LinkedIn NYC

On a short vacation to NYC last Spring I had a chance encounter with Raouf Tarazi, recent UCSB alum (Econ major/TMP) and employee of LinkedIn. You see Raouf is a friend of a friend who we met for lunch one day and I noticed he was wearing a LinkedIn t-shirt. After chatting for quite some time about his job, he offered to give me a tour on LinkedIn in New York City. Little did I know that we were headed to one of the tallest buildings in the U.S, the Empire State Building!

LinkedIn has a location in NYC on the 25th floor of the Empire State Building. It is strictly sales and marketing there and Raouf at that time was a Sales Development Specialist, he has since been promoted to Solutions Consultant. Basically this means that he would reach out to companies, owners, managers, and staffing agencies to sell LinkedIn products and to promote their services. But what’s even more interesting is how Raouf landed his job at LinkedIn. Immediately after graduate Raouf found himself in Inside Sales for a solar company. After doing well at this company, he was ready for a change of scenery and decided to connect with a few classmates who worked at LinkedIn. Through the power of networking, he was able to get his resume into the hands of the hiring manager, and the rest is history! A few words of advice from Raouf for any of you interested in LinkedIn: 1. Cultural fit is one of the most important aspects for the sales and marketing team. You must mesh well with the group. 2. To ensure cultural fit, the hiring manager has potential employees interview with members from the sales team.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside LinkedIn but I did take notes for all of you Gauchos! When first walking into the office on the 25th floor, you pass a huge video conferencing room that they use to talk to locations in 26 different countries! The office itself is set up in typical format (desks, cubicles, some personal offices, etc.) but in between sections they have fully functional and fully stocked kitchens, every type of drink you can imagine, espresso machines, and ping pong tables. They even have an outdoor deck with amazing views that overlook the city. At the end of our tour of LinkedIn, Raouf took all of us to the top of the Empire State Building. LinkedIn employees get a free pass and can bring five guests to the top an anytime! All in all it was an amazing vacation for me and I am so glad I got to bring something back for the students at UCSB!