LinkedIn: LinkedIn Tools: JobsInsider
This is the best tool I have found lately for uncovering job leads – and finding out who knows who.
With the LinkedIn JobsInsider toolbar installed to your browser (Internet Explorer for Windows; Firefox for Windows or Mac), when you visit a job board site a side panel opens. From there, JobsInsider scans the job listing you are reviewing and tells you how many people in your LinkedIn network work there, or know someone who does.
Click on the number of people the JobsInsider says “can help you get this job” to see who these people are. Then start following up and asking questions. It’s a great way to get the inside introduction that bypasses the anonymous job board submission method.
Needed an excuse to make yourself network more, have more conversations and use LinkedIn more often? I can’t think of a better one.
Comments
2 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.Totally agree w/the power of this tool, but folks need to use it with the caution described in the blog post below. Mainly in those “or know someone who does” situations:
http://belladomain.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/to-accept-or-not-accept/
You are right about the cautious approach, SJK. You have to be careful about approaching people for info and connections.
Personally, I only ask people I’ve spoken with or met and have at least a respectable degree of connection with. If I only met them once at an event, then they are too weak a connection to ask such a favor of.