This week I celebrate 11 years on LinkedIn!
LinkedIn has played an enormous role in my career development. When I signed up as a grad student in 2010, I knew it would be important to plant a flag here. But I thought it was simply a place to add a profile, find jobs, and "connect" after you meet someone in real life (how quaint). I was very excited about all of that!
Over the years, it's revealed itself as a community where I've met people, learned stuff, and found opportunities that I never expected - whether as a student, job seeker, or business owner. These connections have led to jobs, clients, new perspectives, podcasts, panels, conferences, collaborations, partnerships, and several friendships. It's also a place that helps me stay on top of the latest in design, careers, business and social discussions.
It turned out this way because I was intentional about shaping LinkedIn into a place worth spending my time. How?
🌼 Nurturing relationships. It's a community, the strongest kind of network. Both strong ties and weak ties are important.
🌼 Supporting and connecting others.
🌼 Reciprocity.
🌼 Curating my feed so I see the most relevant content.
🌼 Being active. Not all the damn time, but just enough. I usually post once or twice a week, and engage in a handful of conversations.
🌼 It's the only social media I use professional or personally. Other than checking an occasional post from a friend, I don't have accounts anywhere else. I've been Facebook-free since 2011, Twitter-free since 2017, and Instagram-free since 2018. Nothing against people who use these or any other social media. I just like to focus on where I get value and not be spread thin.
🌼 Putting stuff out there and experimenting to see what works.
🌼 Focusing on value by sharing things that are relevant, timely, interesting, educational, and fun.
🌼 Thinking about the long game, not just immediate outcomes.
🌼 Being professional, being personal, being myself.