Networking for introverts part two: LinkedIn For Dummies

I've been meaning to do this post for ages. LinkedIn is brilliant and yet hardly anyone I know uses it, or uses it properly. My aim for this post is to convince some or even all of you who read this to sign up!

So, what is it? I think of it as 'social networking goes to work'. It has multiple functions and benefits, and so far as I can see, no drawbacks (speaking as a person with a love-hate relationship with Facebook, I've never had that 'I wish I'd never joined' feeling with LinkedIn). It's a great way of:

• keeping in touch with people you've worked with, more important these days as we move around jobs a lot more than we used to;
• connecting to new people - you can see who your contacts know, and ask for an introduction;
• getting your references online, so to speak, in that you can ask for recommendations, and write them for others too;
• researching your job-hunt - you can follow companies you're interested in, discover new ones, you can join groups and get involved in discussions, again finding new connections, and you can of course search for jobs - the great thing being, if you have a connection in a company, those jobs will rise to the top of the list. E.g. I put in 'community development' as a search term, and the first job was with the National Trust - with a little '2nd' next to it, because one of my contacts is connected to someone at the NT. So straight away I can send off a message to my contact asking if she can put me in touch.

It's easy to set up a profile, the basic account is free and is far from basic - can't see why you'd pay for more unless it was your main means of jobhunting - all in all, it's a great way of keeping up your visibility, and of presenting yourself as you want to be seen.

The only possible downside is that some employers apparently take it as read that if you have a LinkedIn profile, it automatically means you're looking for another job. I think this is a real shame, and a misunderstanding, as you can make it clear what you are and are not interested in. But unless this is the case, there really isn't a reason for not being on there, if you work or want to work (landed gentry and lottery winners I guess may not need to bother).

Well, I've convinced myself to give this great site more of my time and effort, even if I don't convince any of you! If you do get yourself a profile, look me up - there's a link at the top of the blog page. See you there.