Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Shockingly Great New(er) LinkedIn Features

LinkedIn is hands-down the best social media site for professionals, whether they’re looking for a job or not. Once you’ve finished your profile (it *is* 100 percent complete, right?) there’s still much more you can do. Here are some new features to help you keep that motor humming. 

Follow Companies: Through the companies tab you can search for companies that interest you. Thousands of unique profiles are featured. Click the follow button and then new hires, promotions, departures, and job opportunities become part of your LinkedIn updates for you to review. This is invaluable information if you’re in the job market because it takes you inside the company, showing you the type of people and positions they are hiring for. You may also learn about new products. 

LinkedIn InMaps: This cool new feature helps you solve the challenge of how to use your network.  Through this feature you can create a map giving you a visual fix of your network of connections.  It shows you how your contacts are connected with each other, the clusters in which they fall, and the relative “connectedness” of each person (via font and size of their “dot” on your map). It’s sure to give you ideas of areas to mine, people to be in touch with, etc. 

Resume Builder: This is an example of the new apps LinkedIn is adding all the time. This one enables you to create a resume from your LinkedIn profile using a number of templates. You can then share that résumé on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. It’s easy and clean.


Vizibility: This isn’t a LinkedIn feature, but it does result in something you can use to make your profile even more effective. Vizibility allows you to protect your brand and reputation by managing the search results people get when they search for you. That way you can ensure you’re putting your best foot forward. You can create a Google Me link from the results. This PreSearch can be easily added to online profiles (like on LinkedIn), websites, resumes, email signatures, business cards and more.

Now, if we’ve done our jobs you’re eager to jump on LinkedIn and check out one or more of these new features. What are you waiting for?