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Social media gets a bad rap. It’s seen as a time waster, distraction, cause of poor communication skills, the list goes on and on. I completely agree that social media has the power to be all those things, but it also has the power to be an incredible tool in your professional life.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site I use daily in my career. Prior to joining Morrison I had only gone as far as creating a profile. Today I have a functioning profile with hundreds of connections across various industries, reaching around the world. Utilizing LinkedIn has helped me to accomplish projects and serve clients better. As I assist clients in recruiting for open positions within their organizations, I cannot sit idly by and hope the right individual applies, although it’s awesome when that happens! I have to be proactive in using my resources to search for and identify potential candidates that could be a good fit.

LinkedIn has taken networking to a whole new level and Lifewire shares a few professional benefits, most of which I have experienced by having a presence on LinkedIn:

1. Get back in touch with old colleagues

2. Use your profile as your resume

3. Find and apply to jobs

4. Find and connect with new professionals

5. Participate in relevant groups

6. Blog about what you know

I’d advise you to take a look at the article published by Lifewire, it offers great suggestions on how to get started and navigate LinkedIn, because it can be quite overwhelming. I certainly don’t know how to utilize this networking site to its full capacity, but if you’d like some tips and tricks on how to revamp your profile, please send me an email! If nothing else, send me a Connect request, I’d love to start networking with you.

About the Author
Janae Swartz is a consultant with Morrison, working primarily in our People Solutions practice. To get in touch with Janae, please find contact information for Morrison here.