What can you do on LinkedIn how it works Profile Activities Skills Useful tips:
LinkedIn It is a web service mainly used for the development of professional contacts. In this guide I show you how Linkedin works , the powerful tool, born in 2003 , with the aim of connecting professionals from all over the world in a single network to increase their productivity and success and which today has over 867 million members from 200 different countries .
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a free social network that allows you to connect actively in the world of business and work. Many mistake it as a social network equal to Facebook or as a simple online platform dedicated to the publication of your curriculum vitae .
Big mistake! LinkedIn is so much more!
And I find it really strange that it’s not so much discussed and advertised, especially in Italy.
In any case, LinkedIn is a service, perhaps the only one currently, with which you can come into direct contact with companies and professionals from all over the world.
What is LinkedIn for?
Are you a company looking for new collaborators ? Are you a professional who wants to broaden your working horizons?
Done!
By subscribing to LinkedIn , you too become part of a social network, entirely dedicated to any kind of work activity and above all to business .
If you have a business, Create your LinkedIn Company Page
The LinkedIn company pages are just as important to promote the identity, brand, services and products of your business!
The objectives of the service are in fact many:
- be introduced to someone you want to know, through a reliable contact;
- search and find job offers , people, business opportunities with the support of members present within the network;
- enter to be part of a network that can put you in touch with companies or individuals reclutatrici .
Similarly, a company can also post job offers and search for potential candidates who are useful for the facility.
To start using LinkedIn you need to register and create your professional profile.
How LinkedIn works
Registration and Access
The first thing to do is to log in or register. If you have not already done so, connect from the web browser you are using to the official linkedin page .
If you have already registered, to access your personal account you must enter, in the relevant fields, your user or your e-mail address and your password and then press the login to linkedin button .
In case you are not registered yet, do it for free by entering the data requested in the form: your name, surname , email address with which you prefer to register and create your password.
Your personal profile
Now that you have registered or logged in for the first time, enter all the information that allows you to best describe yourself, both personally and professionally. In a way, you need to create your resume on LinkedIn .
First of all, indicate your country of origin, the zip codes of the city in which you reside and answer the questions that are asked by the service and that will help and guide you in the correct compilation of your curriculum vitae online .
You must therefore indicate, if you are a student or a worker and, if you are an entrepreneur, the name of your company.
Remember: LinkedIn is not a platform dedicated simply to posting resumes online!
In this regard, I advise you to create an intriguing but above all active profile within the social network.
Write it with passion and enthusiasm, inserting everything that best portrays you to offer, to those who read it, the maximum description of your professional skills and your style.
Like any other social network, or as happens in the creation of the usual resumes, even the photo that portrays you is of fundamental importance.
To create a full curriculum vitae
To optimize the search for your connections and to have maximum visibility within the social network, you must optimize the creation of curriculum vitae .
Click on the “You” button , found in the top bar, to access the screen dedicated to filling out your profile and follow the instructions that Linkedin gives you to create your profile.
Answer exactly all the questions asked in the “Strengthen Your Profile” box , such as:
- “Which school or university did you go to?”
- “When did you finish your last work experience?”
- “Where are you working today?”
- “What are your skills?”
Indicate anything, even the specialization of your studies or career. Highlight all your skills you have acquired to be appealing to links with your experience.
The more information you can enter, the more chances you have of expanding your network of connections or entering others to broaden your knowledge.
LinkedIn connections
As you will surely have guessed on LinkedIn, to be successful, that is to be able to reach your professional goal, you need to have many connections and then add them continuously.
Linkedin, in this, does not abandon you and suggests the people who would interest you and with whom you can keep in touch, selecting from the profiles of the users present on the platform.
Connections are a bit like Instagram “followers” (the more you have, the more successful you are) and they work like Facebook friendships do . If you want to connect with a person or company, you must in fact send the connection request that the latter must accept.
Many recommend limiting connection requests and sending them only to friends, acquaintances, work colleagues and therefore, only to people you know.
I, on the other hand, think that the purpose of this service is precisely to broaden one’s knowledge to give oneself new opportunities and possibilities.
Of course, keeping in touch with people you have worked with in the past could also be useful, for example, for references, or if in the meantime this person has embarked on a career that might interest you.
However, I also believe that expanding your circle of acquaintances can be of great help to you. Why limit yourself and choose to connect only with people you already know?
It is an opportunity to find your dream job or to finally meet the professional who wants to work for you!
If you agree with me, take heart and send requests as many as I can. Maybe, just send them to profiles that reflect the work environment that interests you most and, following this rule, accept all the requests that come to you in turn.
To send a connection request , you must enter the section dedicated to the network and from there, scroll through the list of LinkedIn members . By clicking on each name you can view the complete profile of the user and decide to send the connection request using the “connect” button or to send an InMail message.
If the name is not yet subscribed to the service, you can easily invite him by clicking on the same “Invite” button .
However, keep in mind that this function is not active if the link is not yet present within your network. If you want to send a message you need to subscribe and choose a paid plan offered by the service.
Main features LinkedIn
Once logged into LinekedIn through your account, you find yourself on the main page, the Home Page . From here, access the main free functions offered by the service.
On the Home Page, you will find all the status updates of other users, photo-videos and other publications, inserted by all your connections , that is, by the people you have decided to follow or connect to you.
You too, you can publish everything you want to start being more active and visible within the social network.
For example, if you are a company with open positions , you can post announcements related to this or promote the services you offer .
If you are a professional looking for fame or work, you can instead post and advertise your projects, articles related to your experiences and knowledge.
Search LinkedIn with filters
To carry out a search on LinkedIn, in addition to the “search” bar at the top left, you can use the filters made available by the service.
To apply the search filters you must go to the bar in question and, from the window that opens, click on the item “search for people with filters”.
At this point, organize the research you are carrying out and then, by clicking in the various sections, choose between: Principal, People, Job offers, Companies, Groups, Schools and Universities.
How to post articles on LinkedIn
If you want to share on LinkedIn , go to the box at the top and write everything you want in the bar by adding photos, videos or a link .
How to mention on Linkedin
Also, as with other types of social networks such as Facebook , you can quote and mention someone by using the “@” symbol before the contact name .
Before proceeding with the publication of an article, or with a status update, you can set the privacy options, i.e. decide whether it should be a public or private article .
If you decide to make it public you have to choose between the options proposed by LinkedIn and therefore, who should view the post you are publishing between:
- LinkedIn public (i.e. any user)
- pubbllico LinkedIn + Twitter
- public links (i.e. only visible to your LinedIn connections)
After doing this, proceed with the “Publish” button .
How to like on Linkedin
After posting an article, users who are connected view the content of the post and, if they find it interesting, they will put a “like” using the button under each article that depicts a “hand with a thumb up” .
You can do the same thing if you find an article by another user that is beautiful and interesting. Surely this mode of “appreciation” you already know, if you use Facebook.
However, this action, which on some social networks was practically insignificant, on LinkedIn has a great impact in terms of visibility.
In fact, for every like you do or receive from a user, your posts are also visible to all the other connections that the latter has in his network .
Basically, it’s the same concept as Twitter , if you know and use it. On LinkedIn, a comment or share is a retweet.
How to create a network on LinkedIn
On LinkedIn, “Network” means the set of all your connections, that is, the set of people who have accepted your invitation or who have asked you to get in touch with you.
So technically, your connections, such as a large and large family, can be 1, 2, or 3 grade and more from members enrolled in groups .
- 1 degree connections : they are all connections made up of direct users, with whom you connected through an invitation received or sent by you;
- 2nd degree connections: are all those people who are connected to your 1st degree connections to whom you can send a connection invitation by clicking on the “connect” button;
- 3rd degree connections : 3rd degree connections are all those users who are connected to your 2nd degree contacts. If you can see their name and surname you can send them an invitation by clicking on Connect, if only the first letter of their surname is shown, it is not possible to connect, but you can still contact them through an InMail message .
If you are part of a group on LinkedIn , all people who belong to the same group are automatically included in your network.
You can contact these people by posting a message on LinkedIn or by using your group’s discussions feature.
To understand and distinguish connections of various degrees or users belonging to a group, just look at the icon next to their name, then 1st, 2nd, 3rd or group .
To view your network and expand it , you have to click on the “Network” button at the top of the bar, and from here, in addition to viewing all your current connections, you can decide to add them.
In the box at the top right you will find all your active connections, at the bottom instead, LinkedIn brings you a list of new people you may know and add to your network.
How to delete link
If you are interested, just click on the “Connect” button , in this way you send a connection request. With the “X” button you see next to it, you can delete a specific person from the list of suggested connections.
At the top, you will find all the connection invitations received that you need to evaluate and accept, by pressing the “Manage all” button .
How to Import Directory Contacts on LinkedIn
To increase your network you can always help by importing all the contacts in your phone book.
By importing your address book , LinkedIn will upload the information of your contacts to LinkedIn servers and in this way will be able to suggest relevant links and help you better manage your contacts .
To import your address book on LinkedIn, you must enter the section dedicated to your network and click on “Continue”, from the box at the top of the screen.
From the page that opens automatically, give your consent to LinkedIn, by pressing the button of the same name, to view your email address , the basic profile data and finally manage your contacts .
LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn groups are really very important to broaden and increase your network .
Being made up of users who share a particular career path, similar business interests , a specific geographic origin and much more, joining a group and participating in its activities makes you visible and helps you find many new contacts.
To join a group, after you have found it, using the LinkedIn search filters, click on it and send the request by pressing the button on the right “ask to join”.
LindedIn Jobs
As you have surely understood, LinkedIn is a very powerful social network and also a very useful tool for finding a job or a new profession .
If you want to take a look at the job offers enter, from the menu bar at the top, in the section
where you have access to all the offers published by the companies on LinkedIn .
You can carry out targeted searches, for example by qualification, type of company and based on the location you want.
How to apply on Linkedin
If you want more information on a published job offer, just click on it and read the job description and the requirements for the open position and then decide to apply.
Some job offers ask you to apply only through their company website, for others, you can apply directly through the LinkedIn platform . After submitting your application, the bidder will receive an email with all your contact information and a link that directs them to your LinkedIn profile .
How to Delete LinkedIn Account
If you want to permanently delete your account, access the “settings and privacy” of your profile that you find in the drop-down menu that opens, after clicking on the “You” icon from the top bar .
In the new page, from the bar located on the left, click on “Account” and then on the item “Change” that you find next to “Closing the LinkedIn account” . Select the reason why you want to close your account, click on “Next”, enter the password used up to now to access your account and click on “Close account” .
Once you have closed your profile, you will no longer be able to access LinkedIn information through the site. You will also lose all your connections, messages, endorsements, reports and your profile will no longer be visible on LinkedIn .
If you have a Premium membership, are a LinkedIn Group owner or have a Premium Account license, you must first remove these accounts and then you can proceed with closing your Basic account.
Linkedin paid plans
As anticipated Linkedin is free but, if you want the maximum performance offered by the service, you can subscribe to the LinkedIn Premium subscription which provides plans with different types of benefits and different prices.
To make the most of the Linkedin tools for finding a job, there is, for example, the Career Plan , to promote and grow your business you can try the Business Plan and many others.
In this period you can also exploit a grauita proof of subscription service for a month you can cancel at any time.
To do this, access your profile, the dedicated area by clicking on “Free Premium Trial” and from the new screen, choose the plan that’s right for you.
LinkedIn App
Even with the free LinkedIn application , available for Android and iOS mobile devices , it is easy to get in touch with people and with all the curiosities concerning your professional sphere.
With the LinkedIn app you can manage your profile and your network of contacts anywhere and anytime.
Download App LinkedIn Android
Download App LinkedIn iOS
If you have not already done so, you can sign up for the service and create your Curriculum Vitae directly from here , following the application instructions.
After downloading the app on your smartphone, sign up by pressing the relevant “Sign up” button and enter your: name, surname, email and password and continue following the LinkedIn guide .
Once you have registered, access the home screen from which you can share your articles and where you will see, as soon as you are able to create the first links, the posts entered by other users.
From the bar at the bottom, you can manage your network, your private messages, notifications received and your profile .
Keep in mind that, if you have used the service from a computer or other device, in order to access your reserved area, through the application, you must first log out by pressing the “Exit” button found in “settings” , the icon represented by the symbol “gear” .
Conclusions
Ultimately, LinkedIn, when used right, is a truly effective tool.
In this guide, I have explained to you how it turns out to be very useful if you are looking for a job or if you are a company that is looking for valid collaborators and with excellent references .
By filling out an ad hoc curriculum vitae and actively participating in the social network, you are almost certainly able to improve your level or working status.
Even better, with impactful publications and posts, you could change your momentary non-occupation by joining groups that interest you and making the right connections in your network.
As you will have understood, to use Linkedin at its best, it is necessary to consider it as a social network conceived and designed for those who intend to seriously create a real identity with commercial, professional and business purposes and purposes.