A high proportion of UK IT professionals are tapping into the
benefits of having a business profile online, research has
revealed.
IT is second only to the advertising, media and publishing
sector in reporting the benefits of an online profile of their
professional lives, according to a survey of more than 2,000 UK
adults.
Some 46% of IT professionals said a personal online profile or
brand is important to advancing their careers and 50% said it was
useful when looking for a new job.
These IT professionals are among the 29% of UK professionals who
are developing and maintaining career profiles online.
The research shows UK professionals understand the importance of
a good brand profile in the business world, said professional
networking site LinkedIn,
which commissioned the survey.
Of those professionals who have an online professional profile,
17% said they had secured new sales leads and nearly 25% said they
had made new business contacts as a direct result.
LinkedIn, which has 2.5 million members in the UK, said 19% of
members had been headhunted through the site and 12% have landed a
new role.
According to LinkedIn, membership is growing rapidly, with one
new user being added to the network every two seconds.
The research shows that an increasing number of UK professionals
are embracing online branding as an essential part of their
professional lives, said Christina Hoole, European marketing
director at LinkedIn.
Some may be motivated by horror stories of inappropriate photos
on social networking sites being leaked to the workplace, while
other realise that they will miss out in online searches for new
job roles or business leads.
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