Linkedin and Manual Invitations
Colleagues, Company and Class Mates
Linkedin also provides you with tools to find connections from Colleagues, Companies where you have worked or people who attended School with you. Start again with the Green Button Add Connections on the left side of any Linkedin page. Click on Colleagues and Classmates. If you have listed specific companies or identified specific schools in your profile, Linkedin will search its data base to find matches for your companies and schools who are already on Linkedin. You will be given a list of names and you can decide whether they are people you want to invite as connections on your Linkedin program.
Manual Invitation
The last direct tool Linkedin offers for building your network is the Manual invitation. Go to the green Get Connected button and click on it. You will see a manual section where you can now type in six email names and addresses to invite with one stroke of the key board. I found it helpful to take some time to research the names and email address I wanted to invite and then place them in a word document. I then copy six names on a daily basis from this list and send an invitation to all the people I wanted to invite.
While you use these emails invitation to invite people to participate in your Linkedin connection, also use them as an opportunity to share with others information on your job search. Even if they do not join Linkedin, they may assist you win your job search. This systematic approach to emailing friends will be a worthwhile contact with others.
Recycling Your Invitations
On a sixty to ninety day basis, you may wish to invite again those who have not responded. If you go to your Inbox on your Linkedin Home Page and click on “Send” you will see all the people to whom you have send invitations and the status of those invitations. From here you can choose to resend invitations to specific people.
To be continued, your comments are welcomed…
Al Hanzal
