LinkedIn: Being Open to Help

The extensive and far-reaching network of LinkedIn members is a rich source for storytellers like director Jake Kovnat at Cap Gun. Since its inception in 2002, LinkedIn has grown into a community where more than 645 million professionals and upwards of 30 million organisations around the globe connect to navigate their professional lives and grow their careers and businesses. LinkedIn wanted to share its company ethos with its members and connect all professionals and organisations to create economic opportunity while fostering a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community of individuals, each with unique motivations and definitions of success. To help tackle this challenge, LinkedIn’s creative team partnered with Jake Kovnat and Cap Gun to tap into the inspiring stories of its community. Jake reached out to LinkedIn members to learn more about their journeys and how the LinkedIn platform helped to improve their careers and ultimately transform their lives. The latest film from this team follows LinkedIn member Diamond, a single mother and student currently living in the shelter system in Queens, NY. She is working to find a job in the tech industry, striving to provide a better life for her daughter. Diamond is enrolled in a program at NPower, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping underserved adults find jobs in a technology field. NPower, the LinkedIn creative team, and the Cap Gun production team all helped Diamond to find and connect with a mentor already in her network. The film follows Diamond as she meets Yahaira, another young LinkedIn member with a similar background who is already on the path to professional success. Yahaira introduces Diamond to people in her own LinkedIn network, gives Diamond guidance, and helps pave a way for Diamond to find a way up and out of her current situation. It is an inspiring story for all of us about paying forward the gifts and the counsel we have received along the way. Jake and the creative team have shown not just how LinkedIn is used as a tool to gain, but how it can be used to give.