Sometimes, finding vendors can be even more challenging than finding customers—you may need expertise not easily found. The ‘Services’ section on LinkedIn ranks professionals based on recommendations they have received from others. If this does not help, references from other members surely can. “I suggest people whose work I am confident about and who I know well enough. For instance, Kim Brame does amazing work with video marketing and Devesh Dwivedi with Web development,” says US-based Sheilah Etheridge from SME Management Anchorage, who has earned more expertise points on LinkedIn than anyone else till date.
And yes, you can also find personal trainers to help you shed those extra pounds.
9. Background checks
Do you need to run background checks on prospective employees, business associates and even future bosses? Work on your network to provide you the desired information and opinions. Or, use the ‘Reference Check’ tool—a paid service—which allows you to contact people who may know your candidate by matching career graphs. Even the candidate’s profile can be quite reliable. “Rarely would anyone fudge their profile since one is conscious about it being viewed by people they know, and anything misleading could be highly embarrassing,” says Sanjay Sarma, co-founder and CEO of Design Worldwide India.
10. Entrepreneurs: Get opinions and investors
Ajit K. Sharma, a publishing consultant to authors, says he quit what he was doing to set up BookWorldCentral.com, relying only on only LinkedIn to generate business for him, somewhat like entrepreneurs who trade full-time on eBay. Not too many might be going his way, but entrepreneurs have found LinkedIn the ideal place not only to find customers, but also as a sounding board for ideas, finding partners and, you guessed it, investors.
Conducting yourself
Conducting oneself on LinkedIn need not be very different from the real world; fortunately, there are enough checks and balances to keep the site largely pure. “Users need to conduct themselves in a thorough and professional manner on LinkedIn; we have to realize the differences between this and other social sites. This is a no-nonsense, hard core networking site. If used well, the results can top any other tool for business networking and ‘getting ahead’,” says Rahul Chopra, heading logistics at Globe Hi-Fabs.
The world is a small place. LinkedIn just made it smaller, and more profitable.
Ajay Jain is a technology analyst and journalist who blogs at www.TechGazing.com.
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