LinkedIn can be described as an American employment-oriented online platform that functions through mobile apps and websites. The online service was launched in the year 2003, May 5 th . Primarily, LinkedIn is used for professional job searching, where job seekers and employers are provided with a platform to post their CVs and jobs, respectively. Over the years, the company collects the largest percentage of its revenue from the sale of access to member's information to sales professionals and recruiters. The company has undergone significant growth, shown by the high number of members. Currently, the company has over 760 million members from approximately 150 nations. LinkedIn allows members, employers, and workers to contact one another online, representing normal professional relationships in the real world ( Noghabi et al., 2017 ). Since the launch of the company, networking has improved, not only in America but also in the world. Therefore, the paper intends to explain the benefits of networking through LinkedIn and its possible impacts on a career in accounting as a nonprofit organization's chief financial officer.
Benefits of Networking through LinkedIn
A professionally designed LinkedIn profile enables an individual to form a professional brand that creates networks and opportunities, which cannot be achieved without online platforms. LinkedIn establishes the power to showcase one's expertise, profile, connections, and recommendations ( Stokes et al., 2019 ). Therefore, employers can have a full assessment of a worker before hiring, which makes it possible to select the most efficient members to join the labor force. Other benefits of using LinkedIn as a networking tool are discussed below.
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LinkedIn gives recruiters and hiring managers exposure to various qualities and personalities required in the vacant field. About 93% of Hiring Managers currently use the online service for research and recruitment of new members. Given that LinkedIn creates an online personal brand for its members, enough information is always provided on the web to learn about workers without even holding an interview. LinkedIn also makes it possible for individuals to demonstrate their leadership expertise, credibility, and knowledge in search of employment. The account makes it possible to quickly build trust with recruiters since they get exposed to all the required information.
As a research tool, people can study and analyze companies, hiring managers, interviewers, and recruiters through LinkedIn. Research makes it possible for individuals to learn more about recruiters and companies before submitting applications. A person finds it possible to learn more about an organization and its workforce, which helps decide whether to apply. On the same note, organizations can also learn about the applicants in terms of their former employment and behavior before accepting applications ( Slavić, Bjekić & Berber, 2017 ). Through LinkedIn, many people have acquired employment positions in their most preferred fields and the areas that perfectly suit their qualifications. Organizations have also managed to get in touch with individuals with the much-required qualifications to fill vacant positions.
Networking through LinkedIn also makes it possible to gain social proof of talents and skills. The website is designed to allow people to endorse and recommend a person for his past work and skills. Recommendations and endorsements are potent tools in making connections, which makes LinkedIn an efficient networking platform. LinkedIn website is also designed to create groups, where individuals with the same professional interests meet virtually to discuss and expand their knowledge in their specific fields. Through groups, people manage to grow both psychologically and professionally by learning socialization methods, different operations methods, and understanding different people's living styles ( Stokes et al., 2019 ). Therefore, besides being a professional platform, LinkedIn has also made it possible for people in different geographical locations but the same profession to share their experiences, challenges, and solutions to issues in their fields, making it possible to improve the quality of operation.
Impacts of LinkedIn in Accounting Career as a Chief Financial Officer
A nonprofit organization is a legal entity that operates for a social benefit, contrary to profit-making organizations that function as businesses to generate profits for owners. A Chief Financial officer is a senior executive in any organization responsible for managing a company's financial actions ( Noghabi et al., 2017 ). A CFO's duties include financial planning, tracking cash flow, analyzing financial weaknesses and strengths, and providing corrective actions to financial problems. Working under the Chief Financial Officers in any organization are accountants who manage different departments' financial actions.
Accountants work under the guidance of the Chief Financial Officers, which makes them answerable to the CFO. On this note, a CFO should always ensure that accountants in place are qualified and well equipped, both physically and mentally, to handle their departments' financial needs. Therefore, LinkedIn becomes an essential tool for identifying the most efficient workforce to fill the accountants' positions for accurate results. Through LinkedIn, hiring is usually minimized since the CFO gets access to candidates with different qualifications, making it possible to choose the most preferred candidate. In terms of my accounting career, the ability to form groups and share knowledge and information about accounting as a profession makes it possible to get equipped with sophisticated knowledge and operation skills. I will learn new ways of operation, relations with others, and interactions with employees, which will make it easier to fit in any environment as I develop my career. Lastly, the interaction through LinkedIn can help me gain exposure to more lucrative employment opportunities that can contribute to my professional growth.
References
Noghabi, S. A., Paramasivam, K., Pan, Y., Ramesh, N., Bringhurst, J., Gupta, I., & Campbell, R. H. (2017). Samza: stateful scalable stream processing at LinkedIn. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment , 10 (12), 1634-1645.
Slavić, A., Bjekić, R., & Berber, N. (2017). The role of the internet and social networks in the recruitment and selection process. Strategic management , 22 (3), 36-43.
Stokes, Y., Vandyk, A., Squires, J., Jacob, J. D., & Gifford, W. (2019). Using Facebook and LinkedIn to recruit nurses for an online survey. Western journal of nursing research , 41 (1), 96-110.
