LinkedIn is currently the world’s largest professional networking site online, but does that make it exclusive or the best for your personal networking? Most jobs are secured through personal relations, making alumni associations, business organizations, and industry insiders the ideal starting point. Nonetheless, social networking is also a great way to widen your network professionally from the comfort of your home or office.
There is little doubt that LinkedIn is a great place for professional networking and finding new opportunities, but, the fact is, there are other professional networking services that can help you further broaden your network and open doors to greater opportunities. Let’s explore a few here:
- Bistwork – Online, now, for nearly a year, Bistwork officially launched in March of 2017 to rave reviews. This new Business network is oriented in the professional sector and offers customizable profiles and an assist in the creation of an advanced job summary. In addition, Bistwork offers private messaging and chat, as well as a number of lists including connections, followers, and suggested new contacts. Plus, Bistwork features an Advanced Wall allowing for updates, pictures, videos, and content, as well as news and business pages with solutions for the everyone in the business sector from recruiters to CEOs to individuals.
- LunchMeet – An iOS app which uses LinkedIn’s API and allows users to schedule lunch meetings with contacts as a means of online relationship building. In addition, you can search local professionals, introduce yourself, and schedule a live lunch meeting, as all users list their available lunch timeslots making the connections easy. The app even offers up restaurant suggestions to help get the meeting started right. Professionals can easily get connected, discuss industry trends, find a new mentor, or make a new professional connection opening the door to future opportunities.
- Beyond – Beyond.com, labels itself “The CAREERNETWORK™ Your Life, Your Career, Your Network.” Promising to help professionals around the globe to advance their careers with challenging new positions, Beyond is also labeled as “the destination” for businesses and organizations seeking the best talent worldwide. Founded in 1998, Beyond features job listings, along with content sourced from the best sites, and a multitude of talent communities offering social media features, career news, resources, and mentor advice.
- Xing – Xing, launched in 2003, is said to be the largest European networking site catering to candidates and corporations worldwide. At Xing, you will find professional advice, new opportunities, partners for business ventures, or the ability to list your openings and find the best talent available. With over 14 million members, Xing offers a free basic membership, but the benefits rise with premium membership and include qualification searches of available candidates, book summaries, discussion forums, events, and even travel discounts.
- Jobcase – Jobcase began powering job sites successfully in 2009, and entered professional networking in 2015. Jobcase specializes in allowing members access to groups in their respective industries and access to question and answers from industry leaders. In addition, at Jobcase, you can build your own comprehensive profile, including education and experience, with the addition of salary and location requirements, personal traits, and so on. The bonus, because Jobcase powers more than 100 job-listing sites, users have access to a massive number of employers all in one site.
Now you can see that although LinkedIn is currently the largest business networking site globally, there are many other great options to help you make connections and open the doors of opportunity.
