Become LinkedIn to Connect

Jessica Tobin
My experience with LinkedIn until now has been limited. I have searched for connections and added them to my list of friends. As of right now, I have a complete 6 connections, but still have pending connection requests. They are all people I have met at Northwest.
It is important to make these connections for my future. I know that someone I have met here on campus could know someone that would be a great connection for my future. For example, if you were looking for a job at a company, which you can find any fortune 500 company on LinkedIn, you would look them up on LinkedIn in the search bar, and find out who you have similar connections with, just like finding similar ‘friends’ on Facebook.
I also learned that there are also recommendations on LinkedIn which really help when a company is looking you up on LinkedIn. Recommendations are from a connection on LinkedIn that works like a reference does. For example, I could request a recommendation from John Fisher, my advisor at Northwest Missouri State University. He would then fill out, if he accepts, a short description of my work ethic and anything else he wants to say about me. This would then be available for anyone to see about me.
I am building my connections now so that I can continue to use LinkedIn to make connections for when I graduate and am looking for a job.