Making the Right Network Work for You

We all know how social networks work by now. As a senior, it has finally dawned on me the professional importance of how to utilize social networks and make them work for me. Demonstrated efficiently, Facebook and Twitter are great ways to expand socially and professionally. An additional way to connect is LinkedIn, which is a social media website to improve one’s professional network. More than 80 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn (Joshua Waldman, 2011). Identifying and determining the audience you wish to reach is important, but more importantly is what communication style they prefer. LinkedIn can be one of the audience’s choices; if chosen to utilize here are some ways to get the most out of Linkedin:

• Completion of your Profile. Tutorial guides are available, which can help maximize the potential for your profile. Uploading a resume and a short summary is extremely beneficial for self-representation and exposure.
• Professional Expectation. Keep things classy and review in detail what you are about to post to the internet. The internet is written in pen not pencil, so always think twice.
• Quality over Quantity. In the professional world it isn’t always about how many people you know, rather than how well you know them. A few personal letters of reference is always more accredited than several non-personal reference letters.
• Consistent Monitoring. It is not important to stay on the website all day every day. What is important is ever so often (Once a Day) to keep things fresh and attempt to post or send request for website recognition.  Efficient ways to Monitor

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender, there is no greater investment.

Matt Treybig
Marketing Intern, UIU Office of Career Development

Webpage, LinkedIn Group , Facebook Group
www.uiu.edu/careers
careers@uiu.edu
P.O. Box 1857 ~~ 605 Washington Street
Fayette, IA  52142
Student Center (225)
563-425-5229

Credit/Resources:
www.humanresources.com
Business Etiquette:  The New Rules in a Digital Age (www.roberthalf.com)
www.careerenlightenment.com
Build-A-Professional-Profile.pdf
Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies (2011), by Joshua Waldman, MBA