LinkedIn is a professional social networking platform with over 300 million members globally. It can be used to find jobs, stay connected with colleagues, research companies and industries, and grow your professional network. Creating a complete profile including education, skills, experience and relevant details can help users maximize their LinkedIn presence. Engaging with connections, groups, companies and sharing professional updates are effective ways to build relationships and enhance your online reputation on LinkedIn. Maintaining LinkedIn etiquette around appropriate content and interactions is important for successful networking on the platform.

1. Dr Helen Dixon
Information Services
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhelendixon
for beginners

2. What is LinkedIn?
• Officially launched 2003Professional social
networking tool
• 19 million UK membersOver 300 million
members
• 24 languagesAvailable in over
200 countries
• 2.1 million groups4 million
businesses

3. Why would I want to use it?
To find a new job
To stay in touch with past colleagues
To research companies/industries
To network with other professionals
To collaborate on projects
To introduce students to networking
To enhance your online profile

4. Queen’s University on LinkedIn

5. How can LinkedIn benefit
Queen’s?
Acquire new students
Recruit new staff
Analyse competitors
Increase our profile

6. University Rankings
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/rankings/gb?trk=edu-rankings-flt-country-dd

7. University Finder
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/university-finder?trk=edu-hp-nav-finder

8. Getting started
Sign up at LinkedIn.com
Free version is sufficient for
most users
Can link to your Twitter and
SlideShare account
Can add email contacts
• Caution – LinkedIn may use your contacts to send
connection requests!

9. Your profile
Information about
your education, skills
and experience
Can control how you
appear in public search
results

10. Your profile
Can share your profile or updates on other
social networks
Can customise your public profile URL or
create a button
You can often see who views your profile

11. What should you include?
Include as much relevant detail as possible
◦ Industry and postal code
◦ A summary
◦ Where you have studied/worked
◦ Education - qualifications and expertise
◦ Current position with description
◦ An appropriate profile photo
◦ Previous positions if relevant
◦ At least five skills
◦ Publications or projects – can add files or links
◦ Volunteer experience

12. Editing your profile
Click here to
edit your
profile URL
Add details of
voluntary work
or awards

13. Editing your profile
You can include
a link to a
website or
upload a file to
your Summary

14. Adding a project
Add details
of any
projects you
have been
involved in –
you can tag
other Team
Members

15. Adding skills
Tip!
Focus on
your core
strengths

16. Who’s viewed your profile?
Select the Who’s Viewed Your Profile option from
the Profile menu to see a summary of your profile
views and the people who have checked you out

17. Making connections
Start by searching for colleagues/project
partners
Use the ‘People you may know’ feature
Can upload your contacts list (use with care!)
◦ LinkedIn will tell you if they are members
◦ You can choose to send invitations to selected
individuals (LinkedIn automatically selects
contacts for you; if you don’t want to invite
everyone, make sure you deselect the “Select All”
option)

18. Connections
You
1st
2nd
2nd
1st 2nd
Can send a direct
message
Need upgraded
account to send
an InMail

19. Try the search box
Search for
friends/colleagues
or for a company
and send a
connection
request to anyone
you would like to
connect with

20. Messages
You can send private messages to one or more
connections
You may receive InMails from people you are not
connected with who have a Premium account

21. Tip!
Use the
Relationship and
Contact Info tabs
to add details for
a connection

22. Endorsements
Can endorse connections for skills you
recognise
Your endorsement will appear on their profile
You will receive a notification if a connection
endorses one of your skills

23. Turning off endorsements
Can turn off endorsements if you don’t want to be
endorsed
Go to Profile / Edit Profile
Click Add skill in the Skills & Endorsements section

24. Groups
Join and participate in groups relevant to your
expertise
◦ Share content
◦ Ask questions
◦ Post/search for jobs
◦ Build relationships
Standard groups – need to request to join or be invited
◦ Findable in search
Unlisted groups – need to be invited to join
◦ Not findable in search – ideal for internal groups!

25. Joining groups
Search for
groups related
to your area
If you want,
view the group
(open groups)
Or request to
join (private
groups) You can join up to 65 groups!

26. Select Groups from
the Interests menu to
view the highlights for
your groups
You can download a
LinkedIn Groups app!

27. Companies
Businesses/organisations can have profiles
Allows company to present overview of
business, profile employees, highlight press
mentions and post jobs
Can follow companies to view updates from
them

28. Tip!
Use the
dropdown
list on the
search box
to select
Companies
Searching for companies

29. Your Home Page
Updates from your
connections, groups
you have joined or
pages/influencers
that you follow
Connection
suggestions

30. Updates
Can like, comment on or share updates

31. Posting updates
Stick to professional updates
Focus on being informative or sharing your
expertise
Encourage participation by asking open-ended
questions
Can choose to share with connections or
public/public + Twitter

32. Publishing a Post
Use
LinkedIn
Posts as an
alternative
to a blog

33. Sharing articles
Many websites
and blogs allow
you to share their
articles directly to
LinkedIn (and
Twitter)
Use the default
message or create
your own

34. Recommendations
Only recommend
people you have
actually worked
with
Remember,
recommendations
may reflect on
you!
Can ask
connections to
recommend you

35. When you visit someone’s profile you can
make a recommendation or view the
recommendations they have made for
others
Recommendations

37. To request a
recommendation,
select
Manage your
recommendations
in your Privacy &
Settings page

38. Privacy & settings - Profile
Click on
your profile
image and
select
Privacy &
Settings

39. Privacy & settings - Profile
Set preferences for what others see when you
view their profile, who can see your connections
or turn on/off activity broadcasts
If you browse publically
you can see who has
viewed your profile

40. If you want to remain anonymous, your
viewers will be anonymous too

41. Privacy & settings –
Communications/Account
Change these
settings if you
are receiving too
many emails

42. Privacy & settings –
Communications/Account
Change your
password
regularly!

43. LinkedIn Etiquette
Only invite people you actually know to connect
Be clear about your intentions
Reciprocate favours and be grateful
Pass requests along quickly or
explain why you would prefer not to
Be careful not to over self-promote
Remember networking is about
relationships

44. How to lose friends and
alienate people
Spamming connections
Being unprofessional
Blatant self-promotion
Stalking!

45. Final tips
Include all relevant detail in your profile
◦ Think about keywords that people may use in
searches
Don’t restrict connections to people in your
field
Login regularly to keep your account active
Keep your profile up-to-date
Check out the LinkedIn Blog