What started out as a social media platform for your career connections has turned into quite the tool for advancing your career. Or even getting it started. Most of the features are free, giving everyone the basic tools they need to find the right job or promote their new business. Let's explore some of the best features on LinkedIn and why you should have a LinkedIn profile.
Live Resume
How many times have you had to reenter your resume information over, and over, and over, until your fingers are barely more than nubs? With LinkedIn, your profile is your resume. Your education, skills, experience, and more.
There's also a button to create a resume from your profile, and store multiple versions. No more lost word docs or outdated information to update manually.
Job Searches
Goodbye, searching multiple websites looking for a job. LinkedIn has jobs across the globe from every industry, skill type, and education level. With helpful filters and additional functionality like sending your profile to the hiring manager or drafting a letter with AI, LinkedIn has your back.
Highlight your skills
LinkedIn allows you to select/enter up to 50 skills which can be compared with jobs in your job search. This allows you to compare your skill set to jobs you're interested in and adjust your skills to better reflect what you can truly do. Also, if you see a job that you really like but it wants a skill such as "excel data analysis", you can search for a course to learn just that skill.
Certifications and Learning
While LinkedIn isn't a college, it does have a ton of courses at your disposal. No matter what your future career goals are, I'm willing to bet there's a course that can help you move in the right direction.
For example, there are:
- 9338 course on "excel"
- 324 for "sales techniques"
- 407 for "soft skills"
- 114 for "office politics"
And oh so much more.
The only catch? It comes with their Premium access which is (at time of publication) $30/month. It may seem like a lot up front, but consider this. In today's economy, that's 2-3 fast food meals per month. 1-2 streaming subscriptions. And for $30/month, you're only limited to how many courses you can take. It's up to you to make time to learn for your future.
Building Bridges
There's an old saying, "it's not what you know, it's who you know." There's some truth to this. While the skills are necessary, it's important to have people that can connect you with the right hiring managers and jobs. Staying connected with coworkers and managers from a previous employment, or even from college, can give you the extra boost you need to land a great job.
People love hiring people they already know. It removes the concern of "what if they aren't really good for the position? What if they turn out to be terrible in character?" LinkedIn provides you one platform to connect and stay engaged with others. Commenting on posts, work anniversaries, birthdays, and messaging tools. Everything you need to build and maintain bridges is in one place.
Recommendations (Referrals)
Along with building bridges, having references for a job is always a good thing. It doesn't matter if it's your first retail job during college or if you're applying for that executive position. People want to hear about you from others who know you. LinkedIn has a feature that allows previous coworkers and managers to leave permanent recommendations (references) on your profile. They're available for everyone to see, even potential future employers.
You can also request or give recommendations with a few clicks. Plus, you have a chance to review recommendations before you approve them to be posted to your profile.
Start Now
With learning tools, job searches, and more, LinkedIn is definitely something everyone in the workforce should have. Even your kids once they enter the workforce. What are you waiting for?
Head on over to www.linkedin.com to get your free profile!