John Hill is psyched. The director of Alumni Career Services for the Michigan State University (MSU) Alumni Association has discovered LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking site, and promotes it as if he were its marketing director.
The 36-year-old former journalist has been working with new media for years, and exudes excitement about the site that was launched just five years ago.
LinkedIn has a number of uses, but job hunting may be one of its best. On April 2, Hill found nearly 1,000 available tech jobs within 25 miles of East Lansing: 207 in information technology; 172 in engineering; 11 in bio-technology; and 577 in health-related careers.
He’s not the only one using the site. Of its 37 million users in 200 countries, 85,000 live or work in the Lansing-East Lansing area. Nearly all of them are college educated and working in high white collar positions like information technology, human resources, and chief executive officers, says Hill.
“It’s like six degrees of separation applied to the web,” he explained at a recent meeting of Lansing Rotarians. “Strategies grow out of relationships and using LinkedIn is a great way to develop those relationships.”
Hill walked the group through the site, explaining the free services as he went, omitting the options with price tags.
First you complete a profile with items like college name, jobs held now and previously, and group memberships. Then enter contacts from your address book, referred to as your “network”. The average number of people in a network is 50, he says. Within seconds the site displays the names and photos of people with common connections.
You’re an MSU grad? Up will pop all the names of people in your network who are also Spartans. You would then have access to the people in their networks, and suddenly the potential for relationships grows into the thousands.
Suppose you’re applying for a job at the Accident Fund, Hill poses. You can research the company, see who’s been hired recently, and track trends. He found 37 people from his own network working there, and could view their profiles. He could contact a few of them, mention their common interest, and have an entrée into a conversation with them, ultimately learning more about the company, he says.
Lansing Rotary has about 260 members, 88 of them already LinkedIn users, he showed with a quick search. Every one of those relationships can be nurtured for career development, he advises.
Source: John Hill, MSU Alumni Association
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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