The Wonderful World Of LinkedIn

When most people think of social media or social networking, I don't think that LinkedIn is one of those sites that immediately comes to mind although, for those of us that may be out here trying to find our next professional opportunity or have something to offer our peers in a particular industry LinkedIn is the right place to be. My experience with LinkedIn started about a year ago when I was transitioning out of the military. I decided that, now that I have some control over what career field I wanted to get in to, I was interested in project management. I had lots of experience as a project team member and manager as many of us do after we leave the military but I had no idea how to make it a civilian career...enter LinkedIn.
At the advice of everyone at the ACAP, I started a LinkedIn page and began networking with project managers to see what it was going to take to make that my new life...I met with a nice person who suggested that I look into professional certifications since I was lacking in the degree department and THAT led me to meeting the woman who would become my instructor in a PMP bootcamp which lead to the most stressful 2 months of my life applying, studying for, and passing the PMP exam.

One great thing that I am grateful for on LinkedIn is the professional groups. There is most certainly a group for just about every career field. While I was studying for my exam, I got a lot of help form others who were in the same boat in a PMP study group on LinkedIn. Not only were there lots of great questions that got asked but we also congratulated each other and supplied the group with a sort of lesson learned so that others would know what to expect. Of course, there were no questions from the actual test being put on there but the sample questions as well as being able to get clarification from people that had already taken the exam were HUGE for me.

Now, that I've got the certifications and have progressed nicely in my efforts to attain my degree, I am still networking to find my next opportunity and I always encourage others to do the same...you never know what you have to offer the people in your network!