Chatting with your professional community can make a big impact in connecting to opportunities, whether that’s getting advice on asking for a raise, mentoring someone new to the workforce, or asking for an introduction to a hiring manager. A few minutes is all it takes to kick things off.
Here are a few simple tips for using LinkedIn Messaging features to talk how you want, when you want:
Easily coordinate a meeting spot
We know how valuable it is to build relationships with your professional community offline. From catching up with former colleagues over coffee, setting up business meetings, to scheduling an interview – being able to coordinate a place to meet is key to connecting offline. To help make this easier, we’ve now added the ability to send your current one-time location, or search and send a meeting spot to your 1st degree connections directly in LinkedIn Messaging.
We’ve heard from many of you that this feature would make it easier to coordinate meetings — now you no longer need to switch around to multiple apps just to send a proposed spot to meet. To send a location to a connection, simply tap on the map pin icon in the message compose box in our iOS or Android app, search for a meeting place, and tap send. Check out our Help Center to learn more about this feature.
Even more ways to communicate
LinkedIn Messaging helps you have all types of conversations with your community, such as discussing trends with a fellow group member, talking to a hiring manager about a role, or asking a former colleague for help. You’ve told us that the way you talk to these different people depends on how well you know them and the context of the conversation. That’s why we’ve focused on giving you various options for how you can communicate in LinkedIn Messaging:
- Send attachments from your phone: On the move and need to attach a file? Simply tap on the attach icon and choose your PDF, DOC, PPT, or other file that you want to share. It only takes a moment to send a cover letter right away to a recruiter or a presentation from a meeting you had.
- Speak with your connections using voice messaging: For many of you globally, we know that voice messaging is a popular way to communicate with your professional connections. If it makes sense for the conversation you’re having, you can send audio messages to your 1st degree connections on mobile by tapping on the microphone icon.
Drag and drop attachments on desktop: Make sending attachments effortless by eliminating the need to search around for a file that you want to share. Now you can simply drag the file over your open messaging conversation window on desktop, and drop your file.
Use smart replies to message on-the-go: For messages that require a quick response, consider using one of our personalized smart reply options. For example, if a former coworker asks you to catch up over coffee, you may see reply suggestions such as “What time?, “Great!,” or “Sounds good, Sophie.”
Send a GIF or emoji to close connections: If you’re reaching out to a coworker to congratulate them on a work anniversary or thank them for helping you out, consider sending a GIF or emoji to make it more personal. Just keep in mind that it may not always be acceptable to use a GIF or emoji - think about your workplace culture and professional relationship with the person you’re talking to. 😀
Expand the message compose box if you need more space: Writing a longer message? Simply tap on the arrow in the message compose box on desktop or mobile to give yourself more room to type.
We hope these tips give you ideas for reaching out to your professional community using LinkedIn Messaging!
Team Acknowledgements: Shu-Yi Zhou, Arpit Dhariwal, Hannah Cutler, Mimmie Huang, Joe Xue, Phil Li, Greg Lundien, Terry Chen, Tony Xu, GL Zhao