After reading a couple of the #Meme15 blog posts in the SQL community, brought to you by Jason Strate (blog | twitter), I thought I would join in on the fun.

This month’s topic:  Why and how you use LinkedIn?

Oh LinkedIn how I love thee, let me count the ways!   Sorry, I still have Valentine’s Day stuck in my head thanks to those 75% off candy sales today.  Focus.  I have a LinkedIn profile with my resume posted.  In addition, I have connected with present and former colleagues and some of my SQL Server friends.  I have also requested and received recommendations from some of those colleagues to try to give my profile a completeness to it. 

It hasn’t always been that way.  Before I attended Mark Tabladillo‘s “Social Marketing 2011 for Microsoft Professionals” presentation at SQL Saturday #86, I did not have my full resume on my profile as I was leery for some unknown reason.  I have my resume on Monster, but something didn’t feel right, maybe it was the social aspect to the site.  After Mark told us that nearly 2/3 of all hiring was done through LinkedIn last year, I was blown away.  I went home and updated my profile that night.

In addition to the profile, I post my professional blog postings to my LinkedIn profile so that if I am ever in need of another position, there will be a rich amount of professional information available to potential employers.  At this point, I do not know whether this is a successful endeavor, but I hope to one day update this blog entry one way or the other.

#Meme On!  Enjoy!