Last week we talked about what to do first when you sign up with LinkedIn. I hope your profile is 100% complete, even if you are still making changes and reworking your story.
Now it’s time to connect!
LinkedIn is a place to network with people you know from your work life and your personal life. In other words, people from your real life. Only.
They don’t have to be in your industry or have any professional connection to you. They just need to be people you really know and whom you would be happy to introduce to someone else you know.
You will hear from people who are looking for high numbers of connections, not high-quality connections. High numbers are useless if they do not represent real relationships.
So for each person you consider adding to your connections, ask yourself:
- Do I know them in real life?
- Would I introduce them to other people I know?
That’s it!
Don’t worry about if they’re in your industry if you’ve worked with them if you know what they do or even if they are working at all. You never know what connections will end up being important.
I will finish with a story. Once upon a time, I wanted an informational interview with someone who worked in one of my target companies. I asked my coach, “How do I find someone at X company to talk to?” My coach’s response was, “Check LinkedIn.”
Two minutes later, a lovely woman sitting two rows behind me had a copy of my resume to hand to her friend that night at a basketball game because her friend worked for my target company and my friend knew I was a safe person to introduce to her. Two minutes.
Two days later, I was having coffee with her.
Next time: Joining Groups
Wendy Stackhouse, for Artisan Creative