LinkedIn Pulse can help you Network for a Job Better

LinkedIn Pulse is the news aggregator that appears on your LinkedIn home page. You will see a list of about four interesting articles specially selected for you based on your interests. LinkedIn purchased the Pulse app for iOS in spring 2013. We started seeing articles in 2014.

I like this feature. I have found many interesting articles related to the work I do that I would not have found without the help of the kind gremlins lurking behind the LinkedIn walls. Maybe that means I don’t get out enough but I prefer to be thankful that I find these interesting articles with all the “stuff” out there.

Now, what can we do with these interesting articles? There are many ways to use LinkedIn Pulse to our advantage in a job search. Here are some tips for using the interesting articles the LinkedIn Pulse gremlins suggest for you:

• Learn something. Stay up to date on your field or industry.
• Share what you learn with others at work. If you are seeking another position while working, this is your cover. When you share interesting articles you can tell colleagues how useful you find LinkedIn for your current job when actually you are using LinkedIn to network for a new position.
• Comment on the articles or repost them to Groups. This increases your visibility and can lead to more contacts and potentially more opportunities.
• Share what you learn with people you network with. This is a great way to network. You might be able to help another person. These articles can give you a reason to follow up or talk to another person.

Here are two ways people are using these articles:

I met a sales person from the local branch of a national staffing firm. He uses interesting articles from Pulse or other sources to leave with his business card when he makes a call. The people he talks with usually welcome the interesting article and it gives him something to talk about.

A client, Sandra, forwards interesting articles as a way to build relationships with people. It gives her something to talk about with the other person other than finding a job. She can talk about a technical subject related to her field. She has an opinion that turns into a deeper conversation than possible when she just talked about finding a job when she was networking.

LinkedIn Pulse provides the interesting information that can be the reason for a networking conversation. Let your networking contacts see you as a real person. You want them to imagine you in the job, so use LinkedIn Pulse to find work related topics that foster real conversations about real subjects.