Monday, August 29, 2011

My reason to expand my LinkedIn Network

I've started to realize something huge and basic about LinkedIn. Remember I complained that people mostly find my profile by searching for my old boss? It's not as if my old boss is famous- it's actually that she has a fairly common name. Which means that many people are looking for someone with that name on LinkedIn.

Where am I going with this... have you ever done a search on LinkedIn? The first people it pulls up are people who are in your network. So how are you supposed to get on the radar of the types of people who might be hiring? Get in their network. I think the fastest way to do that is that is connect with the well connected; ie recruiters (look up Nick Folger of Biocareers, for example). These people are always happy to have you in their network, they are hoping you'll bring with a trove of new contacts- because remember, that's what they sell. Qualified candidates like like me and my coworkers. My network has expanded by ~2,000 people since I've added 3 recruiters to my network- and that is 2,000 people who are more likely to find me when they search for terms like molecular virology or cell culture.

I don't think this is really what is meant by SEO (search engine optimization), but it does seem like an easy start. Being in (active and relevant) groups is another good way to get into people's networks. Frankly, working on my network has vastly increased the activity of my LinkedIn account, although it might be that I've liked to my profile in a lot more places (like here on the blog and in my twitter profile). Sure, it feels a little like advertizing, but how else am I going to attract scads of people to throw amazing opportunities my way. They have to know what a catch I am first, right?

No comments:

Post a Comment