It is worth your time to keep your LinkedIn account up to date. It has become the top way for people to represent themselves to the business world. In my opinion, it’s a mistake to only think of LinkedIn as a job search tool. I like to encourage professional I talk with to make their LinkedIn account a priority. Here are some reasons I can think of at the moment:

It’s not really social media.  The little icon comes up along beside Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but LinkedIn really isn’t social media. Occasionally someone may take leave of their senses and post dinner pictures or political cartoons, but for the most part I find a ton of helpful materials for Project Management, Cyber Security, and User Cases for technologies of interest. LinkedIn really should be in it’s own class. Don’t wash away it’s potential for you personally just because it’s called social media.

It is an ever present Resume. I think we need to get out of the mode of dusting off the old resume when there is an employment need. Look at it as an opportunity to represent yourself to a very wide audience. The more you connect, the more you can represent yourself. In addition, you can attach videos or appropriate documents to represent what you do, and the value you offer. Today it’s NOT about experience…. it’s about what VALUE you offer. This is a good means to think in terms of the value you bring. 

It’s Networking on Steroids.  I still enjoy in-person networking, but digital networking is becoming a huge piece of our careers.  Going wild with connect requests isn’t a good idea. However, posting, commenting, or reaching out to discuss topics of interest is a great way to find people who will want to connect with you. It’s a good idea to have your eye on networking at all times. You never know what position people will come into or who they may know – and they may need your help or be able to help you.  Birthday and Anniversary reminders are baked into the system. It’s also good for celebrating other’s achievements – it’s nice to give and sometimes to get those kudos.

LinkedIn Learning. This doesn’t come with the free account, unfortunately, but if you do the premium gig – or even a trial of one – you can take a lot of helpful courses. I’ve learned a lot about using Teams for Project Management from LinkedIn . The offering is wide ranging. I’ve had their premium offerings off and on. I don’t like paying $30 or so a month for them, so I fall off the subscription after a while, but I’ve learned a lot through their learning courses. 

Here are some parting Dos and Don’ts.

DO keep your profile, picture, attached resume, contact info, etc. up to date. Set yourself a calendar reminder and make it a monthly task.

DON’T go crazy with the connect button. Have some messages or topics to share when asking to Connect.

DO post things. You are all professionals and you have stuff to contribute. It doesn’t need to be a full length book – please don’t do that because no one has time. But brief postings are good for others and good for you.

DON’T post things intended to raise emotional responses. Save that for Facebook…. Actually, don’t participate in that there either. 

DO change your linked url address. Available the profile section.

DON’T accept every connect request. There are spammers there as well and marketing groups looking to sell you stuff. They may also want to peruse your connection list. Just ignore them… no nasty messages and threats…

Let me know if you’d like to discuss this further. There are tons of tips online… too many actually. I have located a number of good cut sheets and helpful articles online.