In today’s Silicon Valley, engineering talent is as sought after by companies as gold was by the first prospectors in the Wild West. Talent is a company’s most important asset, so we decided to use LinkedIn’s data insights to discover which startups are grabbing the attention of San Francisco Bay Area engineers.

In the Bay Area alone, there are more than 240,000 professionals on LinkedIn in engineering and related roles. They use LinkedIn to establish their professional profiles, build their networks and get the insights they need to be great at their jobs. They also use LinkedIn to learn more about companies of interest and their employees. This includes visiting profiles of employees looking for common connections, checking out LinkedIn Company Pages, and following companies using the LinkedIn Company Follow button to keep up to speed with relevant news and career opportunities.

By focusing on companies with fewer than 500 employees on LinkedIn, and activity among Bay Area engineers between January and March, we can surface insights into which startups are attracting the interest of this scarce talent resource.

Three major takeaways stand out for which startups Bay Area engineers find most appealing:

1) “Big data” is big. LinkedIn knows how valuable big data is and our own big data powers this blog post. And it seems Bay Area engineers are looking to embrace similar opportunities, propelling big data companies to four of the top ten spots (Cloudera, Palantir, Hortonworks, & Splunk).

2) Networking matters. Our top 2 tech startups, Arista Networks (hardware) and Nicira (virtualization software), are taking different approaches to transforming networking, but are both red hot with Bay Area engineers.

3) Consumer brand carries over to talent brand. Box, Square, and Pinterest are well-known brands beyond the engineering community, blending strong consumer awareness with a growing employer brand.

Ever changing. Silicon Valley moves at record pace, and since March already both Yammer and Instagram (being acquired by Facebook) have made impressive strides with engineers, so we’ll be keeping an eye on which new companies vie for a place on the leaderboard.

Stay tuned as we continue to mine our data and dig up more nuggets to help better understand how companies beyond Silicon Valley can attract different pools of talent. If you’re interested in tackling some really big data, and think you can build brilliant products to connect
talent with opportunity on a massive scale, we’re hiring.

Read more: 
The Top 10 tech startups best positioned to strike engineering gold

You may have seen that we recently made some changes to LinkedIn Today, our social news product. We’ve not only made the product easier to navigate, we’ve completely re-imagined the look and feel, so you can get quicker access and customized ways to consume the news that matters most to you.

One of the key design principles that drove the approach for the visual change was to simplify the experience; creating an elegant, delightful and customized experience for news consumption.

Simple and Engaging Interface

One of the core focus areas for LinkedIn Today has been to design a user interface that is engaging and simple to use. The default magazine theme layout creates a nice page hierarchy that allows users to quickly scan and identify the most interesting and relevant news and content.

It also gives users an overview of who’s sharing articles in your network – a great way to find like-minded people. Users can use the “Share” and “Save” buttons to share in their network in a timely fashion and save articles for reading later.

Easier Customization Experience 

You’ll also notice that we’ve made changes across the product experience to offer further customization of news so that members can receive the most timely and relevant news impacting their peers and industry. You’ll see this when you click on the “Customize your news” tab on the right hand module, as well as when you click on the gear setting icon on the upper right corner of the page. Those links will lead you to the news setting page where you can easily follow more industries & sources, as well as change the news email settings.

We know that having access to realtime information and insights can be just the competitive edge you need to deliver a productive meeting as well as help you be empowered for your workday. And we’re thrilled that we’re able to keep coming to you with new ways to make it even easier to be more productive and successful.

As you can imagine, we are continually enhancing the news experience on LinkedIn. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing what you think about the new streamlined experience.

More: 
Inside look: LinkedIn Today Redesign

This is an op-ed from Tom McNichol, independent journalist, regular contributor at the Atlantic and author of a recent article on LinkedIn’s growth since our IPO, which can be found here. – Ed.  

Like most LinkedIn users, my only interaction with the site has been through a computer screen. But recently, I had the opportunity to visit LinkedIn’s headquarters in Silicon Valley and take a peek behind the screen, as it were, in order to write a profile of the company for a financial magazine.

Going into it, I imagined LinkedIn would be one of those scrappy tech startups you hear about all the time. And while there’s plenty of playful energy at LinkedIn, I was struck by how grown-up the operation is. LinkedIn is housed in a campus located just down the road from Google, the sort of serious-minded operation you’d expect from a publicly-traded company that happens to be the world’s largest professional online network with more than 160 million members.

There’s a real sense of excitement at LinkedIn that’s palpable as you walk the halls and talk to people. LinkedIn is growing at a rate of about two new members every second, and keeping up with that kind of hyper-growth serves as its own kind of energy drink. At LinkedIn’s offices, there’s a hum of energy that comes from workers who feel as though they’re on a mission. And maybe they’re right – after all, LinkedIn isn’t another tech company hawking the latest shiny gadget that you’ll need to upgrade in a year.

It’s helping members achieve things that are deeply important to them – discovering insights to be better at what they do, finding a new job, attracting more clients or building a stronger professional network. As a LinkedIn user, I’ve found LinkedIn Groups to be an especially good way to expand professional contacts beyond the usual suspects and to generate new ideas.

I was also interested in what Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s CEO, told me about the company’s mantra, which he’s been able to reduce to two words: NEXT PLAY. It’s a concept inspired by Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who shouts that phrase every time the ball changes hands. The idea is to make sure people don’t spend too much time celebrating a successful outcome or lamenting a poor one. Instead, they turn their attention to the next play, the challenge ahead. “Next play” has become a rallying cry for LinkedIn, a reminder that for all of the company’s success, there’s still more work to be done. And more professionals to connect.

Check out Tom’s article in the NYSE Magazine here

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What I learned at LinkedIn

I have been working with LinkedIn since early 2012, exploring the importance of continuous career management. Along this journey we have found that spending just 9 minutes a day on your career management could help you get promoted, find that ideal job or help you become better at what you’re already doing.

I’ve analyzed what realistically can be fitted into a daily schedule without adding stress or pressure. It is commonly known by educators and psychologists that the ability to focus one’s attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one’s goals and so I believe that 9 minutes is the maximum time that can be spent concentrating on one subject before minds begin to wander.

The importance of continuous career management

We all know the pace of change in employment is accelerating and for this reason, continuous career management is more essential than ever. Rapid changes in the working world have seen steadily decreased opportunities for job tenure, increased fluidity in the job market and have drastically altered the types of jobs that are available.

Graduating from University with a degree is no longer guaranteed to land you a great job or successful career and so regardless of your level or situation; you need to ensure you’re consistently managing your career to put yourself ahead of the game.

9 minutes a day

9 minutes a day is a short window of time which can easily be slotted into your busy day – by making your 9 minutes a continuous habit and part of your daily routine, there will be no added stress or pressure to your existing schedule or ‘To Do’ list.

9 minutes gives you complete focus – a time away to focus on you – to reflect on your current career status and more importantly, your career aspirations.

How to spend the 9 minute windows Here are some suggested activities you can easily slot into your 9 minute window and LinkedIn clearly provides a perfect platform to facilitate a wide number of these:

1. Build your network: building and maintaining relationships is a major component of a successful career. 
2. Maintain relationships by recommending and congratulating others in their careers – everyone enjoys being recognized
3. Request recommendations from your networks as credibility is critical
4. Document achievements and wins on LinkedIn to stay current and relevant
5. Update your status every day and make sure your profile and photo s are current
6. Expand on your thought leadership; lead a forum or LinkedIn group; publish an article; start a blog; speak publicly, recommend a book on the Amazon Linkedin app.
7. Use the power of video and create a video bio of yourself for your Linkedin profile.
8. Source staff – one of a manager’s hardest jobs.  If you build your brand community, you’ll create fans who want to work for you.
9. Research.  Make an effort to get to know more about your clients or partners and competitors – LinkedIn is a great place to start

Sticking to 9 minutes in a world of distraction

These days, everyone is busy and time poor and so it’s easy to get distracted and lose focus on your 9 minute ritual.  To avoid this set a specific time of day for your 9 minutes of continuous career management. This could be during your lunch break, whilst commuting using the Linkedin App on your mobile device or whilst enjoying your morning coffee. Try to prioritise your actions for the 9 minutes so you are truly focused – build a calendar each month with your 9 minute actions to help keep you on track.

Now you try it

You’ve all got the tips so go ahead and start your 9 minute a day career management. We would love to hear how you get on – please do share your thoughts/experiences on our Poll. And if you have any additional tips, of course please do tell us at our 9aDay LinkedIn Group.

Go here to read the rest:
9 minutes a day: Continuous career management

Today, we’re excited to unveil LinkedIn’s newest mobile application for the Windows Phone! We know professionals rely on their mobile devices everyday to conduct business and to stay prepared for their work day.

LinkedIn for Windows Phone makes it easy to get on-the-go access to your professional network and all the rich LinkedIn insights to help you be great at what you do. You can find and connect with millions of professionals worldwide, quickly access a real-time update stream with news and information from your professional connections, read timely news impacting your industry, keep up-to-date with your professional groups, search for jobs, and follow your favorite companies’ news.

We’ve been working hard to make this new LinkedIn app best-in-class in the Windows Phone marketplace. We took advantage of the unique and beautiful Windows Phone metro style design while ensuring users would have easy and quick access to all the relevant professional information they’ve come to rely on from LinkedIn. You’ll find that in some cases (hint: companies and jobs), the Windows Phone app offers even more functionality than its iOS and Android siblings.

At LinkedIn, we believe in helping professionals everywhere to be great at what they do. With the release of Windows Phone, we are now making it possible for even more professionals to gather the important insights they need to make smarter business decisions right from their Windows Phone device.

Get LinkedIn for Windows Phone Now

We are very excited to welcome our Windows Phone users. To stay in touch with the team, learn about updates, and let us know what features and ideas you have, please join our LinkedIn mobile group:

Join the LinkedIn for Windows Phone Group Now

More here:
Introducing LinkedIn for Windows Phone

A few months ago, our CEO Jeff Weiner wrote an op-ed in Fortune Magazine describing the “other” unemployment crisis;  that despite historically high unemployment rates we still have more than three million unfilled job opportunities in our country, and what we could do to solve it.

Last week, he had a chance to revisit this theme in his speech to roughly 1,000 local CEOs and business leaders at the Bay Area Council’s 2012 Outlook Conference, where the theme was “The Next Human Leap”.

Jeff’s speech touched upon the ever widening gap between the highest number of job openings in nearly four years and the roughly 22 million unemployed and underemployed individuals in the US. i.e. the gap between the job opportunities currently available in the U.S. and the skills required to fill those jobs.

Simply put, he argues the pace of innovation has accelerated to the point where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to properly educate our existing workforce to capture newly created opportunities and he recommends a three part solution:

1. Improve our education system — both longer term, generational improvements in primary school education as well as immediate term improvements in vocational training

2. Free up the supply of H1B visas to make it easier for those born outside of the U.S. with unique skills and qualifications to work inside the U.S.

3. Invest in our digital infrastructure and new digital technologies

Solving for the widening gap between talent and opportunity is of great importance to us at LinkedIn, as our vision is to create economic opportunity for every professional. We can’t think of anything more valuable to the lives of our members, their families, and the people they in turn can create economic opportunity for.

We look forward to continuing the dialog with the community and LinkedIn members the world over to help develop lasting solutions in this regard.

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The Next Human Leap: Closing the Gap Between Talent and Opportunity

Conventional wisdom says that an average worker has between 7 and 10 careers in a lifetime.  For the Millennial generation, that number is even higher.  Today’s workforce is mobile, global, and tech savvy.   With opportunities literally at our fingertips, it’s easier (and more acceptable) than ever to try one’s hand in a new field.  If you’ve been thinking about a career change, here are 8 tips to get started:

First, ask yourself three key questions:

1.    Why are you making a switch?  Are you bored or not challenged?  Itching to be part of the start-up, high tech revolution?  Do you need to move to a more lucrative field?  Whether you’re looking for more job satisfaction, a bigger paycheck, a more collaborative work environment, or a chance to put your natural talents and skills to use, you’ve got to know what’s driving you and then tailor your job search to meet your needs.    When Suzanne, a close friend, reached her limit as a corporate accountant, she was determined to put her interpersonal skills to use.  As she began to look for new jobs, she focused on organizations and roles that would emphasize and value her communication and leadership skills above all else, and thankfully ended up at a non-profit that did just that.

2.    What do you need to do to break into your new field? Do you need to go back to school to get there? Does it require an advanced degree (Ph.D., MBA, MFA, etc.)?  Are internships or apprenticeships a pre-requisite? If you’re headed to media or entertainment, you likely need to start in the mailroom or as a production assistant.  If journalism is your thing, blogging and/or freelancing are great ways to start.   Finance will likely require an advanced degree while high fashion is all about scoring the right internship.  A great way to learn about what the pathway to success looks like in your desired field is to network within LinkedIn Groups and search for 2nd and 3rd degree connections to ask for informational interviews.

3.    What are your transferrable skills and how will they help you? Chances are you’ve acquired some marketable, transferrable skills along the way.  What do you do well? Coding, graphic design, project management, creative writing?  We’ve all got natural talents and abilities—think about how to put yours to use in your desired field.  What skills will help you mange relationships with teammates, clients, customers or your boss and help you become a great sales rep, councilwoman or entrepreneur? What skills are most valued and how do your natural talents jive with what’s needed to excel in your new field?   Look at the profiles of people who have the positions you want and check out their skills—do yours match up?

Next, get organized

4.    Educate Yourself!  Follow industry trends on LinkedIn Today and sign up for Smart Brief newsletters to get smart about what you need to know in real estate, aerospace or advertising.  If you have specific companies you’re interested in, follow them on LinkedIn and set up Google alerts for up-to-date news on key transactions or key players in the business.  Join or follow your industry’s key professional associations (and if you don’t know which ones to join, check out Groups You May Like).  You’ll need to be able to speak with confidence and insight about your new industry so that people take you seriously and want to help you pave your way into their field.

5.    Create a set of short-term and long-term goals.  A career transition can take anywhere from months to years.  Create a plan with near and long-term goals and strategies to map out your course of action.  I recently spoke with Jessi Walter, a former investment banker who dreamed of opening up her own cooking school for kids.  She longed to start her own business and become an entrepreneur, but the thought of leaving the corporate world (and a steady paycheck) behind was terrifying.   Jessi decided to take baby steps.  She enrolled in an incubator class for women entrepreneurs to bounce around ideas and then reached out to former classmates and friends for brainstorming and fundraising advice.  She scoured her network to find legal advice for small business owners and secure her first location.   She gave herself a timeline of 18 months to get her ducks in a row before leaving her corporate gig.  Today, she is up and running with a staff of thirteen at Taste Buds Kitchen, a state-of-the art test kitchen for kids.

6.    Market Yourself.  Update your LinkedIn profile to indicate your interest in your desired field. Make sure your Opportunity Preferences are set to welcome career opportunities.    Tell everyone you know—family, friends and acquaintances—that you’re transitioning into a new field so they can help your cause.  And make sure you’ve got your personal pitch ready in your back pocket so that you can easily explain your professional journey to others – where you’re heading and why, where you’ve been, and how the two are connected (i.e. why this career move makes perfect sense).

Work your network

7.    Who do you know?  Explore and expand your network.  Reconnect with classmates using LinkedIn Alumni.  Ask friends, classmates, or former colleagues about job openings in your desired field.  Do an Advanced People Search filtered by industry.  Can your connections share expertise, introduce you to others or sit down with you for informational interviews?  Ask key questions about how people broke into the field—what helped them become successful and what skills do they think are most valuable to new professionals in their industry today.

Reach Out.  Finally, stay on top of industry trends, news and events so that you’ve got a great reason to reach out to potential employers, friends or colleagues in your new industry.   Congratulate others on job moves or promotions, offer to help someone breaking into the field you’re leaving, and do your best to reciprocate for help you receive in your own career switch. Reaching out is a two-way street—the more you do for others, the more you’ll receive in terms of help moving forward on your own career path.

Go here to see the original:
How to Make A Career Switch

This is a guest post on best practices around social networking from Nicole Williams. For similar posts check out our series on networking tips and tricks here. – Ed.

I’m guilty of this myself. When the summer months approach and I have more work than I can handle, I consider hiring an intern. I know there are students out there looking for an opportunity to build their skills, but instead of just putting out the call, I end up oscillating somewhere between: I could use the support, but sometimes it feels like it’s more work to train them than to do it myself – and on top of it all, I’m not sure I’m going to have a full-time job for them at the end of the internship.

In reality, taking on interns does require investing your time and energy, but it will pay off in the end.  Here are some easy steps to help you take advantage of them so that they can take advantage of you by getting the skills they need to land a job… even if it’s not with you in the end!

Get to Know Me: This may very well be your intern’s first “real” job experience (not including bussing tables and working the school newspaper.) They’ll most likely feel shy, a bit out of place, and somewhat intimidated. They don’t want to make a mistake, and they don’t want to talk out of turn. So, how do you break the ice? Take the time to actually get to know your intern. Kick-start the process by checking out their interests on LinkedIn. Learn about where they went to school, their hobbies and past experiences. Creating a rapport with them will open up the lines of communication and make them feel more at ease, which in turn will make them more skillful workers. If they don’t have a thorough profile, give them pointers on why it’s so important and how to use this internship to continue to build it out so at the end of the term they are walking away with a solid, employee-enticing profile. Use yours as an example by highlighting your word choice, skills, and specialties. Then, make sure they were paying attention by giving them some LinkedIn-related homework: personally connecting with 50 contacts and completely updating their profile.

Lay it on the Line: If your intern is a college graduate looking for a full time gig at your office and you don’t have one, then have the talk – no matter how much you might want to avoid it. Let them know there aren’t any full time jobs available for them at the moment but ensure they know this news is not permission to slack. If you don’t have a job for them don’t feel guilty about it but make sure they are walking away tangible skills and real-world work experience that will land them a full-time gig. I’d also encourage them to use this time to prove that there is a job here and they are the one to fill it. If you give your intern (legitimate) hope of earning a full time position, then they’ll work harder. Here’s another task to give to your intern that’ll help you know if they have what it takes and support their full-time working venture: instruct them to follow competitive companies on LinkedIn. This is essential research for you and it will also help them keep an eye out for a full time opportunity.

Get to Work: Now that you’ve had the ‘get to know you’ and ‘expectation’ conversations with your intern, it’s time to get down to business. Think about all the tasks that you could put on their desk that’s been cluttering yours. Be very specific about what you’d like them to do.  Once they’ve mastered those tasks, research what types of skills and specialties they list on their profile that could come in handy at your firm. Are they proficient at HTML? Can they work Photoshop? Manage your social media groups? Put those skills to use and let them spearhead a project. But make sure you let them know when they’re doing a great job. Getting positive feedback will give them the confidence to work hard at any task – and win even more of your approval. But remember, since it’s your intern’s first introduction to an office atmosphere, they may be extra inquisitive, which could halt your own work flow. Combat this issue before it starts by introducing your intern to LinkedIn Groups and Question & Answers. By doing so, you’re letting them know that it’s OK to ask for help from other industry professionals – something that’s especially useful when you can’t devote all the time that’s necessary for answering their questions.

When to Say Goodbye:  The worst thing an employer can do is keep an internship going with no end (ie: pay) in sight. If they really have done a stellar job for you, have learned everything they can in the context of this opportunity but you just don’t have the resources to hire them, then flat out let them know. Encourage them to seek a new gig that pays. Write them a stand out recommendation, highlighting all the great projects they’ve worked on and how much they’ve helped the company’s bottom line. Reach out to your network to see which of your contacts might be a good fit for them.  Sit down with them and give them a tutorial on how to effectively network and search for jobs on LinkedIn – a tool that they’ll need to master no matter what job they end up taking.

View original post here: 
How to be a Good Boss to Your Intern

We’d like to share with you the announcement related to our 2012 first quarter earnings. We’ll also be live sharing the earnings call from @linkedin, starting 2PM Pacific Time later today. – Ed.

Today, we report our financial results for a strong 2012 first quarter, an increase of 101% compared to the first quarter of 2011, and the 7th straight quarter of greater than 100% year-over-year growth.

Here are the key highlights:

• Revenue for the first quarter was $188.5 million, an increase of 101% compared to $93.9 million in the first quarter of 2011.

• Net income for the first quarter was $5.0 million, compared to net income of $2.1 million for the first quarter 2011.  Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter was $16.9 million, compared to $5.8 million for the first quarter of 2011.  Non-GAAP measures exclude tax-affected stock-based compensation expense and tax-affected amortization of acquired intangible assets.

• Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $38.1 million, or 20% of revenue, compared to $13.3 million for the first quarter of 2011, or 14% of revenue.

• GAAP EPS for the first quarter was $0.04; Non-GAAP EPS for the first quarter was $0.15.

As our CEO, Jeff Weiner, said earlier today, LinkedIn’s solid performance in the first quarter was built on the company’s momentum in 2011. We also saw strength across all key metrics from member signups and engagement to significant revenue growth across our three product lines.

• Hiring Solutions: Revenue from Hiring Solutions products totaled $102.6 million, an increase of 121% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Hiring Solutions revenue represented 54% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 49% in the first quarter of 2011.

• Marketing Solutions: Revenue from Marketing Solutions products totaled $48.0 million, an increase of 73% compared to the first quarter of 2011.  Marketing Solutions revenue represented 26% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 30% in the first quarter of 2011.

• Premium Subscriptions: Revenue from Premium Subscriptions products totaled $37.9 million, an increase of 91% compared to the first quarter of 2011. Premium Subscriptions represented 20% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 21% of revenue in the first quarter of 2011.

I highly encourage you to review associated materials, including our GAAP and non-GAAP reconciliation. [1]

We’re also hosting a webcast / conference call to discuss our financial results for the first quarter of 2012 and business outlook today at 2:00PM Pacific Time.

I will co-host the webcast with Jeff Weiner, which can be viewed on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website as well.

See slides below.

[1]

Safe Harbor Statement

This post contains non-GAAP financials measures relating to the company’s performance. You can find the reconciliation of those measures to the nearest comparable GAAP measures and additional details regarding the use of non-GAAP measures at http://investors.linkedin.com/.

This post also contains forward-looking statements about our products, including our planned investments in key strategic areas, certain non-financial metrics, such as member growth and engagement, and our expected financial metrics such as revenue, adjusted EBITDA, depreciation and amortization and stock-based compensation for the second quarter of 2012 and the full fiscal year 2012. The achievement of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  If any of these risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements the company makes.

If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements the company makes. Please also see our full disclaimer regarding this information as well.

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LinkedIn’s Q1 2012 Earnings Call

Over the past few years, SlideShare and LinkedIn have been working closely together to help professionals be more effective and productive through the content they create and share on LinkedIn. I’ve personally been a huge fan of SlideShare and am thrilled to have such a great, skilled team joining the LinkedIn family.

This acquisition means good things to professionals everywhere. Presentations are a core component of how professionals define and brand their identity. This deal enables professionals discover people through content, and content through people. We’re excited to figure out the best ways our offerings will work together to help professionals around the world be more productive and successful.

In the meantime, SlideShare users will continue experiencing this great service as always. SlideShare has done a tremendous job of creating a dynamic platform for document sharing that millions of professionals have come to rely on everyday — and it will remain that way.

For more about our news, check out our SlideShare presentation.

Welcome to the LinkedIn family SlideShare.

This blog post contains forward-looking statements related to LinkedIn, SlideShare, the acquisition of SlideShare and the potential benefits of the acquisition. Actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the documents LinkedIn files from time to time with the SEC, including LinkedIn’s most recent Form 10-K and the Form 10-Q LinkedIn will file for the quarter ended March 31, 2012. These SEC filings contain and identify important factors that could cause results of the acquisition to differ materially from those contained in LinkedIn’s forward-looking statements. LinkedIn is under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform to actual results. Link to our disclaimer.

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SlideShare + LinkedIn = More Value for Professionals