Is it ok to be on LinkedIn when I have a job?

One of the top questions clients and potential clients ask me about LinkedIn is, “should I be on LinkedIn when I am working?” I have a number of opinions on this question as well as a number of answers.

Who is looking out for you?

We have entered into an era when career management should be something everyone who desires to move forward in life should be thinking about. Gone are the days when you are likely to start a job after high school or college and retire from that same job in 40 or 45 years. You are not likely to be a “lifer” anywhere. My first question to the careerist (that would be you — the employed individual who wants to change positions, or you — the job seeker who is trying to land a new position.) You, the careerist,… who is looking out for you?

Let’s review the value of LinkedIn:

I believe in loyalty to your employer but the employer who doesn’t want his employees to be found on LinkedIn is misinformed. Yes, you could be looking for a new position and using LinkedIn to do so but you also could be connecting with professionals that could be potential customers for your company’s product.

The growth of LinkedIn is astounding. As of February 2012, LinkedIn states that 150 million professionals are on LinkedIn.

As of February 9, 2012, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 150 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

You wonder how that affects business. Here are a few more fun facts direct from the LinkedIn About Us page:

• As of February 9, 2012, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies as members; its corporate hiring solutions are used by 82 of the Fortune 100 companies.
• More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.
• LinkedIn represents a valuable demographic for marketers with an affluent & influential membership.
• More than 50,000 developers are using LinkedIn APIs to create innovative tools and services for professionals, averaging over two billion API calls per month as of December 31, 2011.
• As of December 31, 2011, there are more than 300,000 unique domains actively using the LinkedIn Share button on their sites to send content into the LinkedIn platform. Referrals from LinkedIn to publisher sites around the Web are up more than 45 percent between September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2011.
• LinkedIn members are sharing insights and knowledge in more than one million LinkedIn Groups.
• As of December 31, 2011, mobile page views account for more than 15 percent of total unique member visits to LinkedIn.
• As of December 31, 2011, hundreds of thousands of job applications have been submitted using Apply With LinkedIn.

As yourself, should you be ignoring this resource. Is your company missing the value of LinkedIn? But you say, I am not in sales, I am in engineering or I am an accountant. Now I ask you, what better way to find people to interface with in your field and grow?

I see LinkedIn as a valuable resource not only for job seekers but for all employees, companies, and solo entrepreneurs. For an employer to see it only as a threat and a chance that maybe they will have an employee connect with someone who might hire them away is short-sighted and kind of sad. The likelihood of connecting with someone who will help the company grow is equally valid. If you need help with LinkedIn and are struggling on how to pull it together, I can help you with that, contact me here for more information.

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