Top 10 LinkedIn Mistakes

I always recommend that people, especially college students, join LinkedIn, a free professional networking website with over 65 million members. I think it's a great tool which makes it easier for prospective employers to see your work history and background. Once you become "linked in" to someone, you then have access to all of their professional contacts. However, many people make some common mistakes on LinkedIn:

1. Waiting until they are unemployed before they join. If you wait until you're out of a job (or are looking for your first job) to join LinkedIn, you'll be in panic mode-trying to get as many contacts as possible in a short amount of time. It's best to join when you still have a job so that you can take your time posting your resume, making contacts, and getting recommendations.

2. Lack of a photo or having a non-professional photo. The first thing that people notice about you is your photo. Unlike Facebook or MySpace, you are only allowed one photo to be posted so make it count. Have a professional headshot in business attire taken of you.

A lot of people who are on LinkedIn don't have a photo (half of my contacts don't). Perhaps they're afraid that it will bring unwanted attention to them and that their bosses may suspect they're looking for a job. With so many members on LinkedIn, I think it's generally accepted that being on LinkedIn doesn't mean you're looking for a job. There's also many people who have a photo of themselves in casual dress with a swimming pool or baseball field in the background. As I said, business attire only.

Another reason that some people may not have a photo posted is that LinkedIn has a 4MB photo size limit. If your camera takes photos that are larger than this, you should edit and downsize them so that they can be downloaded on the site.

3. Posting an incomplete resume. When you post your resume on LinkedIn, you have to post it in different sections so make sure you don't leave out a section. Everything should be in chronological order and don't leave out dates-employers want to follow your career path from beginning to present.

4. Lack of a clear, specific objective. At the top of your profile you have an opportunity to list an update. This is the perfect space to state your job objective. You can also state it in the "Summary" section. Just like on any resume, a specific job objective goes a lot further than a general job objective. Unlike a resume, you can't keep changing your resume objective to match a specific job since you don't know who is looking at your profile.

5. Lack of a personal greeting when trying to get "linked in" with someone. Personally, when someone tries to "link in" with me, especially someone I know, I prefer that they send me a personal message and not the auto message that says "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn." I think you have a better chance of getting someone to be "linked in" with you, especially someone you don't know, if you include a brief personal message.

6. Lack of recommendations. When potential employers look at your LinkedIn profile, they will be looking at how many recommendations you have. The more you have, the better chance you have of getting noticed. Get them from supervisors, co-workers, employees, professors, and fellow students.

7. Contacting your contact's contacts without a mutual introduction. One of the great things about LinkedIn is that once you are "linked in" with someone, you then have the ability to access all of their contacts, some of whom may be able to help you get a job. However, I would recommend not trying to contact them directly. First, ask your mutual contact if they can introduce you via email to the person you want to be "linked in" with. Now, you're no longer a stranger. If your contact is unable or unwilling to do so, then contact the person you want to be "linked in" with directly. However, don't tell them you think they can help you. A better approach would be to introduce yourself, tell them your objective, let them know you admire what they're doing, and tell them you would really appreciate it if they can take the time to speak with you in the future.

8. Not joining LinkedIn groups. There are many LinkedIn groups you can join and all it requires is doing a search, then clicking on a link. To start with, join your college's alumni association. Join a group that is associated with the field you're in. The more groups you join, the more diversified you become and you now have something in common with many other LinkedIn members.

9. Not using the search function. Once you join LinkedIn, you can do a search for jobs, people, groups, and companies. Don't forget to utilize this function.

10. Not using LinkedIn once you get a job. Networking doesn't stop once you get a job. You should always try to increase the number of contacts you have and continue to add recommendations. In this economy, this is no such thing as job security so always be prepared for the next job by constantly updating your LinkedIn profile.