The Art & Science of Online Networking: On Linkedin's Turf

Being a power networker, having added more than 11,500+ valuable contacts (not random, but carefully chosen contacts) on Linkedin, I would love to share some tips to use to be a powerful networker to further your professional reach in your respective careers:

1> The Complete Picture:

Have a completely well furnished profile, down to dates of employment, academics, extra curricular activities & interests, etc. You would thus also end up getting suggested responses from Linkedin of ex/current colleagues, classmates, etc who are easy to connect with & form credible communities or pools which can further connect with each other's networks also. For eg: If you graduated from Mithibai College in the batch of 1997, adding the proper date would lead to you seeing suggestions to add former classmates who, ofcourse, by now, are well settled in respectable jobs & could do a good value add to your network & vice versa. Plus since they already know you, you already have a head start.


2> Accessibility:

Each of us have control over our respective privacy settings & can control who we choose to network with & who we choose gets to network with us. While mostly, these controls are to stop people from spamming you, in the current day, increasing paranoia had led people to add so many privacy controls, that they enter into an "Almost Inaccessible" zone when it comes to people who are looking to connect with them. When I am looking to connect with people from particular functional areas & industries..I give in very streamlined searches which bring up groups of people I'd like to add & network with, all professionally of course, for every 100 profiles I see, I come across 8 to 10 profiles which need me to enter their email address to add them, else there is noway. Now I have an advantage because in 99% of the cases they end up being my 2nd degree contacts, & I can always request my contacts to facilitate an introduction. But nevertheless, for people who don't know how to connect with them, these individuals are losing out on the very, many opportunities that keep flying across Linkedin, everyday. So it always helps to display an email address (keep a separate one JUST for work related networking, it doesn't have to be your personal email) & try your best to not put too many privacy settings. Just last week, I got one of these contacts I added a really great job opportunity with one of our very, very reputed clients, this person had a colleague with the same profile, who I was trying to add, but I didn't because of her privacy settings...& she lost out on a good opportunity.

3> Recommendations:

The 'RIGHT' recommendations can do wonders for your profile, & the 'WRONG' recommendations can wreak havoc all the same. Now what are RIGHT & WRONG recommendations in the first place? Aren't all recommendations RIGHT & good to have? The answer is a clear NO. When people look to network with you, they are looking for ONLY & ONLY your skill sets (other than integrity & credibility, which these days can be found out via background checks) So. Try to get recommendations from your peers & superiors who you have either worked with or reported into. I get atleast 6-7 requests daily for recommendations from people who I have never worked with a day in my life! Although I politely decline, many people go ahead & recommend people they hardly know, & guess what? The recommendation reflects that ignorance! The right recommendations make you prime catch to connect with. A very important parameter that's taken into consideration while connecting.

4> Sending the right message:

We have generous space on our profiles to write about our accomplishments, career aspirations & many other interests & achievements. Taking that space & adding a one to two liner about what kind of people would you like to network with, also sends out a clear message & the unwanted kinds will stay away. I don't guarantee that a 100%, but hey it never hurt to be specific in a way that is not assuredly limiting you (like not allowing people to network with you without adding your email address).

5> Note This:

Adding a personalized note while adding someone & a thank you note with your co-ordinates after that person accepts your add request always helps & is the polite thing to do. Now many of us may not find the time to network, leave alone leaving notes. But keeping such notes on a notepad file on your desktop from where you copy it every time you wish to send a thank you, is better than not writing one at all. Be a quality networker. This shows class. And people respond to such gestures with respect, which let me say, is very, very essential in successful networking.

6> Unprofessionalism:

I have noticed that many individuals on Linkedin after being accepted on to our networks, send mindless, purposeless emails which makes them completely lose their credibility. An almost empty email with a "Hiiiiiiiiiiiii" in my opinion is really retarded & I most definitely would not want to network with such individuals. Some propose friendship & even marriage. To which I point out, this, my friend, is a professional network! Pls google for matrimonial websites, because that's what you're looking for. Pls refrain from mixing two very different worlds. Keeps it real, I feel.

Happy networking.