4 Ways to Tap into the Power of LinkedIn

4 Ways to Tap into the Power of LinkedIn Tap into the power of LinkedIn by learning what information is available. LinkedIn is pretty powerful IF you understand some of the ways you can use it! LinkedIn is more than an online resume. Its more than your modern-day Rolodex. LinkedIn is a massive database of user-supplied information! Lets look at some of the ways you can tap into this! 4 Ways to Tap into the Power of LinkedIn As a massive database, LinkedIn enables you to search for people, companies and alumni who can help connect you to your next job. Learn how to follow companies (and why) How to filter company employees by what they do, location, and more How to search for people by industry, location and many other advanced search features Find similar companies to add to your target list Heres help to tap into the power of LinkedIn. Following Companies Youve developed a list of target companies. You know, places you would like to work or at least you think you may. FYI, these are not just companies that are posting jobs.   This list is any company that could potentially hire you! With your list in hand, follow your target companies! There are 3 benefits: Companies updates appear in your home feed on LinkedIn Recruiters can see if you follow their company Research employees who work there and you can reach out to. Not sure which companies you are following? Scroll to the very bottom of your LinkedIn profile and you see the Interests section. This shows you the Influencers, Companies, Groups and Schools you follow. FYI, you can follow up to 1,000 companies/organizations. Employee Filters From the company page, you can filter employees by where they live, where they studied, what they do, what skills theyve listed and how you are connected. (Click on the Next arrow to see more) Here are a few ideas for how to use this data: See which skills you should add by filtering what they do and what theyre skilled at. Look for people who are located in a city where you want to work Check out who else attended your college/university Similar Pages If you want to expand your list of target companies, scroll down on the companys main page and look for the Similar Pages box in the right column. Youll find similar companies (based on the industry), not location. If you have a premium LinkedIn account, check out the company Insights section. You can see growth, new hires over time, total openings and more. Searching by Industry/Location Advanced search allows you to search for people (not companies). Here are some of the fields you can use to discover people on LinkedIn: Name Location Industry Relationship (1st, 2nd, 3rd degree connections) Give it a try! See new people and companies you can connect with and add to your target list for potential opportunities! Search Alumni A super simple way to connect with people is to tap into the power of your schools alumni. You can filter results by the location, company and many other factors. You can learn more about using LinkedIns alumni tool by reading this:  The Easiest Way to Research and Find Alumni on LinkedIn. OpportunitiesNot Jobs I have purposely NOT discussed the Job search functionality within LinkedIn. Searching for posted jobs certainly is possible and something you can do on LinkedIn. Before you apply to any job, always do the two-step find a job, then find an insider!