LinkedIn Aims To Help Indian Students Get Their First Job

LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network with over 35 million members in India, today said that its vision for the country is to create economic opportunity for every member of the Indian workforce. "India is a strategic focus for the company," said Akshay Kothari, Country Manager and Head of Product, LinkedIn India. He said LinkedIn is strategically focusing on the student community in India by helping them get their first job through their platform.

As a strategy for the India market, LinkedIn is working to ensure the application opens seamlessly even in low connectivity such as 2G network. Its recently-launched data centre in Singapore is part of their strategy to make the LinkedIn experience more seamless in India. The company is also customising the LinkedIn app for India by replacing words such as zipcode with pincode, and seniors with alumni.

The company's recruitment offering known as 'LinkedIn Recruiter' and its advertising product known as 'LinkedIn Ads' are also being customised for the Indian market to meet the requirements of the small and medium businesses.

Kothari said that India currently has over 35 million LinkedIn members, up 10 times in six years making it the second largest market both from a members and employee standpoint. In terms of both users and job opportunities, Bengaluru ranks highest with 2.3 million members and 60,000 job opportunities.

Asked if he has any advice for the young Indian entrepreneurs, Allen Blue, co-founder of LinkedIn said "Start early, launch fast, learn quickly, and build great relationships…" On how he reacts when people sometimes use LinkedIn as a social platform engaging in personal activities, Blue said that as a company they look at LinkedIn purely from a professional standpoint but it's alright for people to sometimes engage in relevant social activities.

As part of their commitment to India, LinkedIn today also announced the launch of their new office in Bengaluru located in business district of the city - Global Technology Park. The new office will house functionally diverse LinkedIn employees both from product and sales teams. The new workplace has an area of 222,000 square feet spread across three floors including multiple collaboration spaces, informal meeting lounges, wellness centre, and recreation areas.

In April last year, LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com, an online learning company, for $1.5 billion which underlines the company's focus on the student community by helping them acquire the required skill sets to qualify for a particular job.