Getting the Most out of LinkedIn

By Ali Stevenson '10
On January 5, 2010, even though alumni of Michigan State University and UW-Madison were looking forward to resuming their basketball rivalry, they were also eager to be allies in the work force.
“Business before Basketball,” a networking event held the day before the Wisconsin vs. Michigan State basketball game in Southfield, Michigan, gave 65 grads from both schools valuable career tips, tactics and strategies.

The key note speaker, John Hill, Michigan State University Director of Alumni Career Services, gave an informative presentation entitled “How to Take Your Online Connections Offline for Career/Professional Success.” His presentation included useful information about taking advantage of electronic resources like LinkedIn that had attendees walk away with new insights on how to look for jobs and build their professional networks.

Some of his tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn include:
  • Search for three groups to build your network: 1. Family and friends 2. Graduates of your university 3. Professional organizations you belong to — like the Wisconsin Alumni Association.
  • Keep expanding your network — there are close to 219,000 users associated with the University of Wisconsin, and 55 million users on LinkedIn.
  • Use LinkedIn’s advanced search feature to narrow down searches by any of the following factors: affiliation and school, location, industry and keyword.
  • Streamline your job search. LinkedIn has partnered with SimplyHired to expand its pool of job listings (this means you don’t have to go to multiple web sites to get job information).
  • Find exclusive job postings on LinkedIn — where you can research the company and the person listing the job.
  • Use your connections to communicate with job posters.
Make sure to join the Wisconsin Alumni Association LinkedIn group to start building your network!