Introduction
A friend of mine attends a top 20 law school.  At the beginning of his first year this past fall, his Career Services Office (CSO) told the entire 1L class that if they wanted to be employable, they should remove themselves from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  That way, potential employers will not come across any damning information about the student.

To me, and I’m guessing to anyone who reads this website, that advice sounds well-intentioned but bad.  We are well into the 21st century.  Law students and CSOs alike need to realize that the internet is a tremendous tool at every law student’s disposal.  It is true that like any tool, if the operator is not careful, there can be dangerous accidents.  However, law students should be utilizing the internet in their job search and networking efforts to show others that they are a more rounded individual, and a better applicant.  Law students should no longer cower in fear, worried that a potential employer will see the drunk shenanigans they got up to last weekend.  Instead, they should use the internet, and social networking in particular, as a tool to aid them in their efforts.

This pair of posts will look at the three largest social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn.  I will show you how to keep (or start!) using these services while protecting the information intended only for your friends from getting into the hands of a potential employer.

LinkedIn
The first social networking site we are going to look at is LinkedIn.  It is designed wholly for professional networking, as opposed to something more socially geared like Facebook (see part 2).  It allows the user to display their entire educational and professional history on a customizable page.  LinkedIn also allows users to search for old classmates and colleagues who are using the site.

Advantages of Using LinkedIn
The value of LinkedIn lies in its networking and recommendation features as well as search engine optimization (SEO).

Networking
The strongest element of LinkedIn is its networking feature.  Users can find people that they went to college or graduate school with, as well as people you have worked with.  That feature is pretty straightforward.  Where LinkedIn differentiates itself from the myriad social networks out there is its “Introduction” feature.  This feature allows you to find a person on LinkedIn that you would like to “meet.”  Of course, by meet I mean get connected to on LinkedIn.  Once you find someone to meet, you can figure out if there is anyone in your network that knows that person.  The Introduction feature lets you ask the person in your network to introduce you to the person you want to meet.  That way, instead of randomly trying to add someone you don’t know, you are getting introduced by a friend of your own.  We are all more likely to accept a connection when it comes from someone we know.

In the law school context, this is great for networking with attorneys.  If you find a law firm that you want to work at, and an attorney that practices what you want to practice, you can use LinkedIn to try and find a mutual connection between you and this attorney. That way, you won’t be cold calling or e-mailing that person.  Remember, every cover letter that starts “So and so told me to contact you” is much more likely to get read.

Recommendations
LinkedIn’s second unique feature is the ability to make recommendations.  It allows you to recommend people you are connected with.  This feature cannot be overlooked.  Recommendations can come from anyone connected to you.  Former colleagues, classmates and friends can all gush about how great you are.  Then, when someone views your LinkedIn page, they will see what these people think about you.  Why is this better than just submitting a list of references to an employer?  Most employers don’t call references.  But here, the work is already done for the potential employer.  They don’t have to call or e-mail anyone.  All they have to do is read what other people have already written.  This is a great tool that allows you to get favorable comments about yourself in front of potential employers with very little effort.

Search Engine Optimization
LinkedIn is HUGE for search engine optimization (SEO).  When you create a LinkedIn account, you can set it as public.  Since the only thing anyone will see is your professional and academic background, there is very little risk to making your profile public.  This way, when someone Googles you, your LinkedIn page comes up.  Since it is essentially an expanded resume, this is a great thing for potential employers to see when they google you.

Risks of Using LinkedIn
The risks of LinkedIn are mainly “guilt by association” and over-exposing yourself.

Guilt by Association
Like any time we associate with people, their reputation reflects on us.  Essentially, this just means you should not connect yourself to someone on LinkedIn that you would not want to be seen with grabbing lunch or a cup of coffee.  This issue probably does not apply to many law students, but be sure to analyze each potential connection for this problem.  What is that person’s reputation in the community at large or the legal community in particular?  Do you want that person’s reputation to reflect on you?

Over-Exposing Yourself
When it comes to job searching, it is often important to tailor your resume and cover letter for each job you are applying.  That sometimes means removing jobs or organizational associations that you might not want that employer to see.  However, if you list your entire career history and all of the organizations you are involved with on LinkedIn, that could become a problem.  If LinkedIn does what it should and increases your Google results so that your professional page is at the top of the results, then employers will see your information.  So be careful that you do not have jobs or associations on there that you are not comfortable with every potential employer seeing.

Also, if you are looking for your first connection on LinkedIn, be sure to add me. Just make sure to put a note in the invite about this article!

For more see Part Two: Twitter and Facebook.

Related posts:

1. What Career Service Office Advisors Should be Telling Students About Social Media [Part 2/2]
2. Preparing for OCI Part III: Land that Dream Job
3. New Social Networking Site for Law Students: Good Idea, Needs Participants
4. The Facebook Re-Tweet
5. Social Media Best Practices for Law Schools (Part 2)
6. Preparing for OCI Part I: A Sound Reputation
7. Would You Advertise Yourself on Facebook?
8. Calling Law Student Contributors for Social Media Law Student
9. Social Media and Your Summer Job
10. Social Media Best Practices for Law Schools (Part 1)