Introducing LinkedIn’s Company Directory
LinkedIn now has over 26 million professionals representing millions of companies. Back in March we mined this rich data to create Company Profiles for hundreds of thousands of companies and along the way discovered some cool information about companies (e.g. software engineering is the most common job title at LinkedIn etc).
Last Thursday, we introduced the ability to search for companies based on industry, location, company size and network distance. So if you’re looking for a new job, or trying to find companies to do business with, you can get a list of all the companies you should consider and see how you’re connected to each one. Check out the company directory here: http://www.linkedin.com/companies or click the Companies tab on LinkedIn’s homepage header.
Four modules of LinkedIn’s Company Directory
New Companies Home page has four components:
- The first module is Search, where you can find companies by “Industry” and “Location”. You can choose to use more options, add company size and limit your search to a 2-degree network.
- Second, you can browse industries related to your industry (set in your profile) or browse service providers. These lists are totally dynamic and depends on data populated by users. You also can check all of our industries.
- On the top right part of the screen we have the third module – company name search.
- And then last, but not least, you can see companies in your network.
How many degrees apart are you from Companies?
LinkedIn was founded on the belief that “Relationships Matter”. Last Thursday, we extended the concept of degree distance to companies. Now, when searching for companies on LinkedIn, you’ll always know how you’re connected to each company.
icon means you are currently at company
icon means you know someone currently at company
icon means your connection(s) know someone currently at company
And finally, we have an answer to the most popular question: “When can I add a profile for my company?” We are working on it, and currently have most of the functionality. Now we are polishing our authentication/security rules and an algorithm that will automatically associate existing users with newly created companies.
And feel free to reply to this post with a feedback or simply send us your suggestions.
trackback
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Victor Ryden August 18th, 2008
I did a search for my ZIP Code (Los Angeles) and got companies in Atlanta, San Diego, and San Francisco on the first page??
Danis August 18th, 2008
@Victor
Good point.
Some companies may have 2 or more locations. Headquarter is used as a main location both on company profile and company search results page. That’s why sometimes you see location which is different from what you searched for.
We are going to modify the output and display at least 2 locations for a search result: headquarter plus the location you searched for if a company has multiple locations.
Stephen Booth August 19th, 2008
Interesting, could be very useful.
I checked my current employer (Service Birmingham) and found that you’re listing as their website one of my personal sites, not the actual company website (http://www.servicebirmingham.co.uk). Interestingly the site isn’t one listed in my profile at all!
Stephen
Danis August 19th, 2008
@Stephen
Thanks for catching this. We’ve updated your employer’s company profile. In a near future you’ll be able to do it yourself.
We are currently testing the edit feature on a small group of beta testers.
Cassie Ehrenberg August 19th, 2008
I just want to say that I greatly appreciate all that you guys are doing to make LinkedIn even more valuable. I love the site and it just continually gets better. This is a great feature!
Jeff tincher August 19th, 2008
have wondered why our company wasn’t showing in the list while other smaller companies are displaying. When can we add our company profiles?
Jack Macy August 19th, 2008
This is a great resource. Since our company and many of its employees joined after March, how can we help to get our company page set up and into the directory?
Ilya Sitnikov August 19th, 2008
I think that its a fabulous feature for both job seekers and employers. Of course, there’s a general search, but I thought that it is rather limited in its scope and results that come out of search are not always as meaningful as I want them to be, so “company” feature just might provide whatever general search lacked.
Jeffrey L. Taylor August 19th, 2008
I stumbled upon this new application on Friday and think it’s a terrific addition to LinkedIn. Thanks for exploring new ways to help us develop business. JT
Stephen Booth August 20th, 2008
@Danis
thanks. I look forward to being able to edit, there’s a couple of other things I’ve noticed that need editing:
* There are two parent companies, Birmingham City Council and Capita Group (Capita Group are the majority shareholder, nearly 70%)
* Headquarters address is Service Birmingham Limited, B1, Units 2 & 3, 50 Summerhill Road, Birmingham, B1 3BZ
* The company has an additional trading name, ‘Beorma’, some employees may use this company name in their profiles.
I took a look at the options available for when editing/customisation of the company profile is launched. I think our marketing department will be very interested in this.
Stephen
Chuck Garrett September 6th, 2008
How do I add a profile for my company?
Mario Sundar September 8th, 2008
Hi all,
Thanks for your comments. And, stay tuned to the blog for the latest news on the Company Directory.
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