Why 90% Of Job Seekers Feel Overwhelmed By LinkedIn.

September 21, 2016

LinkedIn is in your face.

So much so that Jeff Weiner recently said he’s sorry.

Sorry for the weekly onslaught of connection requests in your inbox sucking your precious time into a social media wind tunnel.

Sorry like a James Dean character – he’s the problem, not you.

Like Most Job Seekers, You’re Over It.

LinkedIn can be a mysterious and somewhat intimidating platform.

Despite it’s apparent benefits, it remains quite complex to figure out.

Sure, you can click around, request connections, like posts, join groups and share content, but it’s hard to see how the sum of all that activity produces noticeable ROI for your career.

Besides, you’ve got better things to do than cultivate a LinkedIn network…right?

Don’t Be So Sure.

Like most rebels, LinkedIn’s value is still misunderstood. Even the Onion did a spoof on how baffling the concept is.

A 2015 Forbes study revealed that CEOs were the last demographic to hop on the social media bandwagon. Now, according to the same study, LinkedIn is their social network of choice.

Which means the race is on. Some people will figure it out first and will use it to get miles ahead of the pack. Others will play catch-up and will wish that they jumped on the opportunity when rewards were substantial.

The only real question is – where do you want to be?

How To Start.

Starting is rarely as hard as it looks.

Truth be told, the philosophy behind effective online networking is remarkably similar to that of in-person networking:

• be generous
• be helpful
• build win-win relationships
• connect with other outstanding people (don’t just connect for the sake of collecting connections)
• don’t be fake
• don’t be generic (no cookie-cutter approaches)
• don’t pretend that you care (instead, connect with people whose success you can see yourself caring about)
• be remarkable (that is, worthy of a remark)

Are You, In Fact, Remarkable?

Here’s where it gets a little tricky.

Your personal brand is not only a function of what you say about yourself.

To a much larger extent, it’s what your network says about you. And that, in turn, is a function of how remarkable you are at every touchpoint with your brand (multiplied by the number of touchpoints).

Which is why the most successful networking leaders – and people with strongest personal brands – don’t just collect connections.

They craft the next chapter in their brand story.

And if you also choose to build your network with such care and precision, it’s a no brainer to realise that LinkedIn is an incredible brand vehicle – because it allows you to exponentially scale the number of touchpoints with your brand (while having full control over their remark-ability).

What Is Your Purpose?

Before you log on to the platform again, ask yourself: What do you want to be known for?

Doing this will give strategic context to all your LinkedIn activity. It will focus your efforts and save you mountains of time.

It’s also a vital step for answering that other nagging question: How do you ensure that the time you spend on LinkedIn produces ROI?

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