Getting organized with LinkedIn’s Profile Organizer
I often come across interesting profiles on LinkedIn, but I’ve found it challenging to save profiles so I can easily come back to them later. Usually, I resort to bookmarking the profiles in my web browser or scribbling down names on a piece of paper.
Today we are launching Profile Organizer, a new Premium feature that lets you save profiles, organize them into folders, and add notes. Anytime you find an interesting profile, simply click “Save Profile” and the profile is bookmarked for you within LinkedIn.
When you click “Save Profile”, the profile is added to your Profile Organizer. You now see a module on the profile page from which you can save a profile into a designated folder, add contact information, and private notes that are visible only to you. It’s a great way to remember relevant details about contacts, and develop your relationships.
The Profile Organizer is a workspace accessible through the Contacts tab, where you can manage all of your saved profiles organized into specific folders.
Profile Organizer also lets you save profiles directly from the search results page. With just one click, you can save a profile and add it to a folder directly from search.
If you do many searches on LinkedIn, the single-click “save profile” action can save you time. You no longer need to review each interesting profile in detail: just save from the search results page, and you can narrow down your list in Profile Organizer later.
A few of us at LinkedIn have started using Profile Organizer and find it particularly helpful after attending networking events or conferences. In the past, I collected a stack of business cards and came back from the event unsure about what to do with them. Now, I find the contacts on LinkedIn, and jot down relevant information into Profile Organizer. The next time I go to a similar event, I simply glance through my notes to recall details about our past conversations.
If you have a minute, check out this short feature demo:
Get started using the new feature by clicking on the “Save Profile” link from any LinkedIn profile or search results. Alternatively, you can also check out your Profile Organizer page here.
Profile Organizer is a Premium Account feature, but we are offering a 30-day free trial for all of our members to try it out. Learn more here. We’d love to hear your questions and / or feedback at feedback@linkedin.com. Or follow us @linkedin.
Tags: elizabeth-reaves, linkedin-profile-organizer, linkedin-profiles, liz-reaves
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Ted Meulenkamp October 1st, 2009
this is a very interesting feature for recruiters and BUT it would be even better if there was an easy way to share those folders with others so that you could work with others on a search (and I know you now will try to sell me the recruiter module :-) Another feature that I would find interesting is the ability to add “tags” to candidates. This leads to the following question: are the notes you leave searchable as it would make it much easier to find back candidates?
Guillaume October 1st, 2009
Why is not a free feature? It is something basic users have waiting for some times. You are not going to score points with your user base for this.
Katie Felten October 1st, 2009
I love this new feature now I would love it if I could sort my contacts into categories. Keep up the good work.
Andrew Griffiths October 1st, 2009
Fantastic! This will make a quantum level difference to the value of LinkedIn. Up to now, it’s been so frustrating to find someone with whom you might like to develop a connection. It’s either been try to connect right away or save the profile, as Elizabeth says, as a bookmark. Most of the time when I find someone I have no need to connect with them right away. Quite frequently, it’s never as I’ve been able to achieve what I want through other people or means. But being able to save AND organize profiles will allow me to build up a “portfolio” of possible connections which will also record my interests over time. On that point, an additional feature I’d like to see is the ability to save into notes the parameters of the search query that led me to someone.
Elizabeth’s point about this being very useful for people you meet at conferences is a good one – particularly if you didn’t get their business cards at the time (e.g. they’re speakers or if the conference provides a list of all participants). Features focused on conferences would be valuable; e.g. people could opt-in to having themselves added automatically to a conference group every time they attend a conference.
Bottom line: a big increase in findability. On ecommerce sites (focus of our findability improvements) the primary findability issue is making sure that customers can find the products they want (“You can’t buy what you can’t find”). On LinkedIn, finding is not enough – saving is key as well. My guess is that the save profile feature will be enormously successful and, as it’s a premium feature after a 30-day trial, will result in a big increase in profitability for LinkedIn. Too bad they don’t offer LinkedIn members the chance to buy stock! Pricing for this feature should be made a la carte – a lot of people may pay $9.95/month but will choke on $24.95 for the cheapest premium account.
Sharon Strandberg October 1st, 2009
@SRStran @LinkedIN This could save trees, ink, time Getting organized with LinkedIns Profile Organizer: http://digg.com/d3164MP?t
less than 5 seconds ago from Digg
Could not DM you on Twitter, would like to discuss more
Thanks!
Sharon Strandberg
LinkedIn Makes Profile Organization Easier - News: Everything-e October 1st, 2009
[...] many searches on LinkedIn, the single-click 'save profile' action can save you time," says LinkedIn's Elizabeth Reaves. "You no longer need to review each interesting profile in [...]
Matt Baril October 1st, 2009
Ahhh! Finally! I’ve been saving profiles in a folder on my computer in PDF format. This will make managing potential contacts and leads much easier.
Is there a place we can ask for features, bug reports and give feedback?
Thanks for making my experience more enjoyable,
Matt
LinkedIn Makes Profile Organization Easier | Google MSN Search October 1st, 2009
[...] you do many searches on LinkedIn, the single-click 'save profile' action can save you time," says LinkedIn's Elizabeth Reaves. "You no longer need to review each interesting profile in detail: [...]
Trace Mayer October 1st, 2009
Matt, I know how you feel. I use PDFs with Evernote. I really like Ted’s ideas of being able to share profiles with other people. Right now I am working on a CEO search with 3 other people in 3 different organizations and it is rather annoying trying to coordinate our efforts.
Rita Sullivan October 1st, 2009
Why won’t linkedin let me confirm my email address? I’ve tried 6 times now and it keeps asking me to confirm. I can’t add anyone to my network. Why is there no way to get in touch with customer service to ask this question?
Bill Grunau October 1st, 2009
This is long over due and I like the feature, just one thing. LinkedIn finally adds an obvious tool, that is long over due and a feature that is FREE on Facebook and you want to charge $25/month for it. You must be joking. This is such a basic feature, it should be free. Oh yeah, and then for $25/month you get 5 whole folders. Wow. Sorry for the sarcasim, but this is underwhelming and way too late to be impressive.
David Reingold October 1st, 2009
I like it very much. It is a time saver and a great move to organized activity. I do have some questions if anyone has any answers or thoughts.
1 – can we download/pring the contents of a folder
2 – Is there a limit to the number of folders or profiles within a folder
LinkedIn Makes Profile Organization Easier - Programming Blog October 2nd, 2009
[...] searches on LinkedIn, the single-click ’save profile’ action can save you time," says LinkedIn’s Elizabeth Reaves. "You no longer need to review each interesting profile in [...]
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[...] http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/10/01/getting-organized-with-linkedins-profile-organizer/ [...]
Becky October 2nd, 2009
is there a way to message all contacts in a folder? Even with any of the premium account levels?
LinkedIn Makes Profile Organization Easier « Learnsomuch October 2nd, 2009
[...] searches on LinkedIn, the single-click ’save profile’ action can save you time,” saysLinkedIn’s Elizabeth Reaves. “You no longer need to review each interesting profile in [...]
Jeremy Flux October 4th, 2009
Thank for good new feature. Now it will be easier to manage all contacts.
Sanjay October 4th, 2009
Good feature. But, once you do it you can’t undo this. I am testing this out and saved a profile that I don’t need. Once I saved it I no longer could able to take that off or delete it like unsaving.
Paul October 5th, 2009
So if I use the 30 day trial and decide not to opt for the payment, will I loose my profiles I created?
Thank you!
LinkedIn Targets HR With Profile Bookmarking | AccuraCast Search Daily News October 5th, 2009
[...] LinkedIn has started a new service for their Premium users, called ‘Profile Organizer’. As the name suggests, the [...]
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[...] LinkedIn has started a new service for their Premium users, called ‘Profile Organizer’. As the name suggests, the [...]
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[...] You can read more about the Profile Organizer update here on the LinkedIn blog [...]
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[...] this LinkedIn blog entry explaining the Profile Organizer feature in its [...]
Tom Roland October 6th, 2009
I find this feature very useful, and I agree with Ted’s comment about wanting a way to share folders with others. Some sort of shared “workspace” would be very useful. Archivd (www.archivd.com) complements LinkedIn in this regard, but I would prefer to have the collaboration functionality embedded within LinkedIn.
Dirk Frey October 7th, 2009
@Sanjay- Here is a link to an FAQ in the Customer Service Center that should address this. I’m glad you enjoy the feature!
Deleting a Profile from Profile Organizer -
Dirk Frey October 7th, 2009
@Paul – The 30 day free trial allows you to test the product without having to upgrade to a premium account. If at the end of the period you decide you do not want to upgrade to a premium account you will no longer have access to the folders you created or Profiles saved in the feature. If at some point later you do decide to upgrade you will regain access to the information previously saved. To learn more about Profile Organizer feel free to search for ‘Profile Organizer’ under Help at the top any LinkedIn page. This will take you to our Customer Service Center.
Rob Humphrey October 8th, 2009
If you are a recruiter–buy a Lic to the recruiter product(s) you wont be sorry
New Feature Makes LinkedIn More Like a CRM Tool | Home Business | Drop Shipping | Wholesale | Network Marketing October 8th, 2009
[...] can read more about the Profile Organizer update here on the LinkedIn blog VN:F [1.1.4_465]please wait…Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes [...]
Roxanarose October 11th, 2009
I am very excited to be a part of this commenting and look forward to bringing Value to it about the information of LinkedIn’s Profile Organizer thats a very nice and i am very attractive with you profile.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1989925
LinkedIn Profile Organizer for Premium Users Delivers CRM Functionality | NateRiggs.com October 12th, 2009
[...] Profile Organizer allows you to build and organize lists of contacts based on whatever criteria you would like. I am process of using this to organize the connections I meet from conferences and speaking events, but there’s also an opportunity to apply this new feature to prospecting and business development efforts, if you do that sort of thing in your company. [...]
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nathan sanko October 30th, 2009
How do I delete a profile from the profile organizer? Thanks.
BillyBob November 3rd, 2009
Can I message all my connections in a particular folder?
Dirk Frey November 10th, 2009
The functionality doesn’t exist to send a mass message from this product. At this point, it is intended this way to keep your messages personal and to prevent abuse. Dirk
The LinkedIn Blog » Blog Archive Chatting with LinkedIn’s Australia Managing Director – Cliff Rosenberg « December 3rd, 2009
[...] favorite LinkedIn feature would have to be the recently launched Profile Organizer that enables me to keep notes and interesting facts on colleagues and contacts. I also use LinkedIn [...]
Raj Jani December 4th, 2009
Is there an easy way to send quick introductions to all the profiles that one saved? Also what happens after the trial run is over, as has happened in my case?
khaled bin kamal December 7th, 2009
seems fantastic to manage my profile and all contacts of my colleagues