Getting started with Linked-In, as a Recruiter.

I've recently had a number of colleagues ask me about best-practices for using Linked-In. Specifically, they want to know how to get started, rapidly grow a network and begin using it for recruiting. I am by no means an expert on the subject of Linked-In, but here's a crash course "how to" that should be able to get you rolling with this important online resource.

Step 1.

Set yourself up with a separate email address. Ideally, I'd recommend a Gmail account, because it's free, fast, easy to get and you can set it to forward all mail to your primary business address.

The purpose of creating an email account specifically for use with Linked-In is to create a firewall which protects your primary address in the event that you begin to generate too much email traffic (spam). You can pull the proverbial ripcord by suspending the forward function, and immediately insulate your business address from the "noise".

Step 2.

Go ahead and create an account for yourself on Linked-In by going to www.linkedin.com and following the account creation instructions. Use your firewall email address for Linked-In communications. Also, I recommend that you go through the various profile options and fully complete all aspects of your profile. In order to cultivate an online presence, you should avail yourself of the opportunity to give prospective business partners a full view of your background and who you are.

Lastly, go through your communications and privacy settings, and lower everything down to the lowest level of contact that you can. For example, I set pretty much all of Linked-In's communication settings to "web only" so that I am not emailed with constant updates, requests and notifications everytime my account is pinged by activity. Combined with your firewall email address, this provides a second line of defense against spam.

Step 3.

Upload your contacts. Follow the website's instructions to upload a copy of your Outlook address book. Once your address book has been uploaded, it is best practice to request invitations only from people who know you, and will accept your invitation. The reason for this is that Linked-In makes a record of invitations which are marked as "I don't know this person" and will take disciplinary action against your account if you have more than a few.

It's very important to make sure that you don't use the service to spam invitations to people who will not respond favorably to them. Linked-In customer service has no sense of humor for that sort of activity.

Step 4.

Register yourself as an Open Networker through the Linked In Open Networkers [LION] website.

Once you've registered and been approved as a LION, you will have access to their resources. Navigate to their Downloads section, and download the list of LIONs who have indicated that they will accept all invitations.

Upload this list to your Linked-In contacts, and send invitations to all of these people, taking care to indicate in your introduction message that you are a fellow LION and that you received their contact information through that network.

Step 5.

At this point, you should rapidly be approaching 1,000 1st degree connections, which will likely give you a total "view" (through the Linked-In search feature) of greater than 5 million profiles. You can now begin using Linked-In to source for individuals who have indicated in their communications settings that they would be interested in "Career Opportunities".

The best way to reach these people is to request an introduction through an intermediary, although there's nothing stopping you from using the information listed in their profile to back in to an alternate method of contact.