Linkedin

Linkedin

Post image for New LinkedIn research reveals which professionals conquer their to-do lists

New LinkedIn research reveals which professionals conquer their to-do lists

by Jake on May 23, 2012

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with 161 million members worldwide, today released data about professionals and their daily to-do lists. The study examined how professionals in different industries tackle tasks planned for a given workday; the differences between men and women’s to-do list habits; and global insights on where professionals keep to-do lists and what gets in the way of completing them.

LinkedIn surveyed more than 6,500 professionals globally. The study showed that the likelihood that a professional will complete their to-do list varied by industry. Professionals in agriculture claim to be the most productive, with 83 percent of agriculture professionals stating they regularly fulfill most or all of their planned tasks. Professionals in the legal industry had the lowest completion rate on their daily plans, with 66 percent of respondents accomplishing most or all tasks.

Art industry professionals (40 percent) agreed the most with this statement, “I tend to be distracted easily.” Agriculture industry professionals agreed the least with that statement; only 18 percent of professionals in the agriculture industry are easily distracted.

  • The study shows that 63 percent of all professionals frequently create to-do lists.
  • Seventy-one percent of women say they frequently keep to-do lists.
  • Only 60 percent of men say they frequently keep to-do lists.

Globally, 50 percent of those who jot down to-do lists do so by hand, while 45 percent create them electronically. The remaining five percent reported storing their lists in alternative places, like “In my mind only,” “Piles of files,” or other locations like whiteboards or chalkboards. When it comes to checking the boxes on their to-do lists, only 11 percent of professionals globally reported accomplishing all of the tasks they plan to do in a given workday. Survey respondents pointed to unplanned tasks (such as unscheduled phone calls, emails and meetings) as primary cause for not completing all items on their to-do lists.

“No matter what industry you’re in, you can’t avoid surprise phone calls, meetings or other unplanned tasks that can get between you and your to-do list, but you can amplify efficiency throughout your day to get it all done,” said LinkedIn’s connection director, Nicole Williams. “Summon the collective intelligence on LinkedIn to work smarter and solve challenges quickly. Save time by arming yourself with insights before meetings.”

Follow these “to-dos” to save time in your workday and cross more tasks off the list:

  1. Make meetings more efficient
    Check out meeting participants’ LinkedIn Profiles ahead of time to get a sense for what they bring to the table. Past experience and specific skills of your meeting cohorts could come in handy to creatively solve a problem — thereby keeping your meeting time to a minimum.
  2. Crowd source your challenge
    Use LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Groups to tap into the wisdom of your LinkedIn network or the rest of the 161 million LinkedIn members. By posing questions and starting discussions you’ll be able to assemble solutions in record time.
  3. Get up to speed in an instant
    Rather than visiting various news sources each morning, get your daily news fix in one place via LinkedIn Today. Customize LinkedIn Today so you get news that’s relevant to you and your clients. Access LinkedIn Today from your desk, iPad or phone by downloading LinkedIn Mobile.

Learn more about LinkedIn’s professional to-do list study and download an infographic on LinkedIn’s Blog.

Post image for LinkedIn Announces First Quarter 2012 Financial Results

LinkedIn Announces First Quarter 2012 Financial Results

by Jake on May 5, 2012

Mountain View, Calif. — May 3, 2012 — LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD), the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with 161 million members, reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012:

  • Revenue for the first quarter was $188.5 million, an increase of 101% compared to $93.9 million in the first quarter of 2011.
  • Net income for the first quarter was $5.0 million, compared to net income of $2.1 million for the first quarter 2011.  Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $16.9 million, compared to $5.8 million for the first quarter of 2011.  Non-GAAP measures exclude tax-affected stock-based compensation expense and tax-affected amortization of acquired intangible assets.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $38.1 million, or 20% of revenue, compared to $13.3 million for the first quarter of 2011, or 14% of revenue.
  • GAAP EPS for the first quarter was $0.04; Non-GAAP EPS for the first quarter was $0.15.

“LinkedIn’s solid performance in the first quarter built on the company’s momentum in 2011,” said Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. “We saw strength across all key metrics from member signups and engagement to significant revenue growth across our three product lines.”

First Quarter Financial Details and Operating Summary
LinkedIn reported revenue of $188.5 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, an increase of 101% compared to the first quarter of 2011, and the 7th straight quarter of greater than 100% year-over-year growth.

  • Hiring Solutions: Revenue from Hiring Solutions products totaled $102.6 million, an increase of 121% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Hiring Solutions revenue represented 54% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 49% in the first quarter of 2011.
  • Marketing Solutions: Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $48.0 million, an increase of 73% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Marketing Solutions revenue represented 26% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 30% in the first quarter of 2011.
  • Premium Subscriptions: Revenue from Premium Subscriptions products totaled $37.9 million, an increase of 91% compared to the first quarter of 2011. Premium Subscriptions represented 20% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 21% of revenue in the first quarter of 2011.

Revenue from the U.S. totaled $120.8 million, and represented 64% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012.  Revenue from international markets totaled $67.6 million, and represented 36% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012.

Revenue from the field sales channel totaled $101.5 million, and represented 54% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012.  Revenue from the online, direct sales channel totaled $87.0 million, and represented 46% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012.

GAAP net income for the first quarter was $5.0 million, compared to net income of $2.1 million for the first quarter of 2011.  Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $16.9 million, compared to $5.8 million in the first quarter of 2011.

Adjusted EBITDA was $38.1 million for the first quarter of 2012, or 20% of revenue, compared to $13.3 million for the first quarter of 2011, or 14% of revenue.

GAAP EPS was $0.04 based on 111.3 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding compared to $0.00 for the first quarter of 2011 based on 51.5 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding.  Non-GAAP EPS was $0.15 based on 111.3 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding compared to $0.06 for the first quarter of 2011 based on 97.1 million fully-diluted weighted shares outstanding.

“LinkedIn grew over 100% for the seventh consecutive quarter and achieved records for adjusted EBITDA, operating and free cash flow,” said Steve Sordello, CFO of LinkedIn. “We remain focused on investing in our technology and product platform as well as expanding our business in new international markets and customer segments.”

For additional information, please see the “Selected Company Metrics and Financials” page on LinkedIn’s Investor Relations site.

First Quarter Highlights and Strategic Announcements

  • In January, LinkedIn began an early rollout of Talent Pipeline with five charter customers including PepsiCo, Pfizer, Red Hat, Netflix, and First Citizens Bank. Available to all Recruiter customers in Q2, Talent Pipeline allows recruiters and hiring managers to manage, track, and stay in touch with all their target candidates regardless of source.
  • In February, LinkedIn launched the Follow Company button for the more than two million companies with active LinkedIn company pages, making it easier for professionals to follow those companies on LinkedIn from anywhere on the web.
  • In March, LinkedIn introduced a new version of People You May Know. This new streamlined tool makes it even easier for professionals to grow their networks through a simpler, more visual user experience.
  • In the first quarter, LinkedIn continued its global growth strategy by adding two new languages (Czech and Dutch) to the LinkedIn platform, and an office in Madrid.

Business Outlook
LinkedIn is providing guidance for the second quarter of 2012, and revising guidance for the full year 2012 on revenue, adjusted EBITDA, depreciation and amortization, and stock-based compensation.

  • Q2 2012 Guidance: Revenue for the second quarter of 2012 is projected to range between $210 million to $215 million.  The company expects adjusted EBITDA to range between $40 million and $42 million.  The company expects depreciation and amortization to range between $18.5 million and $19.5 million, and stock-based compensation to range between $18 million and $19 million.
  • Full Year 2012 Guidance: The company has revised upward its expected revenue range to $880 million to $900 million from the prior range of $840 million to $860 million.  The company has also revised upward its expected adjusted EBITDA range to $170 million to $175 million from the prior range of $155 million to $165 million.  The projected range for depreciation and amortization has increased to $75 million to $85 million from $70 million to $80 million, and stock-based compensation has increased to $80 million to $90 million from $65 million to $75 million.
Post image for Linkedin Marketing Strategies – Company Page Upgrades

Linkedin Marketing Strategies – Company Page Upgrades

by Jake on April 13, 2012

Not got your company a page on Linkedin yet? Shame on you if you haven’t as you are missing out on a great marketing opportunity to get your firms message out there to over 150 million users worldwide.

This is an ideal place to showcase what you do and can be an amazing way of attracting new talent to your organisation. Now the basic company page is free but there are a few additional extras that you can pay for and depending on what you are after, can really boost your presence on Linkedin.

If you are the type of company that is always looking for staff then maybe consider purchasing a silver or gold careers page where you have the ability to feature a lot more additional content about yourselves. Perhaps you want to add some videos or employee achievements? Add that extra information that could just make the difference when it comes to attracting new staff to you.

Some of the options available to you are obviously the careers page we just mentioned as well as an analytics tab where the page admins can get their hands on the insights data about the people who follow your firm.

You also can have an overview tab that will give Linkedin members a quick snapshot of your company network. Another cool option is the products and services tab which can be used to showcase the kind of products and services you offer. This is a great way to put the very best of what you do in front of potential buyers.

Out of the millions of company pages available only a couple of hundred thousand firms have yet taken advantage of this ability. Don’t miss out and get the functionality added today and move ahead of your competitors on Linkedin.

Checkout the marketing options available to you today

Photo courtesy of smi23le at Flickr. Some rights reserved

Post image for Linkedin Lets Loose New Targeted Follower Tools

Linkedin Lets Loose New Targeted Follower Tools

by Jake on April 11, 2012

So it’s another big day for launches over at Linkedin as they launch two new targeting and analytics products which will be of huge interest to those involved in marketing. The new functions being rolled out are aimed at companies who have followers on Linkedin and called ‘Follower Statistics’ and ‘Targeted Updates.’

The Follower Statistics product is basically a dashboard for analytics that will give companies the ability to see how effective and engaging their status updates are performing. Anyone from the digital marketing world will already know how important this is and I have personally lost count the amount of hours personally spent digging around in the data provided by Google Analytics for sites I’ve worked on.

The other launch is the Targeted Updates feature that in a nutshell gives companies the ability to segment the professionals who follow them. They can use a range of options for this such as industry sector, company size, non-company staff, seniority, actual job and geographical location.

With this new feature companies will have the added power to send different and targeted status updates to their followers depending on what group they fit into with the new filters. I’m sure you will agree that this is a big function and will massively overhaul marketing on Linkedin.

In the first instance as Linkedin rolls out the new features they will be limited to a handful of companies such as Dell, Microsoft, AT&T as well as Samsung Mobile. Over the next few months they will receive a wider system roll out so keep your eyes open as we will post here as soon as they are more widely available.

These new products will greatly enhance engagement with a company’s followers and Jonathan Lister, VP of North American Ad Sales said, ‘The value of the [follower] ecosystem is really driving media efficiency, [It’s] giving marketers very precise abilities to target and send messages in a really compelling way.’

Lister was also quoted as saying that 70% of Linkedin members follow companies or most certainly would given the chance. The actual current figure remains undisclosed.

All in all I like these new features and can’t wait to get to play around with them personally.

Photo by Nan Palmero on Flickr. Some rights reserved

 

Post image for Linkedin or CV?

Linkedin or CV?

by Jake on April 10, 2012

So is Linkedin the new CV? Well quite possibly yes. You may be thinking that by mirroring your profile to your CV they are simply one and the same, but there is a major difference between the two.

What is that difference? Well it’s just the way they work. A traditional CV is very much a reactive document. You want a new job, see a role you like and email it across. Not much has really changed in that respect since the days of post and fax machines. But a Linkedin profile is very much proactive.

It’s there online all the time and if set up right, it can attract potential employers to you. Let us make no mistake, recruiters, head hunters and employers are looking on Linkedin all the time for new talent and a well crafted profile could land you an amazing job opportunity without you even actively looking.

There are now over 150 million users worldwide on Linkedin. That’s a lot of potential opportunities for you across the globe.

Recruiters, whether agency based or in-house view Linkedin as an amazing database of skilled professionals where they can hunt out new talent for their clients or departments. By matching keywords like they would on a normal recruitment database or job board they can find your details and make an approach to you.

Not everyone wants to be approached by recruiters, but let’s be honest, who stays in the same job for their entire lifetime? Not that many of us.

So why not update your profile and be ready for that day when you want to move on up the career ladder? Mirror your CV to your profile. Have accurate job titles and dates of employment. Make your that what you do is clearly set out and add in any achievements that make you stand out from the crowd.

Keywords are essential so get these into your profile too. Don’t spam it full of keywords though as this will simply render it unreadable. Always write for humans as they say. You could also look at the new skills section on Linkedin and get your keywords listed there too.

If you add a photo make sure it’s a professional one. I’d suggest a headshot only and try to smile.

Get your education details in the profile too. Put in the grades you achieved. When recruiters don’t see a grade they automatically think that you didn’t do well. This is probably not the case so make sure it’s clear what your achieved.

Actively chase up recommendations too. Ask colleagues and former managers to recommend you. It goes along way when hunting for a job if a recruiter or hiring manager can see some great recommendations about your work history.

There are a range of apps you can add into your profile too such as Slideshare. Do you speak at conferences? Then add those presentation to your profile. Show people what you are capable of doing.

To ensure you get the best results, always write in the first person and remember to include those keywords relating to your job. If you work in SEO make sure it’s mentioned. If you are a Java developer get that in there as well as related technical skills such as UNIX.

Use the status update too. This will help keep you visible to your connections and join some relevant groups to your industry. Interact in them as the more visible you are, the more likely someone will proactively approach you.

At the end of the day, the one thing you need to take away is the thought that Linkedin is a place where you can showcase your talents and achievements to the world, and at the same time new employers.

Will Linkedin replace the CV? Not yet, but it’s another tool you should have in your pocket of tricks for finding work.

 

 

 

 

 

Post image for Top 10 Tips For Using Linkedin Like A Pro

Top 10 Tips For Using Linkedin Like A Pro

by Jake on April 9, 2012

As you are well aware, Linkedin has to be just about the most powerful site online when it comes to networking for business. So how exactly can you get the most from this product? Like any tool it is only as good as the person using it.

So let us show you a few simple tricks and tips that will help you drive your Linkedin use up a gear or two.  It’s all about presence, so let’s begin.

1 – Goal Setting: 

So why have you set up a Linkedin profile? You need to think about this as it will be the motivating factor in what you do on the platform. Are you looking to be found? Maybe to get a new job or for business? Maybe you want to find new talent for your own company? Set a goal and work towards it. It can always be changed in the future as your personal or business needs grow.

2 – Picture Perfect: 

They say a picture paints a thousand words and never has a truer saying been so pertinent when it comes to Linkedin. This should simply be a headshot and preferably one where you are smiling. People love smiles. Forget those full body shots as they just don’t help you in business. Keep it as professional looking as you can.

Feel funny about people you don’t know seeing what you look like? Hit settings and make it so as only people you are connected to can see you. Simple.

3 – Headlines: 

You could simply use your job title, but with a little imagination you could really put this function to work for you. Why not have a call to action here too? If you are looking for work your might have something like ‘Highly Experienced <Your Job Title> Looking For Work’

The options are endless and you can update and change it at any time.

4 – Status Updates: 

Well Linkedin is a social media platform and so you should really look to engage with your connections. This is where status updates come into play. Each time you post an update it’s visible to your connections. I like to post interesting articles I find or you could send an update about something important that happened at work. This is a great way to stay in touch and on your connections radar.

5 – Your Summary: 

A summary should really be just about you rather than your company. People want to know about you personally and what it is that you do. Write about your duties at your current company and add in some highlights about major achievements. There is nothing wrong with letting people know you are good at what you do.

6 – Use Sections On Your Profile: 

Let’s say you are looking for a new job, or simply want to register on head hunters radars when they conduct their searches. Well a good way to do this is to add additional sections to your Linkedin profile.

These are extra pieces of information outside of who you work for and education. They can be things like languages spoken or projects you have worked on. I even set one up for public speaking gigs I’ve presented within my industry.

7 – Applications: 

There are now a large amount of applications that you can add on to your Linkedin profile. You might be thinking why bother? But let me tell you now, these can be a powerful marketing tool for you. They are an excellent way to drive engagement and showcase your skills to your connections. They range from Amazons reading list to adding slideshare presentations and integrating with WordPress blogs.

8 – Join Groups: 

There must just be about a group for any conceivable subject on Linkedin now. You are limited to joining just 50 so make sure you choose with care. I tend to join those groups that are related the industry I work in (SEO & Digital Marketing). These can be great places to get advice or help other people out. Social Media is all about engaging and whether you are looking for a new job or business opportunities you should start to engage within groups. Why not even start your very own group?

9 – Network: 

The real strength of your Linkedin network is the 1st degree connections you have. In some cases it is beneficial to connect with just about anyone as you want to really open up your network, but some people prefer to be more private and only link up with people they know. You do get a fair number of spam invites and I do screen people before I accept. Always personalise a message when you invite someone and explain why you want to connect. Don’t be a spam agent yourself as if 5 people say they don’t know you Linkedin will restrict your account.

10 – Skills: 

This is a new feature recently added and allows you to tag yourself with your skill set. This is a great option to highlight your personal skills, areas of interest or what it is your business can offer. Check it out and get yourself fully coded up.

So there you have it, a quick top 10 list of things you can do right now to improve your personal profile and start getting more out of LinkedIn.

Post image for Welcome to Linkedin News

Welcome to Linkedin News

by Jake on April 9, 2012

So here we are with our very first post here at Linkedin News. The site is still under development but we have a huge amount of content all ready to be published here so as to help you get the most out of Linkedin. Looking to use the platform for business? We can help with some choice tips and advice for that.

Maybe you need to hire the very best talent in the market to help your company grow? No problems, we will show you some insider tips that the top head hunters around the world use.

There will be videos, articles and infographics to highlight all the latest trends with Linkedin as well as regular newsletters just in case you missed an article or two during the month.

So check back soon and we look forward to guiding through Linkedin and turning you into a true power user.

All the best.