I usually steer away from writing about LinkedIn because the
user interface changes on what seems to be a daily basis (slight exaggeration
but not by much). I have found though that a significant number of people are
not aware of a feature that has been in LinkedIn for a while that is very
helpful. It allows you to track how you met a contact, record additional
contact information for and notes about that person, organize and lookup your
contacts into groupings (tags) – groups that you define, and to set periodic
reminders to reach out to your contact.
Here is my disclaimer. LinkedIn may (probably will) change the
user interface at any time. This article was based on the interface as of this
writing (Dec 2014). Also since LinkedIn changes frequently, I suggest backing
up or recording the information in another place as well.
Where to find these
features
These features work for your first level connections only. Go
into a first level contact’s profile and under their picture, you will see two
tabs: Relationship preceded by a star and Contact Info preceded by an icon of a
rolodex file tab.
It is important to know that only you can see the information
you are entering into these fields.
Relationship
There are multiple features under the Relationship tab.
Note
The field under this option allows you to document
information you would like to retain about this person either about them or
about conversations you had with them.
Job Seeker Tip: A person with strong interpersonal skills
remembers things about the other person to show that they care. Since memory
does not get better with age, this is a place you can store that information in
order to personalize your conversations with them.
Reminder
The option allows you to set a periodic reminder (day, week,
month or recurring) and a field to record a note about what it is you want to
remember to do.
Job Seeker Tip: Job security does not come from a job title,
company, or industry. Instead job security today comes from keeping your skills
up, your experience current, and your network active. To keep your network
active you need to stay in touch. It is not the number of people you meet but
the depth of the contact. Set a reminder so you stay in touch with each of your
contacts on a regular basis; your closer contacts you will want to stay in
touch with on a more regular basis but you should reach out to everyone at
least once a year. This feature can help
with that.
How You Met
At the bottom of the Relationship window is the date you
connected with this person on LinkedIn. If however, you have a number of
contacts or like me have a less than strong memory, it is good to remember how you
know each other. There is a large note field as well as a separate field to
enter the name of the person who introduced you. As you enter the name this
field is automatically propagated (autotype) using the names of your LinkedIn
contacts that match.
Job Seeker Tip: When you are out networking and receive a
business / network card from someone, in addition to what it is you want to get
back to them about, note on the back of the card where and when you met them.
Once you connect on LinkedIn, you can enter that information into LinkedIn using
this feature.
Tag
At the top of the Relationship and Contact Info window are the
tags (groupings) associated with this contact. Hovering over the tag there is a
message displaying “See contacts tagged ” indicating that
you can look up others with this same tag in your contact list.
This lookup feature did not return a list for me. It is
either because most of my connections are all of the same type and I didn’t
wait long enough or this feature is not working at this moment.
When you click Tag on the Relationship window, a list of
options with checkboxes will display. The option that was used when you
initially connected on LinkedIn (the answer to How do You Know…) will be
checked. You can check more than one tag for this person which puts them into other
searchable groupings for you. To remove
a tag from a person, just unclick that box.
Also under this option you can add a new tag and manage
tags.
Add New Tag
Once you click Add New Tag, a single field will display
where you enter in the name of the new tag you are adding and then click Save.
This tag will now display in your available tag list.
Manage Tags
Under the Manage Tag option, you can rename (edit) tags or delete
tags to remove them from your available tags list.
Contact Info
The Contact Info tab has specific information fields for
your contact that are propagated from the person’s LinkedIn profile or you can enter
them including e-mail, Birthday, IM address, Phone, Address, and websites.
Job Seekers Tip: You may have the e-mail addresses or phone
numbers of people you didn’t even know you had.
More?
If you have any additional tips regarding these options I
encourage you to go to the original article on my blog (RightChangesJobSearchCoach.blogspot.com)
and comment on this article. Be sure to test them before submitting them.
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