{"id":3315,"date":"2013-10-12T21:55:31","date_gmt":"2013-10-13T01:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=3315"},"modified":"2014-01-19T19:24:25","modified_gmt":"2014-01-19T23:24:25","slug":"kerrys-expert-tips-on-cnbc-linkedins-elder-endorsers-boomers-driving-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=3315","title":{"rendered":"Kerry’s Expert Tips on CNBC: LinkedIn’s elder endorsers: Boomers driving growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unknown\"<\/a>When Camille Knight, age 50, was considering a job switch, her career counselor insisted she get on the professional networking site LinkedIn. It took her three years to do it. She was concerned about security issues and like many of her boomer cohorts, “You get shy about putting yourself out there in public,” she said. But just before her 13-year position in human resources was eliminated in February 2012, she set up a LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

As Knight began updating her content to reflect additional skills, the calls from recruiters started coming. At one point, she received 30 emails a week and a dozen phone calls with job prospects, one of which led to her current position as a business analyst in Austin, Texas. “It is my dream job,” Knight said. “[Having] an online profile to remain competitive in today’s job market is an absolute necessity.”<\/p>\n

The generation that spawned Bill Gates and Steve Jobs continues to keep pace with technology: According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, 66 percent of those ages 55 and older are online\u2014but notably focused on professional activities. Among the 50-plus age group online, interest in professional pursuits “is tremendous,” said Adam Sohn, vice president of brand alliances and partnerships for AARP. “There is a huge part of this demographic that is already digitally savvy and is using\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and recognizes that the paper rolodex is an ancient artifact,” he said.<\/p>\n

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Nicole Williams, a LinkedIn career expert, has seen LinkedIn use in the elder demographic grow exponentially within the last couple of years. Williams said they feel less intimidated by it than other platforms because it is a professional network. “They understand that this is the place they need to dig in,” she said.<\/p>\n

(Read more<\/em>:\u00a0Grandpapa John’s pizza: The senior franchise boom<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“If you’re over 50 and are in the job market today, you have to have a social media footprint. This is nonnegotiable.” -Kerry Hannon,\u00a0Author and AARP jobs expert<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The elder “endorser” phenomenon on LinkedIn, and the preference among older Americans for a professional network within the social media realm, reflects a persistent online divider: wealth and professional status. Older Americans are going online to connect professionally in greater numbers, but traffic from blue-collar workers is less than 20 percent, said Art Koff, founder ofRetiredBrains.com<\/a>, which attracts roughly 1,700 unique visitors a day, most between the ages of 50 and 65.<\/p>\n

Continue the full article here<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By: Julie Halpert<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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