Target Companies' New and Former Employees on LinkedIn

By Joshua Waldman from Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies

LinkedIn can be an extremely powerful tool for finding people with whom you can conduct informational interviews. New and former employees of your target company are particularly useful in providing information.

Don’t try reaching out to new people until you’ve completed your profile. If you contact people and your profile doesn’t look amazing, they may decide not to get back to you. Also you find access to more people if you can grow your network to about 150 contacts.

Generally, many professionals, particularly new hires, enjoy talking about their positions and their industry. Let’s face it: New hires have accomplished something extraordinary. They demonstrated the qualities necessary to beat many others to the position they now occupy. They’re probably quite proud of their accomplishments, and they can share valuable lessons with you about getting into the industry or company.

Former employees tend to have something to say as well, although what they have to offer may be less enthusiastic than what a new hire has to offer. Former employees are likely to tell you about the skeletons in the closet, the hard questions to ask during an interview, and any insight into the future of the company.

Here’s how to find new hires and former employees in LinkedIn:

Visit the company profile page for your target company.

To conduct a company search, click on Companies from the drop-down menu next to the search bar in the top-right corner, and then type in the name of your target company.
Click on the New Hires tab.

Does anyone on this list seem like they’re in a position to offer you advice? Perhaps they’re new to the department or business unit you’re going for. Or maybe they just look friendly.
Scroll to the bottom of the New Hires section and click on See All Activity.
Click on the Filter By drop-down menu and then click on New Hires for one search and Recent Departures for another search.

Up to 25 names can be listed at a time, and depending on the size of the company, the search can go back as far as three months or just one day.