As a Career/Job Search Coach, Master Resume Writer, and certified Linkedin strategist, I receive questions from clients and job seekers daily on its inner workings. Yes, these folks generally have a profile (if it’s not the one they need), and they often have a network (even if it’s not the one they need), but they are stuck on more strategic ways to leverage LinkedIn.

This is important precisely because LinkedIn is so central to the hiring process for many, many companies in most industries throughout North America and beyond ~ 96% or more of recruiters employ LinkedIn as their #1 candidate sourcing tool, meaning that they get most of their candidate leads from LinkedIn versus any other source. And that, in turn, means that you must be visible on LinkedIn, get found by recruiters and companies, and build out a network that helps you to make the job or career change you want.

Now, I write about these kinds of strategies often, but sometimes it helps to have someone else talk about it. Which is why I’ve invited LinkedIn Trainer and Consultant Teddy Burriss to join me for a webinar on August 30^th at 1:00 pm eastern.

Here are just a few of the 15+ topics we’ll be discussing:

The 5 Best Ways to Find People on LinkedIn

Half the battle to deriving benefit from LinkedIn is to connect with the right people. But how can you do that if you don’t know how to find them? Of course, one way to find people is to conduct a search for them on LinkedIn. But is that it? No, not at all. We’ll be showcasing five key ways to find the right prospective contacts on LinkedIn, which is a step in the direction of creating the network you need for your job search, business, or career change.

How to Get an Introduction to People You Want to Connect With

Once you identify the right people on LinkedIn, including those who don’t already know you, you will find it helpful to get an introduction to that person by a third party who is willing to play the role of interpersonal connector. But how do you make this happen? Here’s a hint: The secret is not to ask perfect strangers to introduce you to yet another perfect stranger. That approach simply doesn’t work.

How to Bump into People Before Sending a LinkedIn Invite

One of the fun things about social media is that so much of it is highly visible. When you know how to take advantage of that visibility you can do strategic things like “accidentally-on-purpose” bumping into people you’re trying to reach so serendipity works for you. We’re not talking about social media stalking here. Rather, we’re talking about ways to be visible on LinkedIn that probably aren’t even on your radar. But they should be, because they work.

How to Send the Right LinkedIn Invite

After you’ve identified people you want to connect with, you’ll need to send them an invitation to connect, of course. But you know (don’t you) that sending the default invitation that LinkedIn auto-populates for you is a no-no. Teddy takes a slightly different approach than I do to LinkedIn invites, so those who elect to attend our webinar will benefit from hearing his alternative method. Variety is a great thing in this context.

Managing Your Sent & Received LinkedIn Invites

Whether you send or receive a LinkedIn invite, what you do afterward is critical. After all, a healthy network requires “care and feeding,” if you will. So, what does that look like? This is where my proprietary recruiter relationship-building kit, which is bundled with every webinar purchase, will come in handy. Not available anywhere else (yet), this kit, when paired with Teddy’s suggestions, will open a variety of relationship-building options for you.

I’m just getting started here outlining bits of content Teddy and I will be covering in our upcoming webinar. Join us, won’t you? Learn more and sign up here.

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