Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn. Neal Schaffer

where you don’t know any of the 50 people recommended to you; by pressing the “I Don’t Know Anyone Here” tab, LinkedIn will recommend 50 new people to you. You will also notice if you return to this page in the future, you will have the option to search again from scratch (“View All”) or search those who haven’t been introduced to you yet (“Find New”). LinkedIn will also list the date you last searched for colleagues. You always have the option to use the “Advanced Search” functionality to manually search for people based on title or where they are current employees (which I will discuss in the “Finding People to Connect With Using Advanced Search” section later in this chapter). In addition, this “Colleagues” section is an excellent place to find potential connections from your past and present workplaces.

      Classmates

      For every school you listed in the “Education” section of your profile, you will now have the opportunity to search for classmates. Furthermore, with each school you list, you can further narrow down your search by years the students attended. If you are looking for people within your specific graduating class, LinkedIn will also conduct this more specific search for you.

      When you explore the tabs I reviewed above, I recommend you send Invitations with a personal note to all of your present and former colleagues, classmates, and friends and family. By doing so, you are well on your way to quickly adding anywhere from tens to a few hundred connections to your LinkedIn profile!

      Congratulations! You have completed the first step in utilizing LinkedIn to meet your objective, whatever that may be. Whether your objective is to connect to old friends or to find your next big job, the first step is undoubtedly making connections; by doing so, you are plugging yourself into the Windmill Networking grid. Now that you understand the invitation functionality, you will be able to start further expanding your LinkedIn network.