LinkedIn: Join Groups

There are thousands of groups in LinkedIn created to help connect people with similar interests and backgrounds. There are several QU groups, including the QU College of Arts & Sciences group. Join any group where you have an affiliation. If you are in a fraternity or sorority, look for the national chapter as well. Heading for a certain industry? Look for industry organizations or interest groups. Joining a group expands your network rapidly and gives you access to information about some target industries or companies that might help your search. Just type the appropriate keyword into the search bar at the top of the screen. Results will come back in several categories, one of which will be groups.

When you join a group, you are able to directly message anyone in that group, even if they are not a direct connection of yours since the group itself serves as your connection. You can use shared membership in a group as a great conversation starter with other group members as you reach out to them for informational interviews or questions about their industry or employer.

Another great way to separate yourself from other job seekers is not just to join the groups to expand your network, but also to participate in them to establish credibility in your field. Comment on existing discussions where you can add some interesting perspective or advice, and if you don’t believe you are advanced enough to do that yet, ask questions. Other group members, especially in groups where you have some pre-existing affinity like alumni groups or social organizations, typically love to offer advice to those just starting out. Before asking a question or participating in conversations in a group, spend some time reading what is already there to get a feel for how people in the group interact and what they are interested in discussing.

  • Groups can be open (anyone can join) or locked (someone reviews your request to join and you must meet specific criteria such as experience in a certain industry or membership in an organization).
  • Groups offer the option of daily or weekly email updates about the activities within the groups. You can also turn this feature off entirely. Weekly updates are a good idea, at least for the groups that are most strongly related to your goals or in which you are most active. You might consider using some of the organizational tools in your email client of choice to push them all into one folder to keep them from becoming overwhelming, while still keeping them active.
  • You can also choose whether or not the logo of the group is visible on your profile page. You may have some groups that you belong to for personal reasons that you prefer not to share with your professional contacts. If so, hiding the logo is a great way to manage that but remember you can’t be in a group anonymously, so others in the group with you will still see you are there.
  • Most groups also have a “Jobs” section within them. Since many groups are organized around certain industries, or even specific functions within industries, these can be a great resource for “unpublished” jobs. Someone hiring in the category represented by that group knows that the members of the group would be most likely to be qualified. Many times jobs will be posted in these groups before they are posted in other places like corporate websites or third-party sited like CareerBuilder.