Why should teachers use Linkedin?
As a teacher, I found it hard to understand what purpose I could use LinkedIn for. I’ve had a profile page since September 2008 and have always toyed with what I could get out it.
Twelve years later, here are 3 reasons why using LinkedIn could be useful to you…
1.Social media overload
LinkedIn is perfect for those who want to go slow.
With so much to choose from, we are all in danger of spreading ourselves too thin, myself included! I often created profiles to see ‘what all the fuss is about’ and learn how a platform works, soon establishing if the platform is worth using. TikTok during lockdown is the most recent social platform to reach the masses, with algorithms working hard to keep our attention within the first few seconds of engagement.
Linkedin is much slower, offering better connections and less trashy content…
2. A professional platform
Content does not flood your timeline. It allows users to get a little deeper into the details and connect. It’s also very easy to avoid much of the vitriol you can see on Twitter and Facebook.
In my career as a teacher, once a term, I would spend some time updating my teacher application documents and CV. This practice helped me secure 3 job promotions between 2008 and 2014.
LinkedIn, whether public (or private) is the perfect place to build a digital curriculum vitae and business card. The platform allows you to export your profile, with records of employment history and achievements which help put in place the building blocks to tweak a document for pending job applications.
3. Job hunting network
Just switch your profile to ‘job-seeking’ and recruiters will find you, not the other way around.
Having used social media in all shapes and forms to find employment, Linkedin has always been the platform supply agencies, recruitment firms use (who send job offers when you’re not even looking). Of course, teachers will always go to the usual teacher vacancy platforms, but imagine if any platform did the work for you?
That’s what LinkedIn does.
It’s perfect for saving you time, avoiding the idle conversation and making a difference to those around you.
LinkedIn has published its sixth annual Top Voices list, a collection of hundreds of experts driving today’s professional conversation – I am honoured to be one LinkedIn’s Top-10 Voices 2020 in Education.
I signed up to LinkedIn 10 years ago and never looked at it again. Nothing happened to the account for years – no notifications, recommendations, people you might know – and I eventually disabled it. Waste of time.