If you've ever received an email that says "Join my network on LinkedIn," you've probably
wondered, "What is LinkedIn?"
The simple answer is that it's the world's largest professional network, helping people
find and share opportunities every day.
But how is it relevant to you?
Managing your career is just one reason to join LinkedIn. As you develop your professional
profile, you establish an authoritative resource on your experience and capabilities that lets
people find you when they search the Internet. In two minutes, you'll be up and running with
the most important page on the web you'll ever have. Do you know what people find when
they Google your name? With LinkedIn you'll have more control over what appears in Google
results, and having a robust profile encourages people to approach you with opportunities. Many
of your contacts are already on LinkedIn, and you can reconnect just by uploading your address book.
This lets you stay in touch even as your contacts change jobs and email addresses. Your reputation
is summed up by the relationships you've developed over your career. LinkedIn helps you maintain
these relationships authentically. In addition, when you want to make new business connections,
you can find people using LinkedIn's search tool -- then see who you know in common.
This makes it easy to request an introduction from your trusted connections.
You can also join a LinkedIn group, where professionals in your field discuss issues and solve problems
related to your industry.
Link to your Twitter account to share tweets with your professional network both from LinkedIn
to Twitter, and vice versa.
And use LinkedIn's mobile application to stay current with your network wherever you are.
These are just a few features that help you get the most out of LinkedIn.
Whether you're working in an office or on the go, LinkedIn keeps you in touch with the people
that matter to your career. And since signing up is free, LinkedIn just might be the best
investment you'll ever make in your career.