Social Networks

LinkedIn has been around in the corporate world for quite a while.  It is not something that has really gotten any traction in the K-12 education world.  When I was creating my profile, many of the people that were part of the circles were not in the K-12 education world.  They were people from my time in retail or other connections that I have made that are not educators.  I have always seen the importance of social media in career exploration.  LinkedIn is designed to create work connections.  The way it is designed to focus on your career makes it better suited to work in the job market.  It has been specifically set up to create job connections to help fit people with jobs that want. 

This stands in a stark difference to other social media platforms.  All other platforms have very generic profile sections that allow you to put in the information that you want.  Some prompt for a work history but that is more to connect you to people that you worked with than help showcase your skills for other job opportunities.  Facebook has some of the same structure but it is more about connecting with people on a social level rather than a professional manner.  With the Microsoft purchase of LinkedIn, it has given more credit to the professional side of the platform. 

The most difficult part of a job search is to get your application in front of hiring managers.  Creating connections with other professionals can allow you to streamline that search.  You can also get information from these connections about what jobs might be available or coming open at some time in the future.  You can truly never have too many connections when you are searching for a job.  This is where a strong profile can help.

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