Hitting the Enter Key: How I Landed on LinkedIn's Member Stories Blog

In 2011, I had to make a very critical decision in regard to my career. I decided it was time for a new journey, and thus, began a new job search on LinkedIn. However, my job search quickly turned into much more than resume building; I was building relationships and opportunities unexpectedly.

In October of 2012, LinkedIn shared my story on their Member Success Blog. It was a crazy and exciting day. I received phone calls from the most amazing people who worked at LinkedIn, emails poured in from around the world and different opportunities arose.

I never realized how many people were in the same boat as I was at that time in my life. I am very grateful that I was able to inspire others who were feeling lost, unemployed and/or wanted to make a career change.

On that day, and for a few months after, many people still reached out to me. They wanted to know how I landed on LinkedIn's Member Blog and they also wanted to know how I changed my professional life.

I stopped fearing the outcome of every move I made.

I stopped the "what-if-this" or "what-if-that" scenarios. I let go of the invisible rope of fear always tugging me back, stayed within the present, and stopped trying to predict a future that didn't exist.

So, the story goes...

How I landed on LinkedIn's blog:

In 2011, I was very grateful for the opportunities and the connections I was making through LinkedIn. I was greatly missing my job in the academia world, and I found many educational based conversations and groups on LinkedIn. I was eternally grateful for having a free service that directed me toward so many exciting things (not only potential jobs, however, meeting some of the most amazing people in the world).

Therefore, with my artsy side, I decided to make a Power Point presentation entitled: How LinkedIn Changed My Life In One Year.

I was online one day following Jeff Weiner's posts and conversations (before LinkedIn was using Pulse) and I wanted to thank him.

And so I did...I popped that presentation up on his news feed (only because it was relevant to the conversation) and with every ounce of letting go of the "what-ifs," I hit the enter key.

Within an hour I received an email from LinkedIn and then a phone call; this began a whole new journey. Again, another humbled thanks to Jeff Weiner who shared my work (not endorsed, just shared) with his followers.

This was an incredible honor for me personally.

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Prior to my story, this is how I used LinkedIn to grow and change my career path:

• I joined many educational based LinkedIn groups and participated in great conversations.
• I shared any/all writing I created on my own site, ED News Daily, that was relevant and/or helpful to my colleagues.
• I created a LinkedIn group for ESL/Bilingual teachers, which now has over 6,000 members.
• I helped other people in my personal and professional network find jobs.
• I reached out to many people in my field.
• When I received many questions, I answered them to the best of my bandwidth.
• I did a great deal of pro-bono work. I took time to review new educational sites, had phone calls with those who asked, provided feedback on resumes for teachers and helped colleagues with their own profiles.
• I shared my work on other social networks.
• I optimized my profile to be found for various keywords. I then made a video on this topic (which is a bit dated now). I and shared this video with my network so everyone would learn and benefit. If you would like to use it, please note, it was made in 2013.
  
  
  
  

All of these actions took a great deal of time and did not happen overnight. I was quite active over the course of one year. All of these tasks are not necessary to find success on LinkedIn.

As much as I was giving, I was receiving. I met and worked with some of the most amazing people.

And a big thank you to all of the amazing people I've met who work at Linkedin, especially to Yumi Wilson and Connie Chan Wang, who helped me organize and publish my story. And thank you to Daniel Roth, for managing the place where I share so much of my work.

This is how I changed my life. Reach out and you will find people reach back. Give for the sake of helping others without expecting in return-for the sake of giving-and so much more will come back to you.

If fear stands in your way, let it go. Fear of the unknown and fruitless scenarios were my biggest obstacles.

The day I shared my little PowerPoint, I felt quite anxious, not knowing the response I would receive. However, I took that chance and hit the 'Enter' button (after a long time of thoughtful consideration), and I am so glad I did.

I would never have made the connections and relationships I have today if I still lived in the "what-if" world.

Do you have other strategies that helped you find success on LinkedIn? Do you have a special story? Please share.