At first sight, LinkedIn might appear like another social media profile that you will have to constantly check and engage with until you get bored. Apparently, it is something similar to Facebook, and Instagram. But if you’ve already got a LinkedIn profile, you know that this platform is quite different from others. Yes, I’m talking about networking – PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING.
So, what is professional networking and why it is important?
Well, let me answer it with a real-time example of how I started using LinkedIn. I know most of you reading this article will have a LinkedIn profile. But, how many of your’s are up to date? To be honest, I created my LinkedIn profile back in 2015 just because the personality development professor asked me to do so.
However, I quickly realized the importance of it and started to build my profile with new connections. Time flies, and I reached my final year of my bachelor’s. Yes, CAMPUS PLACEMENTS!! I attended countless campus interviews but ended up with nothing. The more interviews I attended, the lesser my hope of securing a job became, which is when I turned my focus to LinkedIn.
I sent cover letters to some of my network connections explaining my situation and requested an internship opportunity where I can gain some real-time experience as well as show them my technical skills for a full-time job.
Got some responses back and an internship opportunity as well. Months flew by and the company thought I was worthy enough to be offered a full-time position. And that’s how I got my first job🤩👏🏻.
I hope I’ve answered the question of why professional networking is important. I got my job not only because of my technical skills or academics but also because of my network connections from LinkedIn.
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#1 IT IS SUPER POPULAR
Facebook is all about brand and identity whether it is business or personal. Twitter is all about events or occurrences. But when it comes to LinkedIn, it is the best channel for engaging with people and organizations that could potentially help you to get a job.
According to Kinsta’s statistics, LinkedIn has nearly 700 million active users, as of 2021. With more than 30 million companies listed on the site and 20+ million open jobs, it’s no surprise that 87% of recruiters regularly use LinkedIn for recruitment. (source-kinsta)
#2 IT IS A PROFESSIONAL SEARCH ENGINE
LinkedIn is as much a search engine as Google, with more focus on finding professionals, recruiters, companies and jobs. It acts as the central repository hub to know about any organisation.
With more than 30 million companies listed on the site which I’ve mentioned earlier, it is the only social media where you can find every company’s recent activities, job openings, alumni from your school, products and services in a single place. Last but not least, recruiters use keywords to filter the best professionals, so it’s important to build your profile with relevant keywords for which you want you to be found.
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#3 HELP YOU WITH MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Talking about the obvious, LinkedIn is one of the best job portals to find a wide range of jobs. LinkedIn’s job alert feature will send you email notifications for certain companies, industries or specific job titles you’ve searched/requested so that you’ll never miss out on a great opportunity again. Also, it is probably the only place where you can get a message directly to the person doing the hiring via its InMail feature.
#4 ENHANCE YOUR NETWORK CONNECTIONS
It is well-known fact that getting into any career depends on who you know more than what you know. You never know who will become your mentor/mentee or help you with job leads and business opportunities or even business partners. While it’s easy to lose a business card, a contact in LinkedIn will always be there and help you to build a virtual network of contacts. In short, LinkedIn is all about connections. Connections get you referrals, referrals get you hired.
Here are some statistics for you to know how handy referrals can be: Candidates who are referred to a job position by an employee have been hired about two-thirds of the time. More than 60% of employees have referred at least one person to an open job position within the company. 91% of referrals made by a director level or above were hired. (source-resumego) So, start networking now!!
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#5 YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE WILL ACT AS A BRANDING TOOL
Have you ever thought of building yourself as a brand? If yes, which social media would you choose?
- Facebook? – Well, that’s trash!!
- Instagram? – Well, that’s becoming trash!!
- TikTok? – REALLY!!
According to a poll conducted by Careeraddict, 95% of people voted for LinkedIn. It is the only social media where you can showcase yourself professionally. Well, it is not rocket science though. All you have to do is “CONNECT, ENGAGE, and SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS”.
These days, when you apply for a job, the employer will no doubt conduct an internet search about you before proceeding. No recruiter wants to know where you spent your last vacation or what you ate 10 mins ago. In short, your LinkedIn profile is your summary of who you are and it is the first thing recruiters notice when your profile shows up in their search results. So, why not make it perfect? Well, subscribe and stay tuned to Just A Library updates on how to make your LinkedIn profile perfect.
