#1 – Join LinkedIn (it’s free) and the information and contacts available there are amazing!

#2 – Fill out your profile.  Use your updated resume (because it should always be updated) to fill out the profile.  This will be your online resume, so make it look good.  What if you aren’t looking for a job?  Well, haven’t you ever wondered what it would feel like for someone to contact you and say something like: “I saw on your LinkedIn profile that you are experienced in x, y and z.  We need those types of skill sets…can we talk?”   This will happen if you fill out the LinkedIn profile correctly.  (If nothing else, it’s always helpful to know just how valuable you are in your own job.)

#3 – Upload your photo – It should be an attractive, professional, head-and-shoulders-shot of you in business attire. 

#4 – Join some groups – Look around.  It doesn’t have to be restricted to networking prospects…use this resource as a learning tool, too.

#5 – Connect to people you worked with in the past.  They’re trying to build their networks, too.  They’ll be glad you contacted them.

#6 – Recommend some of the people you worked with in the past who were excellent or somebody who did work for you in the past.  People would always rather take a chance on someone who was recommended than on someone they know nothing about.  You’re just making introductions.  Or, umm…networking.  Recommend your favorite sales recruiter as a resource (maybe I placed you, recruited for your company, gave you great advice in a custom consulting session, or just because you like my blog). 

#7 – Check your account once a week.  It won’t do you any good if you don’t know what’s going on.

#8 – Accept invitations to connect by others. The connection will allow more people to see your profile and this is what personal branding is all about.

#9 – Access the Q & A — amazing resources there.  Ask a question.  You will be amazed at the response.  Or search for the answer that someone has already given.

#10 – Put your LinkedIn profile in your email signature.  It allows someone to know you in a much more significant way than ever before.

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