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‘ve been spending a lot of time on LinkedIn Q and A recently and it’s grown on me enormously (sign up in the sidebar to watch my video on how to maximize this goldmine). Most of the questions I see are kind of silly and can honestly just be Googled, but some of them are really excellent questions. For those of you who don’t really use LinkedIn, you totally should. I understand it’s just another thing to add to your plate though, so each week I’ve decided to take my favorite question and publish it here with my answer.
So to kick off what will hopefully be a weekly session, here we go:
Question: Is it appropriate to contact strangers on LinkedIn, who are in the field you are interested in to receive relevant business information?
I am a student at the University of Northern Colorado and will be graduating soon. I’m unsure which area of marketing I would like to go into and I am seeking more information in different fields of Marketing.
~ Lisa Drew, Sales Operations at Best Buy
Answer: Yes – absolutely yes! Maybe don’t go writing to every single person in HR for every single company, because that’s spammy and desperate. But going groups and answering questions and finding entry level employees at the companies you want to work for and connecting with them – that’s the WHOLE POINT of LinkedIn (and that’s why I totally love it).
The best way to used LinkedIn as a way to find jobs is not to contact random people, but those at companies you want to work for. Looking for an entry-level job at Dell? Go to Dell’s company profile and check out new hires and other people in entry-level positions. Connect with them and in the message portion explain (nicely and honestly) that you’ve always wanted to work for Dell and would love to hear about how they got their job. People usually like to help and giving advice is a nice way to do that. The worst they can do is not respond!
Another great (and less awkward) way to get in touch with people on LinkedIn is to connect after meeting them in person. Send them an email saying it was nice to meet them and if they ever hear of a job that’s up your alley to let you know. If you’re interested in marketing, join all the relevant marketing groups and ask questions. More importantly, ANSWER questions. Become an “expert” and flaunt it!
Finally, use LinkedIn is when you’re writing cover letters. A lot of times when you call HR to ask for the name of the hiring manager companies don’t like to give it. But you can find out names by doing a little sleuthing on LinkedIn. Some people don’t like being contacted for this reason, so just do it to find out their name and not email them directly. The point is to have a personalized cover letter, not to harass the nice HR people online. LinkedIn is great for that :)
**Have any job hunting or social media/blogging/funsies questions you want answered? Send me an email at maschembari (at) gmail (dot) com
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