The Nurse’s Guide to LinkedIn and Networking

Networking is vital for nurses, especially if you are considering a career move. The right nursing network can provide you with advice, connections, and introductions. Networking tools like LinkedIn help you build and maintain your network. Learn how networking can help your career and how you can avoid potential pitfalls.

No matter how much nursing experience you hold and how close you are to colleagues in your current job, a diverse nursing network gives you access to nursing and professional advice from multiple perspectives.

Valerie J. Fuchcar, BSN, RN comments, “If you find yourself making a career change unexpectedly, a well-developed and nurtured professional network helps to keep you sharp and provides support when seeking a new professional opportunity.”

Just like with any other career or professional development activity, what you get out of your nursing network depends on what you put into it. Remember to be as thorough and professional online as you are in your job. Show how your nursing experience makes you the nurse others wish to connect with, listen to, or hire.

Building your nursing network takes time. You’ll need to keep looking for new connections to add to your network and new ways to make your networking profile stand out.

“Take time to comment on your connections’ milestones, such as birthdays, work anniversaries, and promotions. These are great touchpoints and a nice time to check in, learn what’s new with your connection and their organization, and perhaps offer or ask for assistance,” Fuchcar notes. This ensures you stay on top of changes in your nursing network and field.

If you have non-nursing colleagues in your network, you can also get a sense of what’s happening in their field that might affect yours. Your nursing experience could also give you insight into their challenges.

When you offer advice, be sure your tone is helpful rather than patronizing. Remember, both strangers and your nursing network can read what you write.

You can learn as much or more from personal conversations as from lectures. Take advantage of the diversity in your nursing network to obtain different perspectives and ideas and foster discussions. For example, contribute articles that encourage discussion, such as those exploring ethics, different approaches to various aspects of nursing, or ideas from outside nursing.

Share your nursing experience where relevant and helpful, and ask others to share their experience. Remember that seeking advice shows you’re working to develop and solve problems and that taking advantage of a variety of opinions and ideas is a sign of wisdom, not weakness.

Start with people you already know, such as classmates, professors, professionals you meet at conferences, or even neighbors and friends. Make developing your nursing network a priority when you start at a new organization.

Fuchcar advises, “Beginning on day one with a new organization, network with all the people in your onboarding group, and stay in touch. Introduce yourself to each presenter, and send them a LinkedIn invitation to connect, or follow them on Twitter that evening.” Once you have a network of people you know, it’s easier to connect with people you’d like to know.

Telling stories is integral to human nature. Use stories to share your personal or nursing experience in overcoming a struggle or solving a particular problem. This method of storytelling engages your audience more than if you simply state what you learned from an experience.

However, be sure when you tell a story that you share the credit for success with those who deserve it. If your colleagues see you left them out of a story or took credit for their accomplishments, you could lose some of their trust and respect.

Similarly, make sure your story contributes something and isn’t presented arbitrarily.

Joining a local or specialty nursing association is great for building your nursing network and professional knowledge and career prospects. If you don’t know what associations would be valuable to you, ask a colleague in your region or specialty which groups they recommend. Look at the LinkedIn profiles of your professional role models, since profiles often list their professional memberships.

Attend professional meetings, either in-person or online, when you can. If you’re new and attending by yourself, you can start conversations by stating that you’re new. Ask others what they like most about the association or what they hope to get out of the meeting or conference.

Networking takes effort. Cultivate your network by an initial investment, followed by ongoing maintenance. You can use the information in this guide to start your network or to revive it if you haven’t taken full advantage of the opportunity.

Fuchcar emphasizes, “Networking should begin in school and continue throughout your life. You are constantly meeting people. Make it a point to take an interest in them and keep in touch.” Your nursing network may likely offer the solution to your career or professional challenges.

LinkedIn is an excellent way to keep in touch with colleagues, learn from their nursing experience, share your own experiences, watch for emerging trends, and position yourself for your next career move. The more diverse your network, the better, the more perspectives and disciplines you can learn from inside and outside nursing.

Your LinkedIn summary should reflect what makes you tick, your current employment position, and what you want to accomplish. Show pride in your work, but avoid boasting or making false claims. If you’re job hunting, be sure to show what you would contribute to an organization.

LinkedIn offers a special tool for adding professional credentials. Go to your profile and select Edit Profile. Choose Add Sections, then Certifications. Enter the information, including the licensing authority (your state board of nursing) and license number. Be sure to click Add Certification when you’re done.

Check out job descriptions for relevant positions at the organizations where you want to work. Add what applies to your nursing experience and credentials. Provide examples of impact on your patients or organization. For example, instead of saying you’re “organized,” describe how you used your organizational skills to optimize something in your workplace, including the time or money you saved.

Featured Image: Ekaterina Goncharova / Moment / Getty Images