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.