Let’s say you are a recruiter and you have been searching for prospects (contact information) on LinkedIn. The likelihood that a matching profile would be in your network is unlikely at best unless you are uber connected like me (not bragging, I just have no life). Most likely, when you find a profile of someone that you are interested in contacting, what you usually find is a job title, a company name…and “PRIVATE” in the contact name.

PRIVATE

“PRIVATE” profiles are people that are outside of your network. So, what may show up as “PRIVATE” in your LinkedIn search will show up with a first and last name for me, or for someone else that is connected to that person. So, if you find someone in your network that is “PRIVATE”…you’ve been slacking…keep on networking and remember to add more people (check out my previous posts for some insight).

But, of course, just translating what this means would not really make much of a blog! So here’s a work around for all the unconnected users out there.

HINT OF THE DAY

Google has provided us with a different solution… a quick and easy way to assist you in your networking needs. The search is called an X-Ray search and it is basically is a google search command that allows you to use the world’s top search engine to specifically target a LinkedIn user.

How does this work? Easy. This is the basic formula – site:www.linkedin.com”jobtitle”

Example: Go to www.google.com, and in the search window type the following:

site:www.linkedin.com “Top 5 Connected Canadians. toplinked.com 12,000+” (with quotes)

The only hit that will come up is my personal profile. From there you will be able to get the contact’s name and maybe more (might have to do some digging for email address/phone number).

BOOM!

So, in the future, if there is someone you would like to speak to quickly, the google X-ray search is an excellent shortcut to finding a contact name. It gives you access to all 45 million + profiles on LinkedIn and best of all…IT’S FREE!