With LinkedIn rolling out its ‘open for business’ feature in India, small business owners can find a tremendous advantage on the platform. This feature’s primary and sole aim would be to help small business owners find the right clients and pitch their services to them. For the Indian market, which is known for small markets and retail segments, LinkedIn wins the traction.
When you create an account and fill in the details, it might feel like you are only copy-pasting your resume, but there is more to it.
The art of using LinkedIn to its best capabilities can give surprising gains.
7 Reasons Why Linkedin Is More Than Just A Resume:
#1 Building A Vast Network With Search And Inmail
Once you are on LinkedIn, your quest for searching for the right people and companies becomes convenient. The search tool helps you find company profiles and concerned individuals easily. You can send in a request to connect with them or if you have a premium account, just drop a message with Inmail!
By using Linkedin, you have the advantage of staying connected with your college friends, past company employees, and potential partners. Since you are only updated on their professional life, you can maintain a formal relationship with them as well.
#2 Substantiating Your Work With Links And Recommendations
Your resume will be covering a lot more than your LinkedIn profile and of course, it’ll sound fancier. However, on LinkedIn, you have the advantage of validating your statements and providing references for your work. For example, you can add links to your website or campaigns when you are defining your role as a campaign or marketing manager.
Along with this, you can also have your bosses and colleagues give you a good recommendation as an employee. This increases your credibility and validates your personality.
#3 Best Way To Approach Professionally
Your feed will not be filled with people posting pictures from their family vacation. Instead, you’ll be updated on upcoming events at their firm and awards. At times, you may not be directly working with someone but might want to stay in touch in case you would ever need to interact with them again. LinkedIn allows you to do that and also lets you create an impression on people before they have met you. So, if you are looking to approach someone only in a professional capacity, LinkedIn is a professional way to do it.
#4 Finding Or Posting Relevant Articles
The value of information is significantly higher for working individuals looking to grow or stay updated on events. If you need to create awareness regarding an event or article published by your organization, you will find the right target audience on LinkedIn. If you have found an article that could be useful for your connections, share it. You can customize your own feed based on what you would be interested in so you only see posts that you engage in. For example, for a financial analyst, LinkedIn can be used this way:
- Following pages that update on finance news
- Sharing articles that could help overcome a finance task and
- Sharing an article written by the analyst on finance
#5 Join groups to find like minded people
Being a part of a professional community, you are also at an advantage of connecting with like minded people on the platform! Head over to the search bar and select ‘groups’ option to find what you would interested in. Once you decide what will interest you, send in a request to join the group.
#6 Establishing Your Sense Of Purpose And Tone
Contrary to the way Facebook and other social media channels work, LinkedIn focuses entirely on value. What value does your profile serve for a recruiter? What value does your shared article have for the reader? Why should someone connect with you? For what reason are you approaching someone?
Despite LinkedIn having earned a professional brand image, you can portray the bigger purpose of your life here. For example, if you believe that your work in the organization is for a bigger purpose or you wish to change the system of doing things, LinkedIn allows a place for that. This is something you can’t show on your resume.
You can also give glimpses of your tone as a manager or employee through status messages to build your overall personality impression. If you believe you have an interesting take on soft skills such as effective communication and building confidence, you could share your views on the same.
#7 Job Search Or Job Posting
Searching for a job on LinkedIn is quite uncomplicated as you are listing down your best skills and endorsements on your profile. Once you join the correct groups and use your search to network effectively, finding a job through LinkedIn becomes simple.
On the other hand, LinkedIn also favours recruiters in posting vacant job positions with descriptions. They can use the company page’s feed to advertise vacancies and also enroll themselves into the same groups that job seekers would.
Concluding…
For every application, your use of it determines if it’s useful for you. You have to set your goal and expectation out of LinkedIn and use it accordingly. If you initially use it for job search, you can eventually build your professional profile on it despite having reached your goal. Your networking with colleagues and clients becomes easier and you can openly share your ideas in status messages. It is a great platform to brand yourself to your industry.