DISCOVERING CLASSMATES ON LINKEDIN
One fine Sunday afternoon when I was trying to enhance my connections in LinkedIn I found my college roommate. I was not in 
touch with him for quite a long time and I had no idea what did he do for living? As we start to catch up he told me that he has got into construction business and was doing good but off late he has run into some legal troubles. I promptly suggested a lawyer friend of mine to him. This lawyer helped my firm out of a tricky situation. As it turned out the lawyer helped my friend in this case too. Months later, my friend contacted me and asked me if my firm would help his construction to draw up a blueprint for a mall. I was an architect by profession. Two months later I was recommended for another job by the same lawyer who I had recommended to my friend. Just like that I bagged two prestigious projects. How? Because one fine Sunday afternoon I decided to enhance my connections on LinkedIn.
This is the power of LinkedIn, it seem so innocuous and banal but if properly utilized and if its potential is exploited to the fullest extent it might be the best thing that have happened to your business. This is only just aspect of it. The other aspect is that you can also find some long lost friend of yours, some classmates from high school. You never know what window of opportunity that contact will open up for you. I know you do now want to exploit your friendship for selfish business end and I am not saying you to do something as mean as that. There are circumstances sometime whereby you both get benefitted from the meeting say in the incident told above in the article, an innocuous condition helping to get some business project.
Very often after high school we all go our different ways some go to college and some drop out. There are some who start their own venture. We become so engrossed in our life that we do not find time to connect with long lost friends. This is especially true if you have not put the name of your school and the other companies that you have worked with. Because sometimes names are searched with the group name and if you are not listing your school and previous employments in your profile then you are missing some classmates.
A colleague of mine who was studied in some foreign country for some time was searching the group name of his school and he was able to find almost everything about his classmates with whom he has had no contact for quite some time now. These are just some examples where LinkedIn have been able to bridge gap of space and time and let people who knew each other meet again. It is imperative that you try to make your profile as extensive as possible for the same reason.
