Your Guide to LinkedIn’s Office Hours Feature

Your Guide to LinkedIn’s Office Hours Feature

We love social media – and all the research agrees! Despite occasionally wanting to delete our accounts or unplug from this dynamic and occasionally frustrating space, we spent an average of 145 minutes per day on these platforms in 2020. While it doesn’t have the mindless absorption of Instagram, TikTok and others, LinkedIn is the professional’s top choice, and it’s steadily growing in users and revenue over the last few years. In 2020, it collected around US$8 billion, up from US2.9 billion in 2015, largely due to how work shifted during the pandemic. Now, to capitalise on this, the platform has launched a feature called Office Hours. Here’s what it’s all about.

What is Office Hours?

This is a feature that lets people host live events on the platform. It’s designed for professional development and brings instructors into interactive online classrooms to teach in real-time. You can post questions and comments as well as reactions and is a big step up from the pre-recorded or asynchronous classes the platform previously hosted.

Over the pandemic, the demand for online learning surged, not just with kids but adults too. And while the LinkedIn Learning community tried to keep pace, the reality is that the best way to learn and stay on top of current trends is through live, one-on-one interaction – even if it’s not in person.

What are the Advantages?

Other than the fact that this format helps people learn more effectively, it’s also a great way to learn remotely. In this age of remote working, employees still need to upskill and keep improving their knowledge, wherever they are. Getting people together for a course when they are spread across the country – or the world – is an impossible task, unless you have this type of tech.

Another advantage is access to expert instructors. This way, your team doesn’t simply get taught by an instructor – they get access to the person who is at the very centre of the subject. You can attend a lecture on engineering by a specialist at MIT, a business course run by a Harvard instructor, or a talk on a specific piece of technology or a new way of thinking by the person who created it. This way, teams have access to the best possible source of expertise, which can also be a huge draw when encouraging team members to upskill.

Finally, it is a great way for industry leaders and authorities to build their personal and business brands. Like sharing articles or writing your own pieces for online publishing, live courses and discussions help place you – and your business – in a position of authority. This is very effective for growing your professional network, establishing your business as a brand leader, and drawing talent to your growing company.

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