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Why or Why Not? I started a LinkedIn account over 4 years ago when I left the Service as a means to network for employment connections. I didn't use it fully until about 2+ years ago when I become unemployed. This is when I realized the disconnect many Veterans suffered when seeking civilian employment. A few months later I started a Group on LinkedIn called Florida Veterans Transition Network to assist Veterans in their endeavor to find civilian employment. I use this group to connect Veterans and Veteran Supports to assist Veterans in their Job Search Endeavors. Last year I was recognized by LinkedIn as the Top 5% Most Viewed Profile on LinkedIn. I now hope to duplicate the same efforts here on RallyPoint. Feel free to connect with me on RallyPoint, LinkedIn and my LinkedIn Group.
Employment
Transition
Networking
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 29
Clarence, thanks for sharing your story. I believe that many military members and veterans are similar... in that they often do not begin networking until they actually find themselves looking for work, which is often too late. One of the reasons we started RallyPoint was to help service members build and create their network long before they need something, so that when it was time to find a new position (either in the military or during transition), they would have a strong network to support them. <div><br></div><div>LinkedIn has the advantage of many years of development and thousands of employees, and RallyPoint has the advantage of being laser focused on serving our military, veteran, and retiree community. Both are good platforms.</div><div><br></div><div>We look forward to seeing your contributions on RallyPoint, and to hearing more feedback. In 2014 we'll also set up more specific groups on RallyPoint to serve some of the needs you described. We're glad to have you on board!</div>
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SGT Craig Northacker
Major-let's chat after April 15. We have a lot we can do together. Thanks.
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Using it religiously. Not just for myself, but start ups I'm involved with. Just sat in on a fantastic panel discussion held at Boise State University as well.<br><br>Feel free to add me http://www.linkedin.com/in/joerevans/<br><br>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
<P>CW2,</P>
<P>Thanks for the response. Start Ups are a great option for Veterans. I talk this option with many of my Veterans.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
<P>Thanks for the response. Start Ups are a great option for Veterans. I talk this option with many of my Veterans.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
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Absolutely yes. It is a critical tool for networking and branching out. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is a professional alternative. <div><br></div><div>The user groups are also valuable. I use them for various topics such as: SharePoint Administration, Photoshop, Design, Marketing, and other purposes. </div><div><br></div><div>I'm also using LinkedIn to keep in touch with the retirees from our company who also served in our military. They are no longer on our corporate email, so using LinkedIn is a great way to keep in touch via a private, closed "group" that I created for our veterans. </div><div><br></div><div>Many other reasons to use LinkedIn... so check it out.</div>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
Cpl Pearson, yes I use LinkedIn reguarly too for the same and similar reasons. I just wanted to get others' opinion. Thanks!
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I use LinkedIn everyday. It's a great tool for those looking to not just find a job but to grow their professional knowledge base. A few months ago, LinkedIn announced FREE Premium Accounts for 5 years for Veterans as well so now I have that as well. Not sure if they are still doing it but here is the link for more information on that program.<div><br></div><div><a href="http://jadethunter.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/free-linkedin-upgrade-for-veterans/">http://jadethunter.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/free-linkedin-upgrade-for-veterans/</a><br></div><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://jadethunter.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/20 [login to see] 17.jpg"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://jadethunter.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/free-linkedin-upgrade-for-veterans/">Free LinkedIn Upgrade for Veterans</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">UPDATED INFORMATION HERE INFORMATION BELOW HAS BEEN NULLIFIED IN UPDATED NEW POST HERE PLEASE NOTE MS NICOLE HENRY is from JCEP, Job Connection Education Program, and not with LINKEDIN. IF you have...</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
SGT Keen,
I too use it everyday and yes, they are still providing the premium account for Veterans for 5 years.
I too use it everyday and yes, they are still providing the premium account for Veterans for 5 years.
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SSG Alexander Shulman
According to LinkedIn, it's not 5 years:<div><span style="color: rgb(152, 158, 174); font-family: Trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">Subject RE: LinkedIn Veteran Job Seeker Upgrade</span><br style="color: rgb(152, 158, 174); font-family: Trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><span style="color: rgb(152, 158, 174); font-family: Trebuchet, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">It’s actually a 1 year job seeker subscription, not 5 year. I apologize for the confusion around our veteran promotion. While some accounts were processed as 5 year subscriptions in the past, they should have been 1 year subscriptions and will be only 1 year subscriptions in the future. Our hope is that the veterans using these subscriptions as job seekers can find a job within the year and not need the service for additional time. If they are still out of work and in need of the subscription after a year though, they can definitely request it again.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Directly from Alison Dorsey, Social Impact Manager at LinkedIn:</div><div><br></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I'm very sorry for the confusion on this. LinkedIn offers a free 1 year Job Seeker Subscription to every US veteran. Due to the recent increase in demand for the subscription (which we're thrilled to see!), we have created a temporary subgroup to the Veteran Mentor Network to help accommodate all the requests. The subgroup is called the LI Job Seeker Subscription and can be found here: </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5131140&trk=groups_management_participants-h-dsc" style="border: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 119, 181); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5131140&trk=groups_management_participants-h-dsc</a><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We will upgrade the accounts of the US veterans who join this group. If you are a US veteran looking for the upgrade, please join the group, and if you are in touch with others looking for the upgrade, please pass this information on to them as well. </span><br></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">------------------------------------------</span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The upgrade is automatic upon joining the group. Make sure you have your military service in your profile before joining.</span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">**********************************</span></div><div><font color="#333333" face="sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As far as I'm tracking, the 5 year account thing was being granted from 1 to 8 AUG 2013. If you received your 5 year accounts after that, please correct me.</span></font></div><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></span></div><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/media/p/4/005/023/22f/04868e6.png"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5131140">LI Job Seeker Subscription | LinkedIn</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">LinkedIn offers a free one year Job Seeker subscription to every US Veteran. We use this group to review profiles for military service and distribute the upgrade instructions to...</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
<P>SGT,</P>
<P>Interesting update. I got the 5 years subscription when I signed up. Not sure the date. But which ever the case, it is still a good thing for the Veteran.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
<P>Interesting update. I got the 5 years subscription when I signed up. Not sure the date. But which ever the case, it is still a good thing for the Veteran.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
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I just started recently when I started dealing with industry as part of my position. Now that the RIF boards are coming up I have been much more active on the site checking my options.
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
MAJ M, it's never too late to start. However, the sooner you start establishing those relationships and learning how to play the game, the quicker your success will come.
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I started a LinkedIn account back in early 2010 and I have to say that it has been very useful to me as far as networking inside my career field. It has allowed me to network with many individuals that, although most of my field comes from a military background, some key people in my field have no prior service time and I wouldn't have been able to connect to them if it were restricted to only networking within the military community. <div><br></div><div>This site on the other hand has very good potential for me to stay in touch and network with those associated with the military, even ones that I have interacted with that are outside of my career specialty, but are very good to network with, but may not normally consider having an active LinkedIn account due to how open the discussions on there can be and not really specific to a military group of contributors like it is here.</div>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
<P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman">SPC,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman">Social media for professional development is always a good thing, particularly when over 90% of the civilian hiring community is using social media to find their employees and LinkedIn is their premier site for their searches.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman">Thanks, Clarence<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P> </P>
<P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman">Social media for professional development is always a good thing, particularly when over 90% of the civilian hiring community is using social media to find their employees and LinkedIn is their premier site for their searches.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman">Thanks, Clarence<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P> </P>
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I use it and have developed some significant professional and personal connections. It's a very effective networking tool for veterans or active duty service members transitioning or looking for a new job/career. What many networkers and job seekers don't seem to realize is that you have to use LinkedIn for it to work.
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
<P>SFC,</P>
<P>You are correct! You do have to use LinkedIn for it to work. It is not a fire and forget system. You have to actively work LinkedIn for it to be effective.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
<P>You are correct! You do have to use LinkedIn for it to work. It is not a fire and forget system. You have to actively work LinkedIn for it to be effective.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
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<p>SGM,</p><p> I have heard of LinkedIn but have never looked into it. RP is my first attempt at Social networking. I not much for what I have seen with my family and troopers do with Twitter, Myspace, and Facebook. </p><p> </p><p>A mentor of mine mentioned this site so I gave it a try. Providing and receiving mentorship to and from other Soldiers has made this a workable site for me. I have just started to look beyond my Army career. Retirement may still be a few years out for my family and I. </p><p> </p><p>Having made the transition yourself, what is a good time frame to start networking for after the Army. In your opinion, are employers looking for people 4-5 years out? I am sure I am missing something but not sure what the purpose would be networking so far out. Please, when you get time explain how sites like LinkedIn help us out.</p>
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SGM Clarence Zarnes
<P>SGM,</P>
<P>My apologies for my tardy response. Social media is a challenge for most of that have been in the military for some time. However, it is a necessary evil. While in the military we live in an invisible bubble. We thing we know how things are on the outside, but reality is that we do not. It is a culture shock for most. I recommend getting engaged in LinkedIn at least a couple of years prior to retirement. This allows you to start building you network outside the military and to get a true feel of the job market and its requirements. Often we find that for many jobs there are specific degrees and or certificates that are required. There is much more I could tell you, but I recommend that you start getting connected on the outside and start working on your civilian style resume.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
<P>My apologies for my tardy response. Social media is a challenge for most of that have been in the military for some time. However, it is a necessary evil. While in the military we live in an invisible bubble. We thing we know how things are on the outside, but reality is that we do not. It is a culture shock for most. I recommend getting engaged in LinkedIn at least a couple of years prior to retirement. This allows you to start building you network outside the military and to get a true feel of the job market and its requirements. Often we find that for many jobs there are specific degrees and or certificates that are required. There is much more I could tell you, but I recommend that you start getting connected on the outside and start working on your civilian style resume.</P>
<P>Thanks, Clarence</P>
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I've been on board since the beginning. It is a fantastic tool for networking and showcasing your skills for future employers. I feel it is a must in this computer-based age.<br>
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I use it everyday. When I moved to Japan last year I had 7 interviews lined up all using LinkedIn. Today I use it as a headhunter for my civilian job but also to expand my network in search of new opportunities. I'm currently trying to network to those in the Pacific NW for a possible move next year. Feel free to connect. jp.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-morris/62/433/2b/
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