What is LinkedIn? - professional networking and career development
Published: 2021-06-03 07:17:33

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the internet. You can use LinkedIn to find the right job or internship, connect and strengthen professional relationships, and learn the skills you need to succeed in your career. You can access LinkedIn from a desktop, LinkedIn mobile app, mobile web experience, or the LinkedIn Lite Android mobile app.

A complete LinkedIn profile can help you connect with opportunities by showcasing your unique professional story through experience, skills, and education.

You can also use LinkedIn to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, post photos and videos, and more.

### What you can do with LinkedIn
It should be clear that LinkedIn is a tool you can use to enhance your professional networking and job searching activities.

Many people use the site to grow their contacts and find career opportunities, and the Jobs section of the site is a powerful tool for finding and applying for jobs. There are settings on LinkedIn that let you alert recruiters that you're actively job searching as well.

Some people use LinkedIn to enhance their professional reputation by making posts in the news feed, and commenting on other people's posts.

### Who should be joining LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a platform for anyone who is looking to advance their career. This can include people from various professional backgrounds, such as small business owners, students, and job seekers. LinkedIn members can use LinkedIn to tap into a network of professionals, companies, and groups within and beyond their industry.

### What Is LinkedIn Used For (As an Individual)?
Now you know what LinkedIn offers and what kind of people typically use it, but that probably doesn't give you any specific ideas for how to start using it yourself. In fact, many users create an account and then abandon it because they have no idea how they should be using LinkedIn.

Here are some tips for beginners.
1. ***Get back in touch with old colleagues.*** You can use the My Network section to find old colleagues, teachers, people you went to school with and anyone else you might think is worth having in your professional network. Just enter or connect your email to sync your contacts with LinkedIn.

2. ***Use your profile as your resume.*** Your LinkedIn profile basically represents a more complete (and interactive) resume. You can include it as a link perhaps in an email or your cover letter when you apply to jobs. Some websites that allow you to apply to jobs will even allow you to connect to your LinkedIn profile to import all your information. If you need to build a resume outside of LinkedIn, there are apps for that.

3. ***Find and apply to jobs.*** Remember that LinkedIn is one of the best places to look for job postings online. You'll always get recommendations from LinkedIn about jobs you may be interested in, but you can always use the search bar to look for specific positions too.

4. ***Find and connect with new professionals.*** It's great to get back in touch with old colleagues and connect with everyone at your current workplace who may also be on LinkedIn, but what's even better is that you have the opportunity to discover new professionals either locally or internationally that may be able to help out with your professional endeavors. 

5. ***Participate in relevant groups.*** A great way to meet new professionals to connect with is to join groups based on your interests or current profession and start participating. Other group members may like what they see and want to connect with you.

6. ***Blog about what you know.*** LinkedIn's very own publishing platform allows users to publish blog posts and gain the opportunity to have their content read by thousands. Published posts will also show up on your profile, which will increase your credibility in related fields that are relevant to your professional experience.

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As a final note, don't forget to take advantage of LinkedIn's mobile apps. LinkedIn has its main apps available for free on iOS and Android platforms.