Are you preparing for LinkedIn’s changes?

As you may be aware, LinkedIn doesn’t announce when its changes are happening. Instead, they tend to gradually roll them out user by user.

The next change for LinkedIn users will be the overall design of their LinkedIn profile. Also, the navigation tools are changing as well as certain features going away.

While I don’t have these changes, one of my tutoring clients does. I was happy to see the new look “in person” so I could investigate it.

Here are some of my thoughts on what I found:

There are things that will no longer be available in the free version, notably the Notes and Tag features and some search options.

In some ways, I found the overall look of the page to be cleaner and more up to date. I didn’t like that you can only see position description information for only the first position listed in the Experience section. For the rest of the positions, you have to click See More to read the position description.

 

Preparing for LinkedIn’s Changes

There are some things that would be wise to do during the time between now and when you wake up to the new look.

These recommendations are drawn from LinkedIn author and consultant Wayne Breitbarth’s recent LinkedIn article. See the entire article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/protect-yourself-now-because-linkedin-making-big-wayne-breitbarth?trk=hp-feed-article-title-share

 

• Request a free archive of your LinkedIn data by going to the Privacy and Settings section of LinkedIn.
• Find it by hovering your cursor over the little photo of you at the top right of your screen. Select Privacy and Settings. Then scroll down until you see the option Getting an Archive of Your Data. Click on Change.
• LinkedIn will notify you via email that your archive is ready. Just click on the hyperlink in that email and then click on Download.
• Now you have a zip file with all your connections, their names, titles, companies, and primary email address.
• Save your profile information in two ways.
• First, click on the arrow to the right of the View Profile As button, located below your photo. Click on Save to PDF. This will save everything but the visual elements of your profile as a PDF that you can store on your computer.
• Second, create screen shots of your profile and save them into a document. This will save all your media and other visual elements.

 

Implications of These Changes

• Per Wayne’s article, by the end of March, the notes and tag features will no longer be available to those with free accounts. If you have the Sales Navigator level of paid accounts, you will be able to transfer your notes and tags into that account.
• From other articles I have read, it appears that search options will become more limited for those with free accounts. For example, you need to have a paid account to use the Advanced Search feature.
• Also, to find your groups, you must type the name of one of your groups into the search box. The term “groups” is no longer in a drop down option within the menu bar.

 

How About You?

Has the look of your LinkedIn account changed yet? If so, what are your thoughts? Have you been able to find everything you need? Are you missing access to features you once used that are no longer are available to someone with a free account?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those ages 45 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.