Customer Reviews

Let's Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work

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Let's Connect is not a manual about LinkedIn and how to use it but a book about the principles behind using LinkedIn as a networking tool and the philosophy behind it. In it Ajay talks about how you can make the most of LinkedIn, the worlds largest network of professionals with over 17 million participants, for your professional career. Let's Connect is based on his research and interviews with participants on LinkedIn and is full of great quotes and real examples of effective use of the LinkedIn network.

I signed up on LinkedIn in September last year and it has turned out to be a great move. I have learned a lot from Questions and Answers, got to know great people and got projects and business opportunities I would never have imagined. Part of it is thanks to Ajay Jain's white paper on how to use LinkedIn, which was the start of this book.

This new book, Let's Connect, is full of great tips on how to make LinkedIn work for you. I realized there are still so many opportunities on LinkedIn that I haven't fully utilized yet. Business is all about communication between the right individuals and LinkedIn is the place to start that communication. As Ajay asks at the beginning of his book, "Do you want to be Linked In or Linked Out?" The choice is yours.

It's a network of professionals on all levels, including executives from almost all the Fortune 500 companies, known authors and specialists. One of Ajay's examples of users of Answers is Barack Obama who posted the question: How can the next President better help small business and entrepreneurs thrive? A smart use of the LinkedIn network.

The most valuable chapter, and by far the largest, is chapter 5 "Ten ways to get LinkedIn to work for you". There Ajay covers these ten topics:

i Your Ever Expanding Rolodex
ii LinkedIn Answers: A Global Focus Group
iii Networking Plus
iv Branding and Marketing Yourself
v Hiring People
vi Finding a Job You Love
vii Finding Vendors and Service Providers
viii Running Background Checks
ix Entrepreneurs: Get Opinions and Investors
x Selling & Brand Building

I would have liked to see more on using LinkedIn for personal branding, but then again, personal branding is one of my special interests. Other chapters where eye opening for me about subjects I had not given much thought before.

If you are serious about advancing your professional career and making the most of your personal brand and your network, LinkedIn is a must and Ajay's book "Let's Connect" is your guide, whether you're new to LinkedIn or not.

Hjörtur

Many people get an invitation from a friend or colleague to join LinkedIn. They accept, sign up, get a couple of other links and then wonder, "now what?" So they sit with a LinkedIn account and do nothing further with it.

Others may put a little more effort in it; they invite their friends and colleagues, check the size of their network regularly and feel happy they're making progress. And yet, they're still not using LinkedIn to its full potential.

If you're one of those people who has an account but doesn't quite know what to do with it, then Ajay Jain's book is for you. Not a how to use LinkedIn manual, Let's Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work is a guide to using LinkedIn strategically.

Jain's book is a nice mix of practical strategies and quotes from LinkedIn users illustrating how they've used the methods Jain is writing about. These mini case studies add real authority to Jain's book and are interesting reading.

For example, Jain writes about strategies for using the Answers section of LinkedIn to your benefit. You can pose questions to conduct market research or to get ideas to solve a business problem.

You can also use Answers as a subtle form of marketing; by asking questions related to your field of business you put your name - and perhaps your website - in front of potential customers who may visit your site or start a conversation. Or they may invite you to become a connection.

Let's Connect includes some ways for using LinkedIn that I hadn't considered. If you are hiring an employee, looking them up on LinkedIn can potentially find you information that you couldn't get elsewhere. While candidates tailor their resumes to the position they're applying for, they may have a more complete resume on LinkedIn.

Furthermore, if they are connected to someone you know personally, you may get more information about this person than by contacting their past employers. You also know that any recommendations are real and haven't been altered by the candidate.

Jain also provides some information about LinkedIn that is not widely available. For example, you have a lifetime supply of 3,000 invitations. When you've used them up, that's it. Forever.

This is one piece of information I've never seen publicized on the site. As a result of reading Jain's book, I'm a little more choosy about who I send invites to. In fact, for people who are not currently a member of LinkedIn, I'm considering sending them invites by regular e-mail so that I don't waste an invitation on someone who may not be interested in joining LinkedIn at all.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Let's Connect. I'm planning on using some of Jain's strategies to build my own network and my own business. If you're a member of LinkedIn - or thinking of it - and aren't sure how to use the site effectively, Jain's book is a worthwhile purchase.

Andrea J. Stenberg
[...]

The book's subtitle "Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work" shows exactly what it is all about.

The 200-page book is better than a regular manual on how to use technical features of LinkedIn, the most successful professional networking site nowadays. (Such manuals can get outdated even before their publication date I believe, as the technology is being developed very fast)

The author put together LinkedIn members' best experiences and collective wisdom in the chapter "Ten Ways to Get LinkedIn to Work for You" as follows:

-Your Ever Expanding Rolodex

-LinkedIn Answers: a Global Focus Group

-Networking Plus

-Branding and Marketing Yourself

-Hiring People

-Finding a Job You Love

-Finding Vendors and Service Providers

-Running Background Check

-Entrepreneurs: Get Opinions and Investors

-Selling and Brand Building

The LinkedIn professionals cited throughout the book range from the experienced and famous to new members.

It reflects the fact that the book is helpful for everyone, as really LinkedIn is, in developing one's career, getting contracts and professional contacts.

"Do you want to be Linked In or Linked Out? The choice is yours", as the author suggests in his introductory chapter.

O.K.

I have spent some time at bookstores reviewing the different LinkedIn books and this by far is the best. Not only is it well written, informative and organized, but it's a quick and easy read (almost like a "tips" book). I was able to get up and running within a short time and feel like I knew what to do. I can see the value in LinkedIn for networking, job hunting and business development.

"Let's Connect," is the ONE book you should buy to get the most from LinkedIn. Although the book is only 207 pages, it is well worth the selling price.

There are many good guides about the mechanics of LinkedIn on the web and in LinkedIn's help text to help you set up your account and presence. You don't need to spend money on a book to help you there. "Let's Connect," is written for the purpose of helping you get the most out of your experience with LinkedIn. We all have our own reasons for being on LinkedIn and Ajay covers those various perspectives very well.

He uses a whole library of comments from LinkedIn users to explain the benefits that they have received using LinkedIn. He points out how using the Answers (Q&A) application can be a time and money saver in addition to connecting you with people with your own business interests.

If you're looking for a book to help you set up your LinkedIn page or make it creative and unusual, then look elsewhere. If you're looking to maximize your benefits from being on LinkedIn and thus better yourself in your career, then "Let's Connect" is the book to buy.