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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

AGENDA

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

1. Visine-get the red out (may not mean anything to some age groups
2. Word

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MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS TODAY

• Anyone thinking: I’m in the wrong session, I was expecting a LinkedIn discussion, not old ads, MS Word or zoom? It will make sense (I hope) soon.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS TODAY

3. Posting
1. When/What to post.
2. What is considered a value-added post?
3. Why anyone cares what I have to say.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Due to time, not all information listed can be covered
• The slides are provided so all information is available
• The slides are intended to be stand-alone so you can follow them regardless of your experience

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SLIDE DECK TOPICS

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Introduction
• Most Important Items
• Posting
• Profile
• Help

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SLIDE DECK TOPICS (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Networking
• Networking: Story 1
• Networking: Finding People
• Networking: Story 2
• Networking: Connection’s Information
• Networking: Connection’s Contacts
• Networking: Company Contacts
• Networking: Search

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SLIDE DECK TOPICS (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• How LI works
• General
• Search Results
• Social Selling Index (SSI) Ideas
• 30 Second Video
• Name Pronunciation
• Profile Meter
• LI Connection Levels explained
• Get A Copy of YOUR Data

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SLIDE DECK TOPICS (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Winning
• Name Change
• Hashtags
• Retained Recruiter
• LI Limits
• Additional Resources
• Congratulations and Questions

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SLIDE DECK TOPICS (cont’d)

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

INTRODUCTION

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Notice the “You and Your Team” on the section slides
• Per CNM training, you should have a team (Accountability Team, Board of Advisors/Directors from your contacts) that help you
• Practice Interviewing
• Practice your Elevator Speech
• Practice Informational Interview questions
• Review your resume
• Review your LI Profile
• Discuss your interview questions and techniques

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LI Introduction (cont)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• This presentation is updated when
• Feedback (good or bad) is received from people who have the slides/attended the presentation
• Using a Connection’s contacts
• Using a Connection’s contact information
• Remove notes and add to presentation
• New features are discovered in LI
• Name Pronunciation
• 30 Second Video
• Features are removed from LI

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Please feel free to provide feedback
• You must be connected to me
• Use a personal invite
• Use a message if possible (some may be too complex for a LI message
• Get my email from my contact information

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• This presentation is not focused on how to set up LinkedIn (abbreviated LI from here on)
• The goals in this presentation are:
• To show how to make LI work for you
• Help you by knowing what tools are available
• Help you understand when you are complete (winning)
• You do NOT need premium
• This is intended to outline what you can do with LI Free
• I have Premium only because of a special program which gives it to me free

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• For setting up LI
• CNM training is the starting place when beginning on LI
• John Foster
• John Foster & Mark Goldstein

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• How many can say they think their profile is at least a 7 on a scale of 1-10?
• Even if you have a strong profile, do you change it occasionally to keep it current?
• How many people are looking at your profile but not calling or connecting
• You can see last 5 profile views so if you check often you should get a feel for how many are coming to your profile

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• LinkedIn (LI) seems like a tug of war to get it to do what I need/want it to do
• When am I winning (at the finish line)?
• let’s review this question at the end

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LI INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

1. Visine-get the red out-

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When you go to LinkedIn, take time to address the “RED” items across the top of your screen.

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

2. Keep your profile sections in word and use the character count.
• Highlight the applicable section in Word (i.e. Header text)

I 𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙄𝙑𝙀 on resolving problems-continuous improvement as a Government Contractor or as Private Industry Staff. ❗️Program Manager, Operations, Quality, Manufacturing

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

Bottom Left of Word Page will show the number of words. Click on that.

A pop-up will display more information.

In this case I am using 163

Characters (with spaces).

There are 220 Available, so shame on me for not using them all.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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POSTING

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

Posting

• Posting is not something “most” of us would consider critical to using LinkedIn (LI) so why cover this?
• The LI algorithm assigns “points” based on your activity.
• Points determine “relevance” in LI Searches (such as by recruiters)
• LI Algorithm Research (AR) (2021) Download (Richard van der Blom)
• https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6848141573990051840/
• To download: Go to max size (bottom right )
• A download button will be there (top right)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• This Algorithm Research (AR) paper highlights
• AR Page 3: “Engagement” is how you “Rock the Algorithm”.
• AR Pages 4-5 Use of Hashtags
• AR Pages 6-7 Dwell Time on posts
• AR Pages 16-21 & 23-26 & 29-34 Posting (including when to post)
• Posting is a very BROAD topic

• You get “points” for
• Likes
• Even more points for a comment
• And even more for a share

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• “Points” are discussed more in SSI and Profile.
• Recognizing that:
• Points are the measure of engagement
• Engagement determines relevancy in a search
• It stands to reason that finding ways to get more points is critical to relevancy in a search (being found).
• Relevancy is discussed more in SSI in this presentation but have you ever noticed:
• a) when you do a search, that sometimes 3^rd level connections will be higher than your 1^st level?
• This is because the 3^rd level is more engaged with regard to what you searched on, relative to YOU.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• If you are a Mechanical Engineer (on your profile) and you search for people in “Finance” you will NOT get he same results as someone in Accounting searching for people in “Finance”
• So the first person in the search might not be the most active Finance person on LI, but might be the most active Mechanical Engineer who worked in Finance or somehow mentions finance in their profile.
• b) Thus your search, using the exact same filters as the person next to you will not return the same number of people, the same order etc.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• What is considered a value-added post and why should anyone care what I have to say?
• Why do you care what I have to say about LinkedIn?
• Is this session value added for any of us?
• The fact that you are here means you are willing to listen/read, maybe not believe, but eventually I might convince you that I know something about what I’m talking about, or the download I gave you will gave you a 2^nd opinion. As you learn, implement any of this information you then become a source of knowledge which you can share with others.
• The same applies to posts. We’ve discussed the points, so let’s lump, articles, posts, polls, likes, comments, shares together for the broad discussion of posts.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• Everyone here is a source of knowledge, whether from life experience or education. Why can’t you post about this/these to share with others in a profession Social Media (LI is not Facebook so you should NOT post about your pets, family etc).
• Aside from likes, comments, there are many ways to create unique posts/articles.
• Post about your source of knowledge. Remember the key is to engage people so maybe ask a question, tag people, use hashtags to expand the posting’s reach (Hashtags are discussed later in this presentation).
• Post about each other. Someone completed a certificate in your field-post a congratulations and explain what you know of the certification and how you achieved it.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• Post about a new technology that you just read about.
• Post about LinkedIn and questions/issues you are having. Anyone know about the referral bug? Brenda Meller-Referral Bug Post to LI CEO and LI Help
• Post about a job fair or new job search tool or book you just read (if you are privately looking….don’t do this if you don’t want your company to know, and maybe just post in the groups).
• When you post, an option window will allow you to pick who can see the post.
• I heard about Russia’s Hypersonic missiles and posted that this was amazing technology and asked for others to comment if the US was working on this (of course if it’s unclassified). I received many responses (which scored me points). I commented back on each response received.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• And there are article consolidators (Search “consolidator” in this presentation. These are free services (some are pay, but why use them) where they write “cliff notes” on an article. Let’s say you look at “Leadership”, find an article that is of interest to you. Why not make that into a post?
• I’m betting some people will find that value added.
• You’re citing the article-you didn’t write it.
• You add an opinion, even if it’s great article, but people start associating you to leadership.
• The more you post, share your knowledge, the more people will recognize you as having something of value to say/share and they could easily reach out to connect with you.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• Best days to post:
• Tuesday
• Thursday
• Saturday (60% of members check LI, only 20% publish content
• Best times to poste
• 8 am to 10 am (local time)
• Guidelines
• Do not post multiple pieces with a 24 hour period.
• LI divides the reach over all of the posts
• Posting 3x/day will zero out the engagement of your first post.
• Best results are engagement within 2 hours of posting
• Negative impact if tagged people in your post don’t engage
• No impact if tagged people like the post
• Good impact if tagged people comment on the post

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• You should be following your target companies, groups of interest and people of interest (even if not connected).
• Likes, comments, shares also get you points so be engaged here too.
• Don’t like/share everything
• If you comment, use 5 words or more (AR Page 32).

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• Social Selling Index (SSI) (discussed later)
• 4 score areas
• Engage with insights would be the results of “Posting” and getting your network engaged.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS TODAY

• Have we covered:
• When/What to post. Keep it routine, whenever you can do.
• What is a value-added post? Would you read it? AR Page 40
• Personal Content (Personal Interests, thoughts, success stories)
• Thought Leadership Content (white paper, reports, ebooks)
• Event Content (about events, webinars, upcoming activities)
• Product/Service related Content-products you use, such as calendy, LinkedIn learning via the library.
• Industry Related: 3^rd party information, provide insights
• Engagement color codes: High Medium Low
• Why anyone cares what I have to say. You are a knowledge expert, show it, build rapport with new people/groups.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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PROFILE

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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PROFILE

• You will never know your points standing but there are a couple of tools you can use to monitor activates you should do and how effective they are in helping you.
• AR Page 11 All Star status on your profile shown on your dashboard

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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PROFILE (cont)

• LI cannot “score” how good your profile photo is, but it should not be a cropped photo, have more than you in it and should be professional, of you, smiling and warm.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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PROFILE (cont)

• Until you achieve “all star” status, LI will suggest what to fix.
• There are 5 stages of the profile:
• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced
• Expert
• All-Star

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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PROFILE (cont)

• The all star icon may only show for a few days/months and it will show on your dashboard.

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS (cont)

• Social Selling Index (SSI) (discussed later)
• 4 score areas
• Establish your professional brand would be the results of a complete profile.

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Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

HELP

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• LI Help-major key throughout this presentation
• Blog (email signup) LI Help-to find the LI Blog
• Interviewing LI Help-Interviewing (Questions, Best Practices)
• More Help is Available-play with it
• LI Help will help you figure out how to maximize LI and win the Tug of War

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HELP

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• LI Help is quite helpful and readily available
• LI help is not always user friendly so you can Google things as well
• LI help AND Google are not always up to date-there is usually a date showing when the information was last updated so be careful using outdated information

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HELP (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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NETWORKING

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• NETWORKING (Real Time)
• 9/29/2021 I had a phone screen with only hours notice
• I just had breakfast with #1 who works at this company. Apparently, I did not teach him properly how he could help me or he would have identified that his company was hiring (tell people how they can help you)

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NETWORKING (story 1)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• I Researched the company to get smart before the phone screen
• I found there were 2 alums working there. I was not connected to them but reached out on 10/1
• #1 wrote a wonderful reference letter for me also
• I’ll see if he’s willing to make that into a LinkedIn recommendation

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NETWORKING (story 1)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• I reached out to #1 who advised me that job title is very important my interviewer (#2) was a great guy
• I asked about job title in the phone screen and learned they have profit sharing which is awarded by job title

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NETWORKING (story 1)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• #2 was kicking my resume up to his boss (#3) who I researched on LI and found out he is co-owner and VP
• #2 reached out to me on LI to connect, right after the phone screen-I accepted his invitation
• I was hesitant to connect with him before the phone screen

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NETWORKING (story 1 cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Looking at his connections I saw we shared 13 connections-I accepted
• Digging deeper, I found
• 1 is in my 6 months contact group but is also at one of my target companies. I said Hi

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NETWORKING (story 1 cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• 1 is an alum and is in my 6 months contact group. I said Hi
• 1 was a fellow job seeking person who I was helping. He landed last year. I said Hi
• 1 is a PM at my current company. I asked if he had worked with this new company
• 1 is the VP BD at my current company. I asked if he had worked with this new company

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NETWORKING (story 1 cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Moral(s)
• Your network needs to be in place to help you the most
• Job Title was critical
• Should I have been hesitant to reach out to phone screener
• Use mutual connections for intel and word of mouth

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NETWORKING (story 1 cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Send PERSONALIZED Invitations
• Send connection request from the profile page only
• Many of the “Connect” buttons used to just send the basic invite
• These are being updated to allow the “note” option, but use the profile page connection option
• You should review the profile first anyway
• If the “Connect” option is not showing, look under “More”

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NETWORKING: FINDING PEOPLE

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Use Scripts that work for you, are interesting to the person receiving them and show some degree of why you want to connect with that person
• Hi, we’ve not met but I saw your (post, profile, attendance in a similar meeting)
• I invite you to consider me as a resource for candidates in your searches

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NETWORKING: FINDING PEOPLE (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• MANY invitations received are still just the basic invite
• Some invites only talk about mutual connections, or groups…make it more personal…find SOMETHING, it’s not hard but might take more than a few seconds
• Offer your help to them
• Job Hunting
• Networking
• Helping find candidates to fill their job posting needs

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NETWORKING: FINDING PEOPLE

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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NETWORKING (story 2)

• She also mentioned some of our mutual connections
• From her shout out, I received 17 invites, all congratulating me (personal) on her shout out

• The PERSONAL invitation

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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NETWORKING (story 2 cont’d)

• This was the invite. Her “about” mentioned her love of knitting and gardening
• It took about 1 minute to read her profile and 20 seconds to send the invite

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

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NETWORKING (story 2 cont’d)

• This is nothing more than Bob K, John Foster Mark discuss almost every session-PERSONAL invites
• Others who discuss this: Bob Mcintosh; Miriam Spinner; Victoria Ipri; Robert Brandau; Gloria MacDonald; Hannah Morgan; Brenda Meller…

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Find key people using:
• Filters
• Multiple Search keywords
• Boolean Search (AND, OR all CAPS)
• A Company’s People list
• Your Connection’s Contact Information
• Your Connection’s Contacts – Underused feature

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NETWORKING: FINDING PEOPLE (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Your Connection’s Contact information
• It’s surprising how many people connect and then ask for an email or phone number

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NETWORKING: CONNECTION’S INFORMATION

• If connected: Contact Info is in their profile (unless they chose to hide it or don’t have a good profile)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Your Connection’s Contact information
• If Not connected: but asking for an email, why are you NOT connected?
• There are reasons, but don’t be lazy

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NETWORKING: CONNECTION’S INFORMATION (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Your Connection’s Contacts

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NETWORKING: CONNECTION’S CONTACTS

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Your Connection’s Contacts

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NETWORKING: CONNECTION’S CONTACTS (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• Your Contacts’ Contacts
• This can get a little clunky and is not always accurate
• Very handy to use the filters to sort on
• Job Title: Recruiter
• Company (new or old): Department of State
• Level of connection to your contact
• Default is 1^st and 2^nd
• Location
• School
• Industry

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NETWORKING: CONNECTION’S CONTACTS (cont’d)

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• A Company’s People
• Very similar to screening a connection’s contacts
• VERY clunky now
• Go to Company Page
• Click “See all people results”
• Jobs, activities etc will appear after the people list

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NETWORKING: COMPANY CONTACTS

Tug of War to get LinkedIn on your side

• A Company’s People
• Semi-useless data-just scroll down