When we ask researchers if they’re on Linkedin, an immediate reply is often an apologetic ‘yes, but I don’t use it to network’. And that’s ok! We often think of Linkedin as a purely professional networking tool or for sourcing vacancies. It’s so much more useful than that.
- Linkedin is a huge database of millions of people’s career paths. If you’re curious about a particular path, you can look at the profiles of people doing similar roles, and begin to understand some of the different entry routes. It can be reassuring and motivating to see the range of journeys into a particular job or career – from direct to several steps and squiggles.
- You can research organisations – and the people who work in them. This resource from Prosper Expanding your knowledge of organisations – Prosper will help you plan an approach that works for you. Making a career transition takes effort – and understanding organisations is an important part of that effort. It helps you make informed decisions based on your practical needs, values, interests, and sense of purpose. From an organisational point of view, they are most likely to recruit people whose aims and values fit well with the organisation.
- Use it as the basis of a 2 hour job search – this Linkedin essay tells you how: A Summary of Steve Dalton’s Book “The 2-Hour Job Search” | LinkedIn
- Once you’ve done some organisational research – you can start making contact with people. The Prosper resource about gives advice about ‘informational interviews’. These brief discussions with people doing the job you want to do, working for the organisation you want to work for, or both. This gives you valuable insight and can help you answer questions such as, What’s this role like on a day-to-day basis? What are the challenges I might find? What am I likely to enjoy? What steps did your contact take to make a successful transition? What might work for you? What do I need to consider as I make a transition to a career identity as a ‘postdoc’ to a ‘consultant’, ‘trials manager’, ‘editor’, ‘senior scientist’, ‘lead engineer’? – and more.
- Use the ‘school’ or ‘people’ tool – Linkedin has created landing pages which enable you to search by alumni from universities you have attended or been employed at. You can find out more about the careers of people with a similar educational or research background for inspiration and information – and networking. Since you have a shared experience of a particular HE institution, this can help with the process of connecting, in the absence of a ‘warm’ connection – that is an existing human link (think 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon).
Linkedin is both a powerful desk-based research tool in managing your career – but as you can see from the pointers above – a real aim is to make real life connections with people who can provide up to date actionable advice and insights to help you make a career change.
Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash
