Later today I’ll be giving a presentation to colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs about helping students take advantage of LinkedIn for personal and career development. It’s a topic we’ve covered on this blog many times before, but I have some new tips and tricks that I’ve used with students recently, and thought those should be shared here as well! There will be more to come, but let’s start with a network visualization tool called InMaps.
Here's a screenshot of my InMap
InMaps was released earlier this year, and it helps provide a birds-eye view of your personal LinkedIn network. The algorithm takes in data from you and your LinkedIn network (including jobs, schooling, and mutual connections) and creates an interactive map of your network, by grouping and color-coding your connections. Aside from creating a cool looking visualization, I’ve used it in a couple practical ways:
- Look through each grouping, and try to identify the reason those connections are grouped together. Are they all people you used to work with? Maybe they’re people from your academic major? Sometimes the groupings are obvious, but in other cases they can provide some insight into common connections you didn’t realize were there.
- Pay attention to the relative size of each group. My map has equally large groups that represent co-workers, personal friends, and classmates from my undergraduate years. However, the cluster of people from my graduate program is much smaller than the rest. It indicated to me that I haven’t done as much work in building that particular portion of my network, which is something I now hope to put more effort into.
- Look for the large dots that seem to sit at the ‘hub’ of a particular group. These are the people who have the greatest number of mutual connections with you, but they also represent people who might be what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as ‘connectors.’ Connectors’ networks stretch across many different groups of people, and they tend to enjoy making connections among the people they know. They’re the type of person who, after you mention you’ve decided to get in shape and train for a marathon, can immediately rattle off a handful of their friends whom you should talk to about training tips. If you’re able to identify the connectors within your own network, make sure they know when you’re looking for a job or internship, and what type of work you’re interested in. You never know if they can connect you to just the right person you need in your search.
Interesting use of LinkedIn to find potential “points of connection”!
I wanted also to signal that you can use LinkedIn to search prospective employers that are actually open to receive these cold calls using their advanced “premium” search features and selecting the box that says that they are open to prospective employees. Investment is less than $50, and avoids people cold calling someone who’s not open to cold calls!
Cheers,
G.
Clear, concise info – would you mind if I share this on my blog?
Thank you Candace! Feel free to share this on your blog, but please link back to this one.
I have extensive experience in website development, seo and marketing. I assure you, the only thing LinkedIn is good for, is to prove your connections on a resume check.
There is no real networking or communication aside the “connections” themselves.
So, in a nutshell, if you’re using LinkedIn, it’s to rope a job, or a better one.
Great LinkedIn Tips & Tricks on Inmaps. Thanks for sharing. As a social media marketer, I know what value can be generated through Linkedin.
Can I use this article for reference?
Absolutely — thank you for the kind words!