The “How to Add Connections on LinkedIn” tutorial below is part 4 of a multipart series on using LinkedIn.
This video shows users the different options available for adding connections / contacts / people on LinkedIn as well as information regarding why it is important to connect with people using LinkedIn.
Connections on LinkedIn are similar to friends on Facebook. Like Facebook, LinkedIn connections have a reciprocal relationship – once you’re friends, you can both see each others’ LinkedIn updates as well as having the ability to view each others’ complete LinkedIn profile.
Generally, it is a good idea to start out by connecting with people that you know in real life on LinkedIn – coworkers and friends from college / highschool.
If you find some people that may be able to influence your future job prospects, it may not be a bad idea to connect with them as well.
Generally speaking, the LinkedIn updates that you post and the information that you add to your profile will all be career oriented and you should not be afraid to share that information with people that you don’t actually know in real life. Facebook, for example, is a different story because people tend to post more personal and casual information on Facebook.
LinkedIn Tutorial Chapters:
- Introduction and Overview
- Creating a LinkedIn Profile
- User Interface and Navigation
- Adding Connections on LinkedIn
- Interacting with LinkedIn Connections
As more videos in the series are published, they will be linked to above.
Adding Connections on LinkedIn
There are a few different ways that users can add connections on LinkedIn. First of all, when users first setup their LinkedIn account, the are given the option to import all of the email contacts.
Although this a good way to start out on LinkedIn with a number of connections, there may be some email contacts that you would rather not connect with on LinkedIn so make sure that you thoroughly review all the proposed connections before adding them in this manner.
Another way to add connections on LinkedIn is simply to search for the people that you would like to connect with in the search box at the very top of the LinkedIn screen. You can search by peoples’ name, the company that they work for, the industry that they’re in or a combination of those options.
Lastly, once you’ve established a number of connections on LinkedIn, LinkedIn will start to automatically suggest possible connections to you based on the current connections that you have. It is a good idea to go through the suggested connections list on LinkedIn periodically to connect with other coworkers, friends and peers.
