Have you ever been in the situation where you were talking to a friend or an old boss and they mention that they were looking for someone to fill an open position or maybe there is someone you thought they should meet because they share a common interest and could mutually benefit from the introduction? Was that person in your LinkedIn network? If they are, here is a neat way to get that person's profile and a note to your friend or old boss. Have you use the "Forward Profile" feature? Once, never? After reading this consider using it a little more often.

So during that conversation you thought about who in your network could help in this situation. Then it hits you. You know someone. Next you think, "How do I introduce them to each other?" Well, rather than asking your friend to put together an introduction request you could forward that connection's profile to your friend through LinkedIn. Why? Well, there is more value to you making it easier to share a profile than your friend putting together an introduction and making a request.  Since you know that your connection could potentially help your friend you should take the initiative to send them the profile.

To send the profile go to your connections and select the connection's profile. In the upper right corner of the profile there will be an option to "Forward this Profile to a Connection." Once you have selected this option you will be displayed the messaging screen. You can select up to 200 connections to send this profile to. Once you have selected your contacts choose your reply settings and enter your message. It is important to put a note in the message being delivered with the profile. You should explain why you are forwarding the profile and any other helpful information. Once this message has been sent it will appear in the "Profile" section of your friend's inbox.

Now that you have taken the initative and sent the profile to your friend, it is up to your friend to take the next step. That step will either be to send an introduction request through you or decide not to make contact. Either way, you used your network to help a friend. Put a mark the helpful-networker column.