Why Should You Link? #GetLinked
As a senior and soon to be University of Nevada graduate, I have received a lot of great advice from many people. It ranged anywhere from what courses I should take to how to make life decisions. Along with all of this advice, the biggest piece that I remember the most professionally is “it’s about who you know than what you know”. I didn’t take this as an excuse to not learn everything I can but it did teach me that relationships matter. That is one of the biggest reasons I created a LinkedIn account. It helped me build relationships along with so many other things. Here is what LinkedIn has done for me.
It’s About WHO You Know Rather Than WHAT You Know
The hiring process can be long and tedious for an employer. Now imagine how hard it would be for the applicant to stand out in a pile of over two hundred applications. The people that stand out in that pile are the people that the employer already knows, the person he remembers meeting, or the person that was referred to them by someone they know. The best way to be that person is to get connected and make an impression.
Expanded My Network
Someone once told me that connecting with someone on LinkedIn does not mean connecting with just that person but you are connecting to their network as well. To make a long story short, if you connect with someone that has one hundred connections, well then now you have a connection to those other one hundred people on top of the ones that you already know. The more reach you have the more opportunities that can come your way.
Made Me Visible
One of the biggest things that LinkedIn does for you is make you visible to everyone that looks. It is one of the best ways to show off all of your experiences, accomplishments, and hard work without having to limit it to a one page résumé. Employers are now taking the online approach to recruiting people they want and need. If you think about it, it is a lot easier to search key words and go through the people you know first to fill a position rather than going through a pile of two hundred applications. Making yourself visible is the best way to get noticed.
Remember that it is never too late to connect and expand your network for life is always changing and you will always be meeting new people. So make sure to get connected today #GetLinked.
