- Posting a LinkedIn profile- An LI profile contains the same information as your generic resume. You include your work history, education, competencies, and skills. “Open to opportunities” means you’re unemployed or about to be, trying to move from part time to full-time work, or just seeking greener pastures.
- Expanding your network-By “working social,” you can continue to add voices to your chorus of colleagues, creating a strong source of referrals and endorsements. SmartResume recommends that, ‘You want to stand out’, but you don’t have to stand alone when you need professional helping hands.
- Joining groups-Much like participating in traditional professional associations and trade groups, LI affinity groups offer camaraderie according to particular occupation, career field, or industry. If no existing group zeroes in on your requirements, start your own.
- Periscoping your future- When you’re puzzling over how next to position yourself to reach career goals, LinkedIn Career Explorer can help. Based on its database of real-life personal and company profiles, the LinkedIn service shows what happened to others in your shoes, names companies where you might work, forecasts how much money you can make, and identifies by name the kinds of people you might meet along the way.
- Consuming news- LinkedIn’s Signal is an innovative service that saves you time and annoyance at TMI (too much information). By using a series of filters — such as network, industry, company, time published, school, and the most popular hashtags for Twitter — members cut through news feeds and Twitter tweets to get only what they select.
- Premium search tools– If you want to rev up your free search, choose the enhanced version of LinkedIn by paying x amount.
- Top billing for your profile (comparable to a sponsored link on Google’s first page)
- The ability to communicate with hiring managers, even those outside your network
- Access to full profiles of hiring decision-makers
