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LinkedIn, which is in the early stages of becoming a public company, is clearly working on improving their platform. LinkedIn Skills launched today, allowing users to search for a specific skill across the LinkedIn platform. If a user searches for a specific skill, LinkedIn returns key people within that community, top locations, related companies, relevant jobs, and relevant groups.
While only in beta, LinkedIn Skills marks an important step forward for LinkedIn. The results page for LinkedIn Skills offers some of the most interesting contextual information to come from the business-focused social networking company.
How to Add Skills To Your LinkedIn Profile
Adding skills to your LinkedIn Profile is a simple process. First, go to LinkedIn and sign into your account. Once you have signed in, go to the LinkedIn Skills page and search for a skill you have.
On the skill results page click "Add Skill" to add the skill to your profile. You will then be taken to a new screen to add the skill.
Note: Users must first add a skill through this method and then other skill additions can be made directly from the profile page.
Type in the skill you wish to add to your profile, then select you proficiency and years of experience and click "Add Skills".
If you are a regular reader of this blog then you might want to add "Inbound marketing" and "HubSpot Software" to your skills list. Your skills will now display in a new section of your profile.
This feature is still very new and LinkedIn has only a limited number of recognized specialties to search for today. But the concept has value for marketers, recruiters and sales people.
Marketing Takeaway
Visit your LinkedIn profile today and add your core specialties. Encourage others within your industry to add specialties as well to help get industry skills recognized by LinkedIn.
Remember that if you have experience in "Inbound Marketing" and/or "HubSpot Software" please add them to your list of skills as well. Keep an eye on this feature as it evolves. It could be a useful free tool to identify industry influencers, community event locations and find new employees.
LinkedIn seems to be rolling out new features quickly right now, so keep your eyes open for other innovations in the coming months. What feature would you like to see LinkedIn launch next?
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