Anoop Verma
All of us understand that the social media, especially LinkedIn can help you find new job. Statistics suggest LinkedIn can be a very useful tool, for those who are currently employed or are open to new opportunities. A vast majority of the hiring managers in world’s top companies use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool. But if you want to take maximum advantage of this powerful social tool, you have to use your LinkedIn profile in a professional manner, and this is the essence of LinkedIn etiquette. Here is a list of rules that you need to follow on LinkedIn:
Avoid requesting for random connections
This is a mistake that all of us make. After signing into LinkedIn you go to the “People You May Know” box and whether you recognise them or not, you start sending them the “Connect” request. You simply want to add them to your network with the ideas of increasing the number of your connections. Most of such invites go with the typical boilerplate – I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. But the truth is that you will only be noticed and remembered by the new connection if you have sufficiently personalised the connection request.
Do your homework
A LinkedIn profile is meant to enhance your career prospects. The new connections can help you expand the scope of your career related network. So you must do some amount of research on the people who you are keen to add. Before you click “Connect,” browse their profile to obtain an understanding of who they are. Where are they working? What jobs have they held in the past? What LinkedIn groups do they belong to? What are their interests? Do they have a blog?
Be professional
You can’t afford to loose sight of the fact that LinkedIn is a professional networking tool. Out here you are not supposed to post personal updates, your pet dog pictures, or any kind of whimsical thoughts or prayers. Your personal stuff, you should leave for Facebook. If you feel that something that you are planning to post will blur the line between personal and professional, err on the side of caution and don’t post it. People can really lose respect for you if you post things that are generally reserved for more informal social media outlets.
Update the photograph
Are you still having the same photograph that you had when you joined LinkedIn five years ago? It might be time to update that photo. Upload a new one. But you should keep in mind that the photograph you are uploading is reflecting the work that you do. The photograph of you enjoying yourself at a party with a glass of drink in hand might look super-cool, but it is not suitable for LinkedIn.
Don’t over share
At times you have to experience some LinkedIn Connection who goes on a file-sharing spree. In a matter of few hours, he or she might share five articles. Naturally this kind of feed-jacker tactics will leave anyone annoyed. When you start annoying people by becoming a one-man buzz-feed army, they might not want to do any business with you. If you keep your posts limited to one in a day, you will have a much higher click rate. So you should keep your posts relevant and regular.
