I use LinkedIn on a daily basis since the end of my PhD. I’ve always used the platform to grow and expand my network. I found my two industry jobs with LinkedIn and pretty much all of my clients for this new solo trader venture I just started. It’s a great professional network which became a lot more than just looking for jobs. People talk to each other, share opinions, engage in interesting conversations, use it for personal branding and many recruiters are active on LinkedIn.
A few weeks ago, a new message popped up in my notifications. It was from LinkedIn and asked to add my opinion to a collaborative article. LinkedIn kindly invited me to add my opinion and mentioned that only a select group of experts have been invited to contribute with their own ideas, examples and experiences to the articles. I was honoured. Unrelated to the article but I have been slowly coming to the realisation that my imposter syndrome is killing me. I have 0 faith in myself and my abilities, so when I read this message from LinkedIn I was like “me? an expert in what?”. Yes, I am! I have this piece called doctoral degree that makes me an expert in catalysis and I have been doing content creation consistently on social media for years. I have opinions and this is exactly what LinkedIn was looking for. People like myself.
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So should you take your time to write your opinions or give your personal perspective on one of those collaborative articles? I have asked myself the same question. I did my own research about the topic. “LinkedIn is slowly rolling out a brand new feature on the platform called Collaborative Articles and the idea is kind of like LinkedIn’s version of Wikipedia, where different experts can chime in and share contributions onto a single article.” Michaela Alexis says. So, it is true that LinkedIn won’t pay you for the content creation, but your name and LinkedIn profile will appear in the opinion paragraph you contributed to and this is publicity. In fact, LinkedIn wants members to gain more exposure for their expertise and experience in the app, which will also help them add more followers and connections.
Contributing to a collaborative article might be the equivalent of having a client testimonial!
Me
I think this is a pretty cool initiative. Many people who are trying to start new gigs suffer from lack of trust because they don’t have experience and clients’ testimonials to vouch for them. I mean how many times you turned up at job interviews and they say we don’t hire you because you don’t have experience? It’s so hard to convince someone that you’re the right person for the job, when you don’t have any recommendation or lack experience. I guess, you don’t need that anymore if you’re selected by LinkedIn to contribute to one of those articles as an expert in a field or master of a skill. In fact, the editorial team of LinkedIn, a wide range of experience people doing certain jobs for a living, selected you as someone who is knowledgeable. How cool is that?
One of my contributions to a collaborative articles.
Teresa Ambrosio Consulting 