LinkedIn is a professional platform designed to connect people with one another and professions. This document was created for Concordia University Irvine CU Shine Social Media Sessions. Please ask permission to use it for your own training purposes.

1. CU Shine Social Media Series May 28, 2014
THE BASICS OF LINKEDIN
1. Profile
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Your profile is your greeting card to the public. It’s your LinkedIn page that describes you: your
career history, education, interests, and other related content you may want to publish. There are a
variety of features offered that leverage your profile or others’ profiles to help you meet you
objectives. Some of these features include a summary, experience, skills, projects, publications,
endorsements and recommendations. Website URLS and videos can also be
included to better showcase your skills. It’s best to use a professional photo clearly
showing your face.
2. Recommendations
Recommendations are comments written to recommend a colleague, business
partner, or provider of a professional service. Recruiters and hiring managers read
recommendations and take them into account when considering prospective
new hires. It’s important to note though, that failing to get recommendations
won’t hurt you in a job application process. Rather, recommendations help
validate claims you make on your resume as well as offer credibility to
your proclaimed results. The best way to receiving a
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Tip: Search for friends,
family, and co-workers
within LinkedIn to
make a connection.

2. CU Shine Social Media Series May 28, 2014
recommendation is by asking for one by a friend, co-worker or manager.
Best practices in this are to ask personally (don’t use the blanket email provided), reply with a thank
you whether or not a recommendation was written for you and to write a recommendation for the
person whom you’ve asked.
3. Groups
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LinkedIn Groups provides a place for professionals in the same
industry or with similar interests to share content, find answers,
post and view jobs, make business contacts, and establish
themselves as industry experts. Groups may be open or
membership only. Membership only groups require you to submit a
request to join at which point the moderator of the group will
decided to allow you in or not. Membership only groups are
designed to maintain the best content and social interaction. Within
groups job postings can be made and found.
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4. Companies
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A company page on LinkedIn helps LinkedIn Members learn about your business, brand, and job
opportunities. Any LinkedIn Member can follow any Company Page. By following a company
page, Members are notified on their wall of recent updates made by the company. Members can
also see Connections to the company which allows for richer engagement.
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Visit CUI at:
www.linkedin.com/
company/concordia-
university-irvine

3. CU Shine Social Media Series May 28, 2014
LINKEDIN Vocabulary
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Connection: LinkedIn members who have accepted an invitation to connect (1st degree)
1st Degree Connections: Direct connections - person’s you know on a personal, professional level
2nd Degree Connections: Connections to each of your 1st degree connections
3rd Degree Connections: Connections to those in your 2nd degree connections
Endorsement:
InMail or Messages: Private messages that allow you to directly contact and LinkedIn member while
protecting the recipient’s privacy.
Network: A group of users that can contact you through connections up to three degrees away.
RESOURCES
!http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/02/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-linkedin-
recommendations/
www.help.linkedin.com
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CONTACT INFORMATION
!LinkedIn Set-up: Linkedin.com
LinkedIn Settings: Linkedin.com
LinkedIn Troubleshooting: Linkedin.com
General Linkedin Questions: veronica.Steele@cui.edu
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