1. Lecture 26: Leveraging LinkedIn for Science
• Module 11 :: Dr. Jessica Laccetti

2. Outline
• Introduction to LinkedIn
• Practicalities of LinkedIn
• Finding Jobs with LinkedIn
• Homework

3. What is LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120
million members and growing rapidly.
• LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you
exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader
network of professionals.
• Note: Info from LinkedIn

4. What is LinkedIn?

5. Account Set Up
• Go to LinkedIn and start by entering your most recent
employment information and move back from there.
• Previous schools, jobs and now, even publications can all be
shared
• Remember, your profile should establish you as a credible
potential employee/research student etc...

7. Your Turn
• Let’s take 5 minutes to start our LinkedIn Profile
• Register on LinkedIn
• Add your name, current education level and current job (if you are
employed)
Image from social media school: http://www.socialmediaschoolny.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/LinkedIn-Classes-300x225.jpg

8. Account Set Up
• Once you’ve set up a profile, customize the URL
• Login
• Go to Profile
• Scroll down to “Public Profile” and
• Edit link
• Standard formatting is to edit the link so it’s your
firstnamelastname (as a single word with no spaces).
• If that’s not available, try flipping it around to
lastnamefirstname.
• You try: 3 minutes

10. Contacts
• Who do you know on LinkedIn?
• You can do a search:
• Don’t want to think about each person you may know
individually? Try importing your contacts from standard webmail
apps like Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook and others

11. Event Apps
• This app allows you to see upcoming events and conferences
that may be relevant to you
• It also highlights whether any of your contacts will be
attending
• http://www.linkedin.com/opensocialInstallation/preview?app
licationId=2000

12. Conference Leverage
• Don’t leave meeting key people to chance.
• You can prepare for upcoming conferences by scanning who
will be attending (on Home page, add “events” widget on
right side).
• I’ll be attending The Fourth International Conference on
Interactive Digital Storytelling in Nov./Dec. and there are
many postings already.
• It’s easy to see individuals who are attending and to reach
out to meet anyone from an institution or company that
interests you.

13. Linked In Can Help You:
• Search for key scientists attending an upcoming conference
• Search quickly for top conferences in a particular research
field
• Connect with other people at a particular institution or
company where you’d like to work
• Connect with people globally with similar interests (or those
who are your counterparts at a different institution)

14. LinkedIn Bio
• Like most online platforms today, the “muscle” of LinkedIn’s
searches is through key words.
• Focus on adding keywords that are relevant to your research
and/or job hunt
• List all education, internships, or work experiences.
• Include specific interest area key words (“salmonella,” as well
as “infectious diseases”).

15. LinkedIn Groups
• Online groups are informal and you often don’t have to be a dues-
paying member to be included in their LinkedIn group. Join alumni
associations from every school that you ever attended.
• Focus on topics that interest you (agriculture, University of
Alberta, sustainable textiles) and send requests to join.
• As you become a group member, scan membership lists. Send
invitations to people whose interests are aligned with yours. If
you’re interested in working at a large oil and gas company, see if
any of the members of that group work there. Be honest about
why you’d like to connect.
• Take a few minutes now and scan LinkedIn for groups of interest
(alumni groups, regional networking groups for your company or
federal agency or research institution, and/or science groups that
match your interests or your particular job title.) 5 min.

16. Jobs
• Looking for a job? Try the Jobs tab – it will pull up available positions
based on keywords in your profile and let you know if any of your
contacts may be connected to the position in any way

19. Career Explorer
• New to LinkedIn (beta)
• Explore different career options based on actual career paths of
professionals on LinkedIn.
• Find jobs relevant to the paths you create and leverage your
connections at those employers.
• Connect to people who can help you learn more about the profession
you’re exploring.
• Follow companies hiring for positions that interest you so you can
receive updates such as job openings.
• See important trends and statistics on the career paths you build.
• Join discussions, check out top profiles, and see what professionals
on your path are reading.

21. Explore
• Allow yourself time to explore the platform in a relaxed and
curious mindset.
• Familiarize yourself with the categories.
• LinkedIn can be time-consuming at first, but once you’ve set
up your profile and joined a few groups, you’ll be reaping
rewards

22. Caveats
Via Ken C. Schmitt on How to Sell to Scientists: http://howtoselltoscientists.com/2011/03/15/building-sales-through-social-media-part-iii-linkedin-power/

23. Homework
• Start your LinkedIn Profile (real name OR Twitter Alias)
• Jennifer Klein, Avoiding Sexist Language
• Sizing Up Social Media: An Investigation of Scientific
Community Dynamics on LinkedIn
• The Study of Social Media Communication: Analysis of
Science Communication through Social Networking Sites
with Special Reference to Scientists