10 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn Company Pages
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Company pages on LinkedIn are a great resource of business intelligence for savvy users in search of new career opportunities. Whether you’re in active or passive search or seeking to optimize your career growth long-term, check out these 10 ways to take full advantage of the 3M company pages available on LinkedIn.

About Us
  • This quick overview section may contain valuable cultural information about the company such as the firm’s mission or values.
  • Also keep an eye out for the company’s social media profiles so you can follow them, “like” them, and engage in dialogue on blogs or in Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
  • Watch for phrases and terms you can embed in your communications with the company – voice mails, emails, LinkedIn messages, resumes, cover letters, bios, your LinkedIn profile, and so forth.
Showcase Pages
  • The larger the company, the more likely they are to have multiple divisions or products, each of which may have their own company page on LinkedIn. Pursue each one sequentially as you may have different connections at each one.
Affiliated Companies
  • These are separate companies owned by the parent, each of which will almost certainly have its own company page on LinkedIn. Again, it’s wise to pursue each of these firms as your connections to them will vary.
Featured Groups
  • These are LI groups launched by the company and as such are initiatives they value. Join, contribute, and get discovered!
People Also Viewed
  • If you wish to target a specific company, chances are you may also have interest in related companies or competitors. In this section LinkedIn shows you links to the pages of similar firms you may want to check out.
Company Status Updates
  • Make sure you read the status updates of your target companies and comment, “like,” or retweet as appropriate. Remember your goal is to be seen to be interested in the company.
  • Watch for news of new hires – these are folks you can reach out and congratulate. They may also be possible networking targets for you.
  • Also watch for evidence of new products, services, or corporate growth initiatives that may create new opportunities for someone like you. Each one of these can alert you to ways your candidacy may potentially benefit the organization.
Company Staff
  • While LinkedIn company pages no longer show you a list of corporate staff, you can search for folks at specific firms via the advanced search feature. This helps you identify specific individuals you can target in specific departments or functions.
  • You can also use the advanced search feature to find people who used to work at a specific company. Even though they are no longer there, they will still know people and will know insider details like the corporate culture or key job titles.
Career
  • Most, though not all company pages contain a list of open jobs or information about career possibilities with their organization. Though pursuing this avenue will ensure your resume has to pass through the company’s Applicant Tracking System, in some cases it will be a viable thing for you to do.
Products & Services
  • Make sure you check out the company’s products and services. Not only will these pages give you more information to read prior to networking meetings and interviews, they’ll also give you details you can reference in your emails, voice mails, LinkedIn messages, and cover letters.
  • Additionally, you can pull key words from these pages to boost the count in your LinkedIn profile and resume.
Who Do You Know
  • Arguably the most helpful feature of any company page is LinkedIn’s automated “Who Do You Know” feature which tells you how you are connected to the company. While the graphic you’ll see on the company page will highlight the overall numbers of your connections with the firm, just click on the See All link to see the entire list.
  • The See All page not only lists all of your first-, second-, and third-level connections, it also allows you to search based on that degree of connection, as well as:
    • Location
    • Current company
    • Industry
    • Past company
    • School
    • Each one of these parameters can in turn be used to help you source more companies or connections.
    • Note that additional search parameters are available to premium subscribers, the most helpful of which are their LinkedIn group memberships. However, a partial work-around is available for free LI members – just visit a person’s profile to see a partial list of their group memberships.
    • Remember, once you can directly message first, second, and group connections, so the latter function is a key “secret weapon” that can dramatically expand your reach on LinkedIn.