Linkedin: On the Job, Looking For Leads Or Job Leads? (Cartoon)

Should you encourage your employees to use Linkedin? If your company serves other businesses (B2B) , LinkedIn is an incredible prospecting and marketing tool.  Having your employees active on Linkedin increases their visibility to potential customers, partners, and suppliers. However, it also increases their visibility to headhunters, recruiters, and competitors.

Learn how to used Linkedin to generate new business: Here.

Not only does having employees on Linkedin make them the target for high-end job searches, but  Linkedin can create the temptation to look for greener pastures. Linkedin users see when their connections (aka colleagues, clients, and friends) get a big promotion or switch to a new company. If an employee wants to start looking, Linkedin has a job board.  While looking at a job board at work would be considered bad form,  the duality of LinkedIn  as  a prospecting tool and job board might make certain people comfortable sneaking a look at potential opportunities.

What are people actually doing with Linkedin? According to Lab42, it depends on their location on the corporate totem pole. Senior level executives focus on industry networking, while the number one activity for entry level employees is searching for a job.