Do you use filters to enhance your LinkedIn searching experience? Using filters narrows your search results. With fewer people to look through, you can find the kinds of people you are looking for more quickly.

 

How to Find Filters

Let’s say I want to get to know more business coaches in the Denver area. I type the words “business coach” into the search box and scroll down to the bottom of what LinkedIn shows me. Then, I click on the words “search for all results for business coach.”

The filter “tabs” available to people with a free account are: Location, Connections, Current Companies, and All Filters. Within All Filters, you will also find the filters called: Connections of, Past Company, and Industry.

For each filter, select from the options shown within them. Sometimes you need to type something into the search box within the filter. An example of doing would be typing, “Greater Denver Area” in the Location filter. Then, click on Apply. You can apply as many filters as you want to for each search.

 

What to do with Your Filtered Results

  • Connections Filter: 1st level people – Review your connections – referred to as your 1st level people. Reach out to selected people and reconnect. With my example, I’ve gotten some great clients because their business coaches recommended my services to someone they are coaching. Therefore, it makes sense for me to stay in better touch with more business coaches who are connections.
  • Connections Filter: 2nd level people – Review these people  (the ones with whom you have at least one shared connection). Select which ones you most want to get to know. Look through your shared connections and find one or two you think might do an email introduction for you. Then email or call those shared connections.
  • Locations Filter – Target people who live in a metropolitan area where you want to land a job. Or if you’re a business, choose those in the area you’re expanding into.
  • Current Companies – Use this filter when you want to get more connections in a particular company. Another approach is to go directly to the company’s company page and click on the number of employees. Then apply the same filters you apply in a people search.
  • All Filters – The main filter I use in this tab is “Connections of”. If you have a list of 2nd level connections, you might notice that one of them shows up often as a shared connection. Type that person’s name into the “connections of” filter and click Apply. Doing this will show you all their first level connections whose profiles contain the term you put in the search box.

 

How About You?

What has been your experience in using filters to narrow the searches you conduct on LinkedIn?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 45 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.