Since it was founded in December 2002 and launched officially on 5th May 2003, LinkedIn has taken the professional networking world by storm. Though it may not have clocked stupendous membership numbers like its other famous social media network i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn has become the be all end all tool for working professionals to network on and be seen on it. I wont be exaggerating if I say that it is embarassing for a working professional not to have a LinkedIn profile nowadays. I for one, do make it a point to search for a potential employee’s/clients’ LI profile first before meeting him/her in the real life (yes, it still does exist in this age of social media).
As of January 2013, LI has reported 200 million members in 200 countries and terrritories and growing at a phenomenal rate. LI actually helps people to expand their professional networks, canvass for real jobs, form their own relevant alumni meetings/groups, company networks, etc. LI has actually turned the recruitment game on its head and revolutionised the same with its capability of giving the recruiters the opportunity of publising their requirements across the LI population in their immediate network and specific Groups present on LI, which they are a part of. Media & industry analysts estimate that LI is actually eating into the revenues of job boards like Monster, Careerbuilder,etc. And LinkedIn is actually making money. It reported revenue of approximately $972 m in 2012. It listed on the NYSE on 19 May 2011 after filing an IPO in January 2011.
Today, if you are in the job market for real, you would be committing professional harakiri if your LI profile is not updated. Such is the aura of LI in the HR world ( I dont know how much of that is actually real) that, recruiters by default post the requirements on LI first, and then source resumes through the other traditional soure of hires. LinkedIn has been described by TechRepublic as having “become the de facto tool for professional networking”. LinkedIn has also been praised for its usefulness in fostering business relationships. “LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today,” according to Forbes.
There are many amazing features which LI has which enables the users to create a very practical social resume on the internet which is visible to the entire world and the recruiters, of course.
HR Fundas 