LinkedIn News Roundup: Photos in profiles to reference checks
Here's a quick roundup of all of last week's press coverage on all things LinkedIn. Most of it was related to our launch of photos in profiles but browse through some of the related LinkedIn coverage from the past couple of weeks:
* LinkedIn a photo: Most of you may have read about our most recent feature update - the ability to add a photo to your LinkedIn profile. Check out a step-by-step tutorial by Adam Nash, Sr. Director of Product.Also, check out the team behind the feature update.
Here are five related articles and blog posts that covered the topic:
* CNN | LinkedIn allows photos after resisting
* USA Today | LinkedIn let users post photos
* Business Week | Smile, You're on LinkedIn
* TechCrunch | Picture this - LinkedIn adds profile photos
* Mashable | LinkedIn gets profile photos
* QUICK FIX | How to make use of LinkedIn (Wall Street Journal):
PROBLEM: Receiving multiple invitations for LinkedIn but not understanding the service.
SOLUTION: Set up a free personal account on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), a professional-networking Web site, to meet other professionals or control e-mail invitations.
Click on “Account and Settings” then scroll to “Receiving Messages.” Select the “Invitations” category, where you can direct invitations to arrive once a week or choose to read them only on the Web site.
You can also upload a private contacts list that won’t appear online (use the “Other Contacts” tab) and choose to receive invitations from only those people. But you could miss introductions and professional opportunities that might arise through other people.
CAVEAT: You should generally receive invitations from people who already know your e-mail address and LinkedIn users who attended the same school as you or worked at the same company. Click on the “I don’t know this person” button to report invitations that violate the rules. LinkedIn restricts ability to send invitations of users reported too often.
* Ask an Expert: Professionals tune in to their kind of network | USA Today:
What is LinkedIn, you ask? While one of the distinguishing characteristics of Web 2.0 is the advent of social networking sites like MySpace, you and I know that the demographic cut of the MySpace and Facebook crowd is younger than we are, generally speaking. Enter LinkedIn. It is a networking site for professionals, businesses and entrepreneurs.
When you join LinkedIn, you create a profile that summarizes your business accomplishments. You then use that profile to locate colleagues, clients, associates, and friends. These folks become part of your LinkedIn network. But the best part is that because your people have their own network, your network expands geometrically to include your connections' connections, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.
Let's say you need a lead with a business. Well it just may be that within your expanded LinkedIn network, you will have that lead. Once you create your network, and you look someone up, say, Barack Obama, their profile will say
• "See who you and Barack Obama know in common"
• "Get introduced to Barack Obama"
• "Contact Barack Obama"It's sort of like that parlor game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Within your network, or expanded network, you never know who you might know.
* Job references you can't control | Wall Street Journal:
But such checking can work to a job seeker's advantage, too. Chandan Mahajan says his LinkedIn profile -- which lists his previous work experience, displays eight recommendations from former colleagues and shows that he has more than 100 connections online -- helped him land a job in May as a business-development manager for Wipro Technologies, the global information-technology-services business of Wipro Ltd. The recruiters at Wipro "did say there were a couple of people they knew in my network," says Mr. Mahajan, 28 years old, of East Brunswick, N.J.
Wipro Technologies confirms that it contacted some of Mr. Mahajan's connections after the first interview. "We did every informal reference check," says Madhulika Goel, the company's manager of strategic resourcing. In fact, Wipro didn't ask him for a standard résumé during initial interviews, opting instead to use Mr. Mahajan's online profile.
Here are two more articles on reference checking from the Wall Street Journal:
• Finding Good References When You Can't Ask Your Boss
• Why Job Referrals Can Come at a Price