1. Getting started
with LinkedIn
A Quick Start Guide

2. About Learning Pool
Learning Pool provides online training and LMS
solutions including a rich suite of off the shelf
e-learning and bespoke development services.
Our unique service allows members to work
together to create, share and access quality
e-learning.
Over 300 organisations use Learning Pool and
together we will train more than 1,000,000
people this year, saving our customers up to
£100 million in the process.
Find out more at www.learningpool.com
and follow us on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/learningpool
About this Guide
This guide has been written to provide a quick
start for those who are new to LinkedIn and
who would like a helping hand to get going
with the service. It contains no staggering
insights and any experienced LinkedIn user will
probably know everything in here.
The guide takes you through what LinkedIn is,
how to set up and optimise your professional
profile, how to add connections, how to
join groups and how to search for people,
companies and jobs.
All the content in this guide is published
under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England &
Wales License.
This means that you can copy, share and edit
the content as long as you give this document
credit and don’t make any money out of it.
See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-sa/2.0/uk/ for more details.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 1

3. Contents
• Part 1: What is LinkedIn?
• Part 2: Create your personal profile
• Part 3: Get Connected
• Part 4: Optimising your profile
• Part 5: Join LinkedIn groups that you share
interests with
• Part 6: Build your credibility as an industry expert
• Part 7: Further Resources
Pages
3
4 - 5
6 - 7
8 - 11
12 - 14
15 - 16
17
2

4. Part 1:
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a social networking website for people
in professional occupations. Founded in December
2002 and launched on May 5 2003, it is mainly
used for professional networking. As of June 2013,
LinkedIn reports more than 225 million acquired
users in more than 200 countries and territories.
(Wikipedia 2013)
The LinkedIn Mission
“Connect the world’s professionals to make
them more productive and successful.”
When you join LinkedIn, you get access to people,
jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be
great at what you do.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 3

5. Part 2:
Create your
personal profile
To join LinkedIn and create your personal
profile go to http://www.linkedin.com
where you will see this screen:
Fill in your information including; first name,
last name, email and password on the form
on the left and hit Join Now. You will then
be taken to this page where you will begin
creating your professional profile.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 4

6. Once you have submitted this information
you will be prompted to choose your
industry from a drop down menu. You will
then see the screen below asking you to
add your email address. Be sure to use your
professional email address as this is where
you can import connections that you already
know.
LinkedIn will initially request permission to
access your email address and those of your
contacts who are already on LinkedIn. If
you would like to find connections that you
already know easily, please select yes to this
request. You can change these permissions at
any time in your account settings.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 5

7. Part 3:
Get connected
If you have selected yes to allowing LinkedIn
permission to your email contacts, you will
then be presented with a list of people you
know that are already members. You can
select all to add as connections or select only
those that you wish to add. You can also skip
this step and return to it at a later date.
Based on the company and industry
information that you entered at the initial
registration stage, LinkedIn will present a list
of suggested people that you may know. As
before you can choose whoever you like from
the list to send a connection request to or
alternatively you can skip this step.
Once you have finished adding connections
you will see this page. Congratulations!
You have just created your professional
profile. You can share this news on Twitter
or Facebook, letting friends on other social
networks know that you are now a LinkedIn
member. As before, you can skip this step.
If you want to add connections, view your contacts or alumni at a later date, navigate to the top
menu and select Network. You can then make your choice from the dropdown.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 6

8. Choose Your Plan Level
Depending on what you want out of LinkedIn
you can choose from two different plans
which are Premium (paid) and Basic (Free).
You can see a list of the features below. Once
you have selected your plan you will then
be taken to your profile page. For now it is
recommended that you set up a free account,
you can upgrade at a later date if you wish.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 7

9. Part 4:
Optimising your
profile for maximum
results
You are now a professional LinkedIn member. Let’s
optimize your profile to give others an insight into
your skills and experience. This is how your profile
should look at this stage:
Optimising your profile on LinkedIn is easy and
straightforward. You will be prompted to edit
different profile sections of on the right hand
panel. You can skip editing and choose to finish at
a later date if you want. If you want to do this now
however, see below for hints and tips.
Experience
Be honest and accurate, document your previous
work experience and duties included, right up to
your current position. You don’t need to go back
as far as your school paper run or include a job
that you only stayed in a few months. Make sure
to include experience that adds to your credibility,
skills and expertise.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 8

10. Education
Again be honest about your education history
or achievements. You can choose to include
higher education, further education or both.
Once you include the name of any institutions
you attended, LinkedIn will give you the
opportunity to add professionals who may
have attended with you at the same time.
Photo
You can add a photo to your LinkedIn profile.
A headshot is recommended or you can
upload a larger photo and edit it. Your photo
is an important part of your LinkedIn profile
for a number of reasons. A good quality
photo will increase the number of views that
your profile gets and will also help you make
the right impression. You may also meet a
LinkedIn contact in person for the first time
who could recognise you because of your
photo.
1. Click Choose File to find the photo you
wish to publish.
2. Click Upload Photo.
• You can upload JPG, GIF or PNG files.
• File size - 4MB maximum.
• Pixel size: 200 x 200 minimum and
500 x 500 maximum.
• Your photo should be square
3. Select who you want the photo to be
visible to.
4. Click Save Settings.
If you choose to skip this step and update
your photo at a later you can add or change
your profile photo from the Account section
on your Settings page once you have logged
in.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 9

11. Skills & Expertise
What are your areas of expertise? Do you
have skills that you gained in previous
positions or in your existing job? Add your
skills to this section making sure to give only
a title e.g. Email marketing, online marketing,
cash handling or team management. Your
connections will have the option to ‘endorse’
you for these skills which will further enhance
your profile and your credibility.
Sharing your profile
You should now have a detailed LinkedIn
profile. You can share your completed profile
on Twitter or Facebook using the LinkedIn
share functionality.
Editing your profile
If you wish to edit your profile at any time,
maybe to add new skills or expertise, you can
do so by navigating to ‘Profile’ on the top
menu and selecting Edit Profile.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 10

12. LinkedIn Search
If you would like to search for LinkedIn
members, job openings or companies you
can do so on the top ribbon of the LinkedIn
site on any page.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 11

13. Part 5:
Interests | Join
LinkedIn groups
that you share
interests with
To find groups that may be of interest, go to
Interests on the top menu and make your
choice or alternatively type Groups in to the
search bar.
You will then be presented with a list of
groups that may be of interest based on your
industry, skills and expertise. You can refine
this list by choosing Advanced Search or by
choosing from the search options on the left
panel.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 12

14. Joining a group
Once you have found a group that is of
interest click on Join to the right of the group
name and description.
You will then be presented with this page
which shows if any of your connections are
members. Click Join Group.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 13

15. Some groups will give you instant access
but others may be monitored and require
admin to grant access. Once your request to
join has been received you will receive email
confirmation. If your request needs to be
reviewed by admin, you will receive further
email correspondence from the group owner.
This is how the email notification should look:
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 14

16. Part 6:
Build your credibility
as an industry expert
Share relevant content with your connections via
social sharing buttons on various sites. You can
share your thoughts, blog posts, news stories, as
well as provide links to articles you have written
yourself or find interesting and relevant.
Here is an example of how to share a blog post on
www.learningpool.com , social sharing buttons
should be visible on any reputable blog or news site
so always keep an eye out for the LinkedIn share.
Hover your mouse over the Share This button.
Select LinkedIn from the Social Media options.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 15

17. Add your own comment or share the post as
it is. You can choose to post to groups and/
or individals as well as change the visibility of
its audience. You can also share the post to
Twitter at the same time by ticking the box
next to the Twitter icon.
And there you have it, you should now have a
fully optimised LinkedIn professional profile,
have joined groups of interest, and made
professional connections. For further help
please see our extra resources overleaf which
will direct you to the LinkedIn Help Centre,
LinkedIn webinars and guides to getting more
professional connections.
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 16

18. Resources
• LinkedIn Help Centre
• LinkedIn for Dummies
• LinkedIn Learning Webinars
• The Definitive Guide to Getting More LinkedIn Connections
Getting Started with LinkedIn - A Quick Start Guide 17