LinkedIn as the New Resume
By Connie Hoi, Intern
As everyone is on a continuous search for jobs and internships in the market, a new tool many recruiters are using is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site that allows users to connect with others through their professional connections. When people apply for jobs at places today they have to keep up a professional appearance with their resumes and now they can include their LinkedIn page. Recruiters often headhunt for new talent on LinkedIn so it is crucial for people to keep it up to date.
LinkedIn Basics:
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional net. It started out with about 4,500 users in 2003 and now has topped the charts with over 238,000,000 users in 2013. LinkedIn is available in 20 different languages for people to browse through. According to LinkedIn “The company is publicly held and has a diversified business model with revenues coming from talent solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscription products.”
So what’s The Big Change?
LinkedIn became one of the most popular sites for recruiters to be searching through for potential new talent. Some recruiters say that it is basically the same as looking through a resume with someone’s LinkedIn account. The accounts allow people to see what their basic education, work experience, activities, and much more. The big change has come where you can look up someone so quickly now before even meeting them. It has become a norm for interviewees to take a look at who their interviewers are before they meet.
Connections
The connections to other users also allows for people to meet others for opportunities. Users are connected by degrees of connections. When someone is connected with one user they are allowed to see the user’s connection which is the second degree, and thereafter would be third degree. LinkedIn helps you connect with people you have worked with professionally or gone to school with. The connections are the big deals of the LinkedIn site. It is what drives the users to continuously go onto LinkedIn.
It is important for people to continuously go onto LinkedIn to check on updates or make changes accordingly for possible employers or employees to look at. Unlike other social media networks like Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is much more professional and used as a tool in the corporate world to explore the talent people have to offer.
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