Back in the day, Linkedin was pitched as the Facebook for business. But pretty quickly after its launch in 2002, it became glaringly apparent that LinkedIn was the place to be to get a job.
Sure, it is still big on networking. But the focus is very much now about advancing your career, promoting your brand, making valuable business connections, and searching for new opportunities. Though, if you are lucky and work at it, the opportunities may come looking for you.
However, this transformation has been at the expense of turning LinkedIn into a hunting ground for recruiters and the occasional shark.
That said, if you want to get ahead and find new opportunities, you shouldn't let any of this put you off too much. And even better, the core offering is free. You can upgrade to access more powerful tools to connect with the kind of people you are targeting. This could be companies, like-minded professionals, customers, or recruiters.
● Job search app
● Filter employment opportunities
● Get job alerts
● Connect with new contacts
● Follow companies, professionals, and thought leaders
● Showcase your business or talents
● Your LinkedIn profile is a virtual resume
● Publish posts and articles on your area of interest
LinkedIn is an excellent way to grow your network. And with the app, you can have the power of LinkedIn always within reach to share your thoughts and reach out to the world's largest business networking community.
LinkedIn is now an almost mandatory part of your social media footprint if you are a company or a freelancer. By keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date and refreshed with new content, it's easy to gain traction with your target audience, build your brand, and find new customers.
Likewise, LinkedIn is a showcase for your talents when you are in the market for a career change, a new job, or wish to test the water. The job search tools are a great way to see what is on offer in your field and your chosen location.
Set up a job alert, and LinkedIn will do all the searching for you, presenting you with a list of opportunities that match your preset criteria.
You can tweak the settings to filter in or out jobs by salary, company size, and whether they are contract, full-time, part-time, or remote working.
Exclusive tools are available for those who opt for an upgrade. However, they start at $29.99 per month for professional job seekers and go up to $119.99 for companies wishing to recruit people.
There's also a library of training courses and learning materials worth investigating. You need to pay for these usually, but occasionally there are limited free offers for new and active members.
● It's free
● Multi-language support
● Excellent networking opportunity
● Great for finding jobs, customers, and collaborators
● Reasonably safe and secure compared to many other platforms
● Upgrading is expensive
LinkedIn is not that different from any other social media network. The app is downloadable from Google Play and Apple's App Store.
