Over the past 1.5 years since joining LinkedIn, I have experimented with standard LinkedIn sources and a bunch of my own. Some work better than others for various types of connections. Once you accumulate 500 or more, LinkedIn will report 500+ next to Connections in the 1st profile box and on your Connections page.
TOP 15 OTHER SOURCES & STRATEGIES BEGINNING NOW!
1. Listserv contacts who share similar areas of interest with you
2. Professional inquiries about your publications and other activities from new colleagues and students
3. Consulting firm personnel who hired you
4. Contacts from your Website, blog, or other professional sites
5. Meeting planner or conference organizer who invites you to speak
6. HR director or center director who hires you to speak or train
7. Faculty, students, or others who attend workshops you conduct (DYNAMITE SOURCE! After all, they attended your workshop because they’re interested in your work.)
8. Professionals you meet at conferences (with new business cards)
9. Professionals on Facebook or other social media and people “following you”
10. LinkedIn professional group contacts in discussions (join a bunch of LinkedIn groups in higher education, professional associations and organizations, and relevant businesses)
11. LinkedIn connections at institutions where you have worked or gone to school (colleagues, students, classmates, clients, etc.)
12. Connections from your LinkedIn connections (scroll down their connections and click Connect on the right)
13. Members who are listed in your LinkedIn groups (to the right, click Invite to Connect)
14. On your LinkedIn Home (upper left on menu), go to People You May Know box on the right and click See More at bottom (scroll through list to find potential connectees—click Connect or Invite to Connect and invite them as a colleague)
15. Acquaintances on airplanes, trains, buses, skateboards, snowboards, and other transport equipment
What have I missed? What sources have you used to generate connections? Let me know your strategies?
What’s Next? What hit rate can you expect when you invite prospective connections? What’s the response rate in academia compared to business and industry? Stay tuned for my next blog.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Have you ever wanted to join the cast of one of the "Survivor" reality-TV series, like the Salahis who crashed the White House state dinner? BTW They need to be smacked! Well, you may have your chance.
With the recession invading our lives over the past 2 years, do you feel you have been somehow transported to a desert island, wilderness, or just a desert on your campus to tough it out until you experience the economic upswing the media said is already occurring? You must have had seasons before where your job was difficult. Or, maybe not.
WILDERNESS ALERT: If you have not or are currently not experiencing any problems out of the ordinary and your teaching, grant money flow, research, writing, and/or clinical practice is booming, STOP reading any further. This blog will be a waste of your time.
For the rest of you, it's: guess what? Time to cry out: "Where's Jack Bauer when we need him?" No, of course not, silly. It's "Survivor" time: This “wilderness adventure” on your campus is like “Survivor: The College Campus!” It is probably very different from previous problems you have encountered. It’s unlike anything you’ve experienced in your career, because it’s due to circumstances beyond your control. However, you can exit this experience better and stronger than when it was initially thrust upon you, but only if you make certain adjustments.
That’s what this blog is all about, plus how to end clauses and sentences without prepositions. How can you use this wilderness time as an opportunity to grow as a professional rather than to squander it and regress with each hit that you take?
SO, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
Budget cuts in most institutions of higher education nationwide have been affecting daily operations at the department level. How do you know whether you’ve been hit and to what degree? Check out the list below to note whether excessive cuts have diminished your functioning or your programs’:
• New and old programs cut back or cut
• Current faculty and staff (including IT) positions cut or consolidated
• New full-time and part-time faculty hiring freeze
• Increase in part-time faculty to replace full-time
• Salary freezes, cuts, or furloughs
• Cuts in faculty travel, equipment, resources, and/or sabbatical (What’s that?)
• Delays or cuts in building and facility improvements and repairs
• Increases in course-load and general workload
BOTTOM LINE: “DO MORE WITH LESS!”
How have any of these cuts affected you directly? My next blog will identify the symptoms. Then I’ll examine the possible negative, destructive responses and positive, constructive responses to survive the wilderness experience.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
