One Click on LinkedIn Can Express Volumes about You

We teach a course on how to leverage LinkedIn for research and marketing purposes in the job search, and one of our favorite parts of the program is the discussion on posting to your profile the books you’ve read. Participants often fear what their reading preferences may reveal about them, and to their detriment they tend to omit these details.

Yet accessing the Reading List by Amazon app and clicking on the books you’ve read — or simply want to read — is an elegant way of expressing who you are, without using many words. And that’s a key to communicating online: using as few words as possible.

We’ve recently read the books depicted above. Which ones will we link amidst our work experience and education on LinkedIn? Let’s think about this.

What you read reveals so much about your interests, your dreams, and how you think. Interestingly, David Rakoff discusses how we judge people based on their reading material in this month’s GQ. If you’ve read, say, Lips Unsealed by Belinda Carlisle, what meaning can viewers of your profile project onto you? At the very least:

1. You read, and thus you can concentrate

Reading books may be a dying pastime, and that you can read tens of pages on one subject indicates your ability to focus your attention for stretches at a time.

2. As one who reads, you know how to manage stress

Have you ever seen a person stressed-out and reading a book? We once saw a guy read a book, listen to his iPod, and walk to the train probably while chewing gum, yet he’s an exception. The memoir of a pop artist necessarily is pleasure reading, so when you reference that you’ve read this book, you tell everyone you know how to relax.

3. You’re curious about the world

Reading is a process of digesting ideas and information related to our world. Your pursuit of knowledge demonstrates your wish to know more about the universe.

These  are 3 marketable attributes about you, so go ahead and talk about the books you read.  You will attract some people to you, and you may repel some folks by your reading choices as well. Those whom you attract will be drawn to something within you, which can be the basis for a formidable relationship. And strong relationships go hand-in-hand with your professional development.

So which books will we be posting on our LinkedIn? All of them, natch.

What does your reading list say about you? Add your comments below.