Chit Chat: VFX and LinkedIn. Connect now!

Visual effects and freelancing go hand in hand. Artists, production coordinators and recruiters are among those in the industry battling each other to get the cool jobs. The jobs with the long contracts, a short commute, overseas opportunities, the dream project, the best studio or better pay.

So, how do you stand out from the hundreds of applicants and how do you effectively advertise for the positions you are recruiting for. The answer to both of those questions is, create a better online presence.

LinkedIn has got to be the best forum to display your professional status and build your online credibility. I can't express my love for LinkedIn enough.

The mission of LinkedIn is to connect the world's professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful. To achieve our Mission, we make services available through our website, mobile applications, and developer platform, to help you, your connections, and millions of other professionals meet, exchange ideas, learn, make deals, find opportunities or employees, work, and make decisions in a network of trusted relationships and groups.

(User Agreement, LinkedIn)

Greatest things about LinkedIn as a professional individual,

Display your entire work history. Attach links to their websites
Attach a link to your reel, blog, website
Connect with people you work with, have worked with or want to work with
Display a photo of yourself
Current city, status and industry
Contact info
Ability to be endorsed by people who know you and your skills
Ability to receive recommendations from colleagues and supervisors
Join groups that are relevant to your profession
Email your connections instantly through LinkedIn

Greatest things about LinkedIn for a company or recruiter,

Create a page that highlights who you are and what you do
Ability to post company updates that all of your followers see
Ability to display all of your past and present employees
Ability to post jobs and display the connection that posted the job
Ability to generate discussion via your updates
Ability to display your website and other social media platforms
Ability to browse LinkedIn to source potential candidates and get in touch with them instantly

Every single person who has a job should have a LinkedIn account, even if you scoop ice-cream at Baskin Robbins. Because so much of job searching and candidate sourcing is online and LinkedIn is all about professional networking and connecting talent with other professionals.

http://www.thesocialmediatoday.com/linkedin-stats-and-facts-2012-infographic/

Companies can use LinkedIn as I think its the best tool for finding talent either when you're looking to fill a position or just looking to connect and build your online relationships. The fact that you have the ability to view a users complete work history and current status without meeting them or talking to them is priceless not to mention a time saver.

As a company you can use it to post updates on professional or industry articles that you are reading and make great community connections that can improve your PR.

As a visual effects studio you can post updates on completed projects and links to websites. Show off the projects you've worked on. Connections (potential employees) see the updates and will connect with you.

As a recruiter I love that you can create a search for 'Animators' in 'London' and get a list of first, second and third connections. It makes candidate sourcing that much easier, faster and dare I say it, fun.

As a professional individual you must keep your LinkedIn up to date. I see lots of profiles that have out of date work status' or have incorrect current cities. You should join relevant groups, connect with people outside of your industry and endorse some of your colleagues. LinkedIn is fun and a great tool for networking. I encourage everyone to use it more.

As a job searcher in the visual effects industry it's a great way to show off your work and create an online presence that is attractive to recruiters and studios looking to hire. If you are connecting with the right people and building great industry relationships then you are available to these connections when they are looking for talent. And if you are an active user then you are standing out and it does get noticed.