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In this article, Linda provides readers with a basic overview of LinkedIn, and how you can use it as a stationery and low-maintenance tool that will help your career.
By this time, you may have set up a Facebook and Friendfeed account and perhaps even started a group at one or the other – or both. Now you're ready to set up a LinkedIn account, where you can send prospective clients to view your resume and your professional side. In this article, Linda provides readers with a basic overview of LinkedIn, and how you can use it as a stationery and low-maintenance tool that will help your career.
Viewing Your Page
Once you've added information to your page, you can keep checking it to see how it looks as you progress. While you can add many things to your LinkedIn page, my suggestion is to start simple and build slowly...you don't want to build a page that you'll have to backtrack on constantly – not with all the other work you need to do!
The image above shows my work-in-progress on my personal LinkedIn account – this is the view that you will see as you work toward your 100 percent complete goal. For the public view, which anyone can see, you can edit that information in the upper right of the page above, where you can see a link to "Edit Public Profile Settings." If you click on that link on my page, you'll see the following:
The list above contains all the information that you can make public – or not. The basics are not an option, but your photo, current positions, past positions, interests and more can be altered at will. For instance, you may want people to know that you are a film director and that your hobby is directing film pro bono for a charity group. You would want all that information on your public page, where folks who are not LinkedIn members can see it.
At the bottom of that image above, you can see a link to "Save Changes," and, below that link, another link to "View My Public Profile as others see it." Click on that link to see how your work is faring. Here's how mine looks:
Note that I neglected to include my image (which will change), and that most of the pertinent information is included at the top. I'll be working on this site over the next week, before the next article, so you can see the difference between this bare bones look and something that may add a bit more interest for those who seek out a professional writer.
Note the yellow button link in the right column in the above image. When registered LinkedIn members click on that link, they'll see the page you see when you edit your profile, which is this:
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.