Tips on networking as a drinks professional on LinkedIn

As a veteran in drinks recruitment and LinkedIn I wanted to start sharing my learning’s, tips and experiences.

Connections

• Do connect with like minded professionals, colleagues, HR/recruitment professionals, industry leaders and those in your field. Those who will enrich and enhance your network.
• Do check the ‘who has viewed your profile’ on a regular basis and connect withrelevant professionals. This facility is useful as it gives you an idea of how visible you are on LinkedIn (I will provide further articles on improving this)
• Don’t just accept connection requests from anyone. Your network should reflect you and who you want to engage with in the future. A smaller niche focused network is more valuable than a broad irrelevant one. It also reduces the level of unwanted sales and ‘spammy’ messages.

Groups

• Click here  to view my profile and you can see some of the best and most active groups.  I manage three groups – Liquid Lounge Global Drinks Network, Fluid Fusion and Top 100 Wine and Spirits.
• Don’t just join groups for the sake of it. Unless you intend to read updates (frequency of which you can manage in settings) or engage in discussions etc. then there is no point. If like me you don’t have the time for daily digest emails then change them to weekly. You can only join 50 groups so choose active ones with content that is best suited to you. PS Being a member of a number of drinks groups sends a good message to potential employers who view your profile – you have an active interest in the industry 🙂
• Don’t abuse groups. Follow the rules! I learnt the hard way by promoting myself too much and was blocked from one of the biggest sites – a bit harsh I felt as I was a newbie (and apologised), but a lesson learnt. What I mean is share useful articles, contribute to discussions, but don’t just self promote yourself or your company. Above all be polite! I’ve had to report a number of unacceptable comments in groups over the years.

Networking for jobs

• Search and follow companies that you want to work for. You will then get updates in your feed from these and you can comment and share these increasing your visibility!
• Regularly share articles, posts and news out to your network – spread your passion, interest and enthusiasm for this dynamic industry. Trust me, others will notice. (if you have twitter linked to your profile always click to update out across twitter at the same time!)
• Do search and connect/follow key contacts to get you noticed – these can be HR/Talent professionals as well a decision makers in the business e.g. marketing manager for the brand you would love to work on!

Finally – show your personality! You can be professional and have a sense of humour (in moderation of course)