One of the MOST POWERFUL FEATURE OF Linkedin - Group Messaging

Hi Friends,

As promised in my last post, today I will be discussing about one of the most powerful feature of Linkedin, which even Linkedin discourages. I will tell later, how it discourages.

and the secret is revealed........

Its the Group Messaging feature. With this feature you can reach out to almost any person on linkedin directly to attain your dream job. As you know I love examples and I would again like to explain this feature with an example.

Scenario: You are a MBA in Finance. You are eyeing a managerial position in any top MNC company in the finance domain. This is how you'll use the group messaging feature effectively.

• Shortlist 4-5 dream companies which you want to join.


• Use the linkedin advanced search feature and input the company of choice. Enter keywords/title which you feel can help you out. I am not from the finance industry, but suppose you are eyeing a position of a Manager. Try to find a person who is one to two positions higher to whom the Manager reports. So, the person could be in the position to hire you the fastest. You have to find the person (That depends on your research skills). Person can be any one from Senior Manager, Vice President, etc depending upon the company Hierarchy.


• After checking the profile of the person which you feel is the target person, see the groups of which he/she is a member. Groups could be seen on the person's profile page. If there is a common group, well and good. If not, join a group which he/she is a member of, so that you have at least one group in common.


• Visit the group home page of the common group and select the "members" tab


• Search for the person's name in the search box which appears on the left side of the page.


• Once you locate the person, get your mouse over the person's photo. You would now be able to see the golden feature of send message.


• Use the feature wisely and you can make the message as long as you want. You can write your cover letter or your brief career history or elevator pitch. VOILA, its done. Remember, you are sending the message to the concerned recruiter directly, so take time to draft a message. I recommend making a sort of template which you can use for different employers with slight modifications.


• Also note that you can expect a delay in reply. Its quite possible that all people you've messaged don't reply. But a certain percentage would surely reply.


• You are able to connect to any person on linkedin even without adding as a connection provided that he/she has joined at least one group.

Warning: Don't send to many messages like this everyday, as linkedin may block your account. Once linkedin blocks your account, it does without warning and it may take about 2 weeks to unblock it once you send the request. However, about 25 messages per week should be fine.

Now the next question to ask is - How linkedin discourages this feature?

Linkedin does not show the "send message" feature to the people even with whom you share a group.

THIS FEATURE WOULD SURELY PAY OFF. STUDY IT CAREFULLY AND START IMPLEMENTING

Happy Linkedining