LinkedIn Crosses 50 Mn Users In India

Professional networking website LinkedIn has announced that it has crossed 50 Mn members in India. The company has doubled its userbase in the last four years. In 2009, it had just 3.4 Mn users in the country.

Akshay Kothari, country manager, India, and head, international product, LinkedIn, said, “India’s current sentiment has elevated from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’, giving way to a renewed faith in the country’s high growth potential. Our members-first, a localised approach has helped us cross the 50 Mn mark in India.”

Kothari further emphasised that going forward the company will continue to focus on students, career starters, and professionals, beyond knowledge workers.

LinkedIn’s India user network, who interact and engage actively every day on the platform, represents a diverse section of industries, jobs, and skills.

Meanwhile, global search giant Google has now introduced a job search feature for India under Google for Jobs. A user will be able to see job postings relevant to him or her from multiple sites, including others from company websites through open documentation.

Google has also introduced open documentation for all third-party job search platforms and direct employers, big or small, for making their job openings discoverable in this new search experience.

According to data recorded by Linked, the top 10 Indian companies trending on LinkedIn are Flipkart, Directi, One97 Communications (Paytm), Amazon, Anheuser-Busch InBey, Mckinsey & Company, Alphabet (Google), KPMG India, EY, and OYO.

LinkedIn said it has observed interesting patterns in the industry searches on the website and added that some of the most searched industries are information technology and services, computer software, financial services, education management, and automotives.

Apart from these, others sectors witnessing high search volumes are telecommunications, banking, mechanical or industrial, electrical and electronics, and pharmaceuticals.

LinkedIn’s Big Bet On India

LinkedIn has adopted a localised approach in India. In the past few years, it has taken several initiatives to democratise opportunities and connect professionals to enable them to be more productive and successful in their careers.

Some such initiatives include Daily Rundown, a video content series entitled ‘How I Got Here’ and ‘Second Innings’.

The platform has been working to bring together industry leaders to share their stories, engage in deep conversations, and inspire professionals, students, and career starters on the platform.

Further, LinkedIn continues to add new business leaders and renowned public figures to its Influencers list in India, with cricketer Sourav Ganguly being the newest entrant in March 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka Chopra, Sachin Tendulkar, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw are some of the other names that are part of the list of over 500 global influencers comprising the world’s foremost thinkers and leaders.

LinkedIn lists such as Top Companies and Top Voices leverage the company’s data to empower members with industry knowledge to make informed career decisions.

The Campus Editor Program brings student voices and perspectives to LinkedIn’s members worldwide. Ultimately, the Campus Editors are able to create an opportunity for themselves and their peers by publishing on the platform.

Also, to provide more localised experiences, LinkedIn in September 2016 launched a mobile website that can work on slow network connections and the ‘LinkedIn lite’ mobile app in July 2017. LinkedIn lite was built to provide opportunities to professionals in low connectivity areas and level the playing field for job-seekers everywhere.

In May 2018, LinkedIn also announced the pilot launch of Resume Builder for its premium members in India. Resume Builder is a product feature that helps professionals create a visually compelling resume with ease. The success of this will be tested over the next few months and will expand to all members over the course of the year.

LinkedIn’s Effort To Bridge The Employment Gap And Upskill

LinkedIn has partnered with IL&FS Skills to upskill and improve the employability of blue-collar workers in India.

Last month, LinkedIn signed a MoU with the Kerala Government’s Skill Mission to provide insights that will shape the skilling curriculum across state-funded skilling centres and help the Skill Mission to provide for demand-driven skills.

With this partnership, 33 Mn people in the state of Kerala will benefit from the knowledge on skills and jobs in demand and migration trends and prepare them for greater advancement and growth.

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