Information is provided in this boxed insert on LinkedIn, the world’s largest business network that is designed to help professionals who are searching for a job to get in touch with one another. It is also used by businesses that are looking to hire individuals with specific skills.

1. Entrepreneurs are constantly seeking opportunities to get their organization and products noticed in the marketplace. List all of the ways that LinkedIn can be used to achieve that goal and explain how entrepreneurs can use other social media tools to support their LinkedIn profiles. (In answering this question consider the following scenarios: A) Financial Advisor; B) Music Producer).

Student answers will vary, so it is necessary to assess their answers on (a) how well they understand how the LinkedIn concept works, and (b) the variety of suggestions they make for facilitating the two occupations of financial advisor and music producer. These two occupations are quite different, so different suggestions will be likely. As noted in the boxed insert, LinkedIn Groups consists of specialty network groups of businesses and professionals focused on particular groups like Finance and Accounting Professionals, so that would obviously be useful for the financial advisor role. The LinkedIn jobs directory also allows users to search by industries or by job function, and that will be helpful as well. The number of suggestions that students make is limited only by their creativity.