LinkedIn provides social networking for professionals
Facebook has gotten a lot of flak in its time for the damaging effect it can have on a job application. While it’s true that that picture of you with no shirt on pushing your friend into a vat of pickle juice might not win you any awards with potential employers, networking can still be an important part of getting (and then keeping) a job. Luckily, you don’t have to change your Facebook entirely (although you should never have pictures showing illegal or less than proper behavior). LinkedIn provides a professional alternative which has caught on around the world.Around the end of June, LinkedIn had more than 70 million users across 200 countries. The site is translated into English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Founded by people with backgrounds in social networking and PayPal, the company’s current CEO is Jeff Weiner, who previously worked at Yahoo! Inc.Getting an account doesn’t take much longer than signing up for Facebook. However, rather than focusing on photos and status updates, the core of LinkedIn is based around your resume and work experience. It can take a while to get everything the way you want it, but features like uploading your resume to fill in fields and asking colleagues on the site to provide recommendations are quick ways to build up your profile.LinkedIn has been building on its original premise by adding new features like LinkedIn Answers (a community-based Q&A forum) and LinkedIn Groups, where users can join alumni, industry, and other professional groups. Currently, the site is working on instituting LinkedIn Polls.If you have other networking sites like Twitter or a blog, don’t forget about them. You can add them to your LinkedIn profile to let employers and colleagues know what you’re doing when you’re off the job. But seriouslyjust remember to take that pickle vat picture down.