When I started out freelancing, I dusted off my LinkedIn account. It\u2019s something I\u2019d set up years ago and until last year I had occasionally gone onto it to update job roles but that was about it. I\u2019d never really put too much value on it. However, something made me realise it needed more attention as part of my transition to self-employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of my first tasks was trying to remember the names of every single person I\u2019d ever worked with. It’s impossible, of course, but the point was trying to go back to all the organisations I\u2019d been part of\/worked with and build back connections with everyone I\u2019d worked with. I was surprised how many names I had. It was great to remember past colleagues and partnerships from projects. It was also a great reminder of the variety of places I\u2019ve worked and the range of work I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, I\u2019ve been proactive in connecting with new people as I\u2019ve come into contact with them as a default, slowly building a wider network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LinkedIn jobs is a feature I\u2019ve been exploring more and more, as its one of the ones you can use \u201cfreelance\u201d as a key word in when you search for roles. It\u2019s a convenient one to look through since it sits as part of the LinkedIn app but I have spotted it often doesn\u2019t capture smaller organisations who don\u2019t want to\/can\u2019t pay the job listing fees. So I also keep an eye in general posts for key words to try and capture where someone\u2019s flagging an interesting opportunity and I\u2019ve managed to spot a few really interesting bits of work so far. You can also follow sector-specific recruiters to find out about new opportunities as they go live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people are amazing at it, and I\u2019d say I\u2019m mediocre at best, but I am using the platform as professional advertising. Since you can highlight your previous roles and your experience, the specialisms you offer and even the roles\/work you\u2019re looking for, it\u2019s a great way of having a mini CV for people to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of this I have tried to post twice a week, with mixed success due to general business (and taking on some comms work for two charities means I\u2019m sometimes just social media-d out). But the reason for the commitment was to show relevance and drive up engagement, with the long term ambition of building my network and benefitting from that wider pool of knowledge and experience, as well as positioning myself as someone people want to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had completely under-estimated what content was on LinkedIn. Or perhaps I was just remembering what was there, or the lack of stuff on there when I first signed up. Or perhaps I was just at a different place in my career and it simply wasn\u2019t as relevant as it is now. Whatever the reason, I\u2019m really enjoying the breadth of what\u2019s being posted now. Like all social media, there\u2019s a big penchant for inspirational quotes and no practical application, shameless self-promotion and absolutely zero self-awareness and a number of absolute opinions with minimal space for manoeuvre, however there\u2019s also an inspiring generosity of content sharing. I\u2019ve heard about training courses, surveys, new tools and techniques as well as great opinion pieces. It\u2019s made me feel more relevant in my sector and up-to-date on developments and news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve had some interesting things happen via LinkedIn lately. Firstly, I\u2019ve had a number of people connect with me via a mutual contact. They may be building their own networks for personal gain, but it did give me a boost that I\u2019m worth connecting with. I\u2019ve had also had two approaches about work, both of which have blindsided me. One searched for facilitators in my area of the country and they seem to have contacted a number of people, in the end going with someone more local to their area (a county over). The other had found me through a mutual contact and we explored the possibility of working together progressing their organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s exactly what I\u2019d hoped LinkedIn would do, and it\u2019s particularly lovely to think it\u2019s ticking away in the background, offering my name up as a possible when people search for particular support. While neither of those connections as yet has led to work, it\u2019s helped validate my work keeping LinkedIn account up-to-date and relevant. There\u2019s definitely more to do though keeping my posts really engaging\/thought-provoking or event fun, so as I finally wind up some comms work for others, it\u2019ll be nice to apply the same time\/thought into my own business ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by Bruno Figueiredo<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I started out freelancing, I dusted off my LinkedIn account. It\u2019s something I\u2019d set up years ago and until last year I had occasionally gone onto it to update job roles but that was about it. I\u2019d never really put too much value on it. However, something made me realise it needed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[13,11,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-development","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t