News from different fields, expert articles, discussion groups and online courses are commonly available at LinkedIn. Now, after being taken over by Microsoft, LinkedIn is integrated into Microsoft products. For example, LinkedIn profiles are available in the MS Outlook e-mail client, and new intelligent CV templates, also based on LinkedIn profiles, are available in MS Word.
The latest LinkedIn product, called Career Advice, connects people interested having a mentor with a person who can help them develop their careers. This virtual mentoring service was made available to a small group of users in a test mode this summer. Now it is available to all users in the US, UK and India. It is provided free of charge.
It isn't available yet in the Czech Republic. LinkedIn states: "We're working on making LinkedIn Career Advice available to all members soon."
How it works
First users have to log in using the "Your dashboard" button on their profiles. They enter the "Career advice hub" section where they can register as a mentor or mentee. Then they specify more detailed information about themselves and their requirements. They will also be able to choose whether they are interested in mentoring in the field of entrepreneurship, job search or career development.
After they have filled in the necessary data, a LinkedIn matching algorithm immediately sends a message to users identified as best to help them. When a user selects a person from the list of recommendations, they can connect for mentoring purposes and stay in contact via LinkedIn or in any other way they choose.
According to techcrunch.com, the launch of this service is important for LinkedIn for several reasons.
1. Filling the gap in the online career development market
People don't spend their entire lives in one company or one industry anymore. The process of job seeking and further career development has shifted to the Internet, and there is also a shift in the interest of people who want to find advice from other people's real lives online. That is the place LinkedIn, with its currently more than 530 million users, wants to be.
2. Developing LinkedIn as a social network
From a business point of view, Career Advice represents a key step in the broader strategy of developing LinkedIn as a social network. Growth of the user base in developed markets has begun to slow down and LinkedIn has become a platform that people usually visit only when they are looking for a new job. The new service tries to make users come to LinkedIn more often and because it's interesting, not because they need to.
3. Increasing competition
LinkedIn faces a growing competition, especially from Google and Facebook. Google launched Google Hire and has recently begun to display job offers directly in search results, Facebook has launched its social network for companies called Workplace by Facebook, allows job posting for free and is currently working on a similar service to link users with career mentors.
Moreover, the number of active users of Google and Facebook products is significantly higher compared to LinkedIn. So the network continues to face a fierce competitive struggle if it wants to maintain its position.
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