I was asked to review Jason Alba’s new book, I’m on LinkedIn, Now what? and at first I hesitated because of my busy schedule. Then I accepted, started reading, got distracted, and disappeared for a week. I finally finished the book this morning, and I’m very impressed overall.

Disclaimer: I know Jason Alba personally. He is the founder of very fun to say, JibberJobber.com Career Toolset and writes an excellent career management blog.

When I signed up with LinkedIn, many months ago, I didn’t get it. I had a few friends recommend it, and I was fresh out of college, so I got listed. But then nothing happened – no emails, no connections, and no phone calls. I was a little discouraged and looked elsewhere for work and quickly got busy there, started a business, and networked like crazy (something new for me).

The key points about this book that were critical for me were in Chapter 2 when Jason speaks about how LinkedIn is not a “Be All End All” job hunting ground but rather a place to make connections. From there you have to manage your relationships as you would any other relationship. This can be done with off-the-shelf software. I really expected more from LinkedIn initially, and still do today, but I also understand that it isn’t meant to be everything.

Throughout the book, Jason does a great job of teaching the steps, pointing out the details of some of LinkedIn’s lingo such as InMail, degrees, etc. Not that this is extremely difficult to figure out given enough time but for those who are new, it’s a great starting point. He also includes a ton of great tips on how to maximize your experience on LinkedIn without upsetting your network.

Lastly, I appreciated the comments by LinkedIn users at the closing of each chapter. It’s an interesting perspective to listen to other customers/users because everyone has different needs and several new ideas were presented to me about LinkedIn that I’ve never spent enough time thinking about.

I’ve known Jason for about 6-8 months now, and we’ve had regular meetings at our monthly Utah Blogger Dinners and other lunches. He’s a stand-up guy who really gets the networking side of business relationships and has taught me a lot by just watching how he handles certain situations.

Get a copy of his book, read it right away, and get yourself networking with others. You won’t regret the time spent once you see the benefits financially.

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