.) Make a rule that people can’t simply promote themselves, and instead create, over time, a true community wherein people contribute ideas, and information and passion and wow…look at you. Look at all the opportunities you created. 

Some people are on LinkedIn simply because everyone else is. You can, and should be, on LinkedIn because of the opportunities that website allows you to construct. #GettoWork