With the job-hunting season peaking and networking being the name of the game, now is as good a time as any to drop part two of “A Beginner’s Guide to Using LinkedIn to Form Connections”. The previous blog delved into four basic tips on building connections through LinkedIn. This blog focuses on some aspects that can be explored once these connections are formed. Huge shoutout to my mentor and the LSE Careers team for some of these insights.
1) Asking for contacts
Once a rapport has been established and a shared interest recognised, we might now explore the possibility of broadening connections. We can form these with people who do similar work to the kind of work we would like to do. The point is not to establish a transactional relationship, but rather a collaborative one.
Tip – offer to connect your contact with people who might do work similar to them. A two-way system is always a helpful precedent to set.
2) Reconnect using shared interests
Once the conversation is over, it is helpful to write back to them as suggested in part one. In the future, should we come across blogs or resources that might be pertinent to them, it is suggested to share these and use the opportunity to catch up briefly. This keeps the connection alive organically in a meaningful way.
3) Follow relevant people, work and pages
The easiest method to broaden our network and ecosystem is to follow relevant pages, people and companies. This expose us to interesting people and concepts, while keeping us updated about the latest trends in our industries.
Tip – Leverage LinkedIn recommendations to follow relevant pages.
4) Check out LSE Careers resources on networking
An age-old topic, networking is one of the most basic and widely covered concepts at LSE. One can find some very good resources to get started on the LSE Careers Hub. As a student at LSE, one can access session recordings and live sessions through the Careers Hub, practice some of these important skills and get feedback on them. I have also found it useful to receive personalised guidance from the LSE Careers team through their one-to-one guidance appointments. I am a firm believer in making full use of the resources available to us and found some of these quite helpful in my own journey.
Overall, I look at networking as a way to build meaningful connections. Looking at it through this lens has helped me build good relationships with some wonderful human beings. So these tips aside, I would certainly recommend just doing what one usually does – build good professional and personal friendships. All the best in your journey!
Not-so-post script: As much as this article might sound like an ad for the platform, I am honestly just an avid fan of the opportunities it provides. I have not included the gendered or other aspects of LinkedIn as this article is meant to be a guide for beginners. This is perhaps content for another post.
