This cast concludes our conversation on LinkedIn and what it means for Managers.

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This cast reviews our recent Career Tools guidance on LinkedIn, as well as highlights LinkedIn's recent Fortune magazine cover story, and recommends some basic LinkedIn behaviors for managers.

About a year ago, Wendii created podcast content for us about LinkedIn, the digital social media professional website. At the time, Mark hesitated to publish it, because he didn't feel that it was content that would be timeless, and he wasn't sure of LinkedIn's reach.

We strive for all of our content to timely for many – because they're facing the very problem we're addressing. We also strive for all of our content to be timeless – that is – they'll still be of value to someone facing that problem 20 years from now.

But over the past year, two things have changed. First, Mark has realized that when it comes to digital tools, there is very little that we can say will be timeless. The digital world changes…well, too fast for "timeless". Also, there's far too many people saying EVERYTHING is timely, that being new is enough to make something valuable, which is of course silly. But with that in mind, it's still true that some digital tools – and perhaps other tools and situations – are something less than permanent in management, but need addressing. So, Mark came to realize that we could make recommendations for certain tools that are less than timeless.

The other thing that changed was the growth of LinkedIn. We had heard so many cases of LinkedIn playing key roles in recruiting, and careers in general, that we could no longer in good conscience let so many managers and professionals simply stumble through their profile development.

So, Wendii's work came to pass recently, and we recorded a multi-part series on LinkedIn on Career Tools.

Within 5 days, the cover story of the latest Fortune magazine was about LinkedIn could 'fire up' your career. The cover picture was someone sitting in a desk chair taking off like a rocket. Probably a little much, but at least if you see it on a newsstand, you'll know what you're looking for. We recommend Fortune, and this might be a good issue to start with, though we'll detail the cover article pretty well here. We take full credit for convincing Fortune to figure out how important LinkedIn is.

We believe that LinkedIn is important enough in the professional world that managers ought to know about it, so this is a career topic that we can talk about at Manager Tools. In this cast, we'll review the basics of the Career Tools content, review the Fortune article, and then make some specific recommendations for managers in a professional world that includes LinkedIn.

The Career Tools Content

1. Career Tools Recommends LinkedIn
2. First, Complete Your Profile
   1. This Is Not Your Resume
   2. Employment History
   3. Education
   4. Other Sections
3. Photos Aren't Necessary – And Must Be Done Right
4. Connect With People You Know
   1. Contact Settings
5. Ok, So I'm On, What Now?
   1. Recommendations
   2. Groups
   3. Questions and Answers
   4. Job Board

The Fortune Article

1. Accenture Will Hire 50,000 People This Year – 40% Through Social Media
2. Facebook is For Fun, Tweets Have a Short Shelf Life
3. LinkedIn Had 17MM Visitors In February 2010
4. Oracle Met Their CFO on LinkedIn – ORACLE!
5. Professionals Are Researching Sales Contacts in Advance of Sales Meetings
6. Present Your Skills Attractively; Pack Your Profile With Keywords
7. Connect Through Groups
8. Feedback is Different/Better Than Facebook
9. Recruiting Cost Savings Can Be Enormous
10. Heidrick & Struggles Is Now A Leadership Advisory Firm – Heidrick & Struggles!
11. Pictures Are Iffy – Even to The Founder

Manager Tools Guidance – Use LinkedIn To Find Your Bench

1. Add People You Meet To Your Network
   1. Keep In Touch
   2. Whom THEY Know May Pay Dividends
2. Join Groups That Have Relevance To You
3. Keep Track Of Your Bench (And Network) With LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is an essential career tool. We're going to explain the first steps you must take to create your profile, and ways of using LinkedIn to support your career. If you've created a profile and you're not sure what to do next, or you've got a network but you're not using LinkedIn regularly, we think there are some gems in here which will help. If you're already a super user – we'd encourage you to post your suggestions in the forums.

1. Career Tools Recommends LinkedIn
2. First, Complete Your Profile
   1. This Is Not Your Resume
   2. Employment History
   3. Education
   4. Other Sections
3. Photos Aren't Necessary – And Must Be Done Right
4. Connect With People You Know
   1. Contact Settings
5. Ok, So I'm On, What Now?
   1. Recommendations
   2. Groups
   3. Questions and Answers
   4. Job Board

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This cast recommends building relationships internally at your organization when you attend training events.

We're always getting asked about how to grow one's professional network, as busy as everyone is. It's a great question, because we do know how busy everyone is. The answer is really pretty simple – we've got to start combining the growth and strengthening of our networks with other activities we engage in. We get the sense that everyone thinks that somehow that we're supposed to work, and then separately go to some "networking event" where our networks will all get together and build themselves. It's certainly true that the fact that there are such things that bill themselves as "networking events" – often sponsored by chambers of commerce – makes it easy to think that that's how networks are built. That's probably most true for those of us who don't go to them! And just for the record – we hate the darn things, and wish they'd go away. We went to one . . . it was creepy.

But anyway, here's a simple way to add to your network building tools:

1. The Busy Networker's Principle: Build Your Network By Introducing Yourself
2. At Company Training, Meet 3 Associates
3. Follow Up and Stay in Touch
4. The Mother Ship Rule: Meet 5 Associates

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In today's cast, we conclude our conversation on Myspace and social networks. As always, if you're new to Manager Tools and haven't listened to the first part, you may wish to go back and listen to that first.

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This cast gives guidance for managers' use of Social Networking Sites like MySpace and FaceBook.

If you're one of our younger listeners, members, or premium subscribers, with less than 5 years in the workforce, chances are you have a MySpace or a FaceBook page. You stay in touch with friends, let people know what you're doing, share photos, put yourself out there.

And you may have trouble, too.

OR, you're a manager with one of those people working for you.

And you may have trouble too.

Learn how to get out of trouble in this cast.

In a previous cast, we talked about how many managers don't understand the importance of taking recruiters' calls, and walked through step by step (hey, this is Manager Tools) how to handle those calls. What to say, and what to learn, and how to proceed.

But there's another side to the recruiting relationship, isn't there? What if you want to contact a recruiter, without waiting for them to call you?

Today we cover part 2 of our series on mergers and acquisitions. Hopefully, with this podcast, the idea of a merger or acquisition will be just a tad less scary. Put some of the ideas we discuss to work today and you'll benefit handsomely even if there isn't a merger on your horizon!

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Whether you're at a small or big company, the competitiveness of the commercial world and the demands for growth make your firm either prey or predator. If a company can't grow organically - by growing sales of its own products - often leadership looks to be acquired or acquire another firm.

But what does that mean for a manager? What is our role in helping two organizations come together? How do you navigate the stressful, water-cooler-talk-filled, flurry-of-emails world of a merger or an acquisition?

Today's show is the third and final part of our series on resigning. If you have to resign, distinguish yourself my resigning professionally. With the completion of this series, you now know how!

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