We’ve given our Guided Tour a new look.

For apple fans amongst you the design will most certainly look familiar – we love apple and allowed ourselves to be inspired by them. The Tour consists of 13 covers. Each cover represents a feature or theme on XING. Click on a cover and it will proudly flip around and reveal valuable information and tips.

Thumbnail images give new users a sneak preview into XING and existing members are sure to find new information or tools that they may not have been aware of.

The tour is currently only available in German but we’ll be rolling it out in all other languages soon.

Check out the new tour here
(Make sure your language settings on XING are on German to see the Tour and make sure your browser supports Flash).

Starting today tomorrow the XING profiles will be even more compatible for students and graduates than ever. If you’re a student, you can now make your education more prominent, just by selecting the status field “recent graduate/student” – and have your college address serve as your business address.

The best part is the flexibility of it all: when you get a full time job, start a business, or start working freelance, all you have to do is change your status – and your profile will convert automatically! Likewise, if you’re a professional returning to school for an advanced degree, you can switch your status from ‘employee’ to student without losing any of your profile data.

This week on Tuesday, we organized a networking event in Amsterdam. We  wanted to introduce ourselves to the Dutch XING community and threw a typical Dutch networking party known in the Netherlands as a Haringparty.
In June when the first fresh herrings of the year are caught, companies all over the Netherlands invite their clients and partners to get together and network, while enjoying a drink and eating raw herrings with onions!

We decided to follow this example and get local. About 130 guests came to the XING haringparty and enjoyed a nice evening of networking in the capital of the Netherlands.
Are you curious to find out more about this typically Dutch networking event? You can view more photos of the events here.

Ever wondered what a Data Warehouse Architect does during a typical day at work? Meet Ulrich, our new colleague from the Product & Engineering department and find out about his first few weeks at XING:

Ulrich, Product & Engineering: The round of introductions on my first day at XING really sticks in my mind. I was shown around the company and introduced to all my new colleagues individually, including the CEO – something I found both unusual and impressive. I’m part of the Product team and as Data Warehouse Manager I devote my time and energy to the operation and design of the platform, upgrading the technical infrastructure, and data analysis. During my interview it emerged that two of my close team colleagues (Felix Menden and Johannes Mainusch) had both worked at my previous employer as well, the “Deutschen Elektronen-Synchrotron” (DESY), an institute for basic research. I wrote my doctoral thesis in Elementary Particle Physics at the DESY, before going on to develop and operate systems that are, at their core, very similar to the system at XING. Before joining the company, I was employed at a telecommunications firm. A headhunter found me on the XING platform and got in contact with me. What I particularly like about my new job is the opportunity to become actively involved in enhancing my department’s performance and the freedom to work creatively.

XING currently has 32 job openings, from Product to Corporate Development. Take a look at our vacancies here.

In a couple of days the “TechCrunch & webrazzi MeetUp” will be coming up to Istanbul. The event (sponsored by XING) is worth a visit for a number of reasons: First of all, it is the first TechCrunch event in Turkey and part of the European TechCrunch Tour. Secondly, they are teaming up with Webrazzi, the leading Turkish Web 2.0 blog, to organize a unique conference with demos from Turkey’s best start-ups, booths, sessions and cocktails.

Our Turkish Country Manager Hakan Gönenli will also be there with part of his team. So if you happen to be in Istanbul on Saturday, 28 June, come and visit the MeetUp, why not grab the chance to meet some interesting people from the Turkish Internet industry and grow your network. See you there!

Mireille shot a little movie all about XING recently. It’s entertaining to watch, and not only for the XING team either. You can catch a glimpse of our ever growing office, our team, our international culture, even the way we spend our lunch breaks. The movie was also used to present XING at the Rails Konferenz 2008 this week. A big thank you to Mireille and all the “actors”!

Link: sevenload.com

Kate Lu is Marketing Manager for XING China and today she shares her "Piece of XING" with us. (click on the image to enlarge)

As I’m sure you already know, Ruby on Rails is a really hot topic at XING. We’ve been reporting on this in various places over the past few months.  As the main sponsor of this year’s ‘Rails Konferenz 2008’ from 9-10 June in Frankfurt, XING is holding a Spanish-themed get together on the eve of the conference – Monday, June 9, at the ‘Leon Garcias’ restaurant, in Kantstraße No 25.

We will serve Spanish finger food and sangria on offer and you also have the chance to eavesdrop on XING programmers from 8p.m., who will be holding short presentations on various different subjects throughout the evening. Johannes, for instance, will be talking about engineering@XING, while Norman and Tammo will be turning their attentions to rconditions- their open source product designed for easy handling of underlying business errors. Phillip will be explaining how we deliver fast pages in spite of site activity. After all this you’ll have the chance to ask questions and chat with the XING developers.

Interested in coming along? To secure one of the few remaining places left, all you have to do is leave a comment here and you’ll receive one of the five available tickets!

We’re looking forward to meeting you!

P.S. Are you already something of a Ruby on Rails expert? Into other aspects of developing? Be sure to check out our Jobs page – XING is currently on the look-out for developers.

Once again, XING was lauded for its utility and innovation. Dubai-based ‘Your Business’ magazine, which calls itself ‘The Handbook for SMEs in the Middle East’, rated professional websites and social networks in terms of setting up networks and acquiring new business. XING scored top marks as the most useful site for the region.

Your Business magazine is targeted at SME owners and potential SME owners throughout the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, providing essential information, practical advice and sound business strategy.

This is great feedback – Thanks to all our members in the GCC for making XING such a valuable tool in the region!

Starting today,  we’d like to invite Basic Members to our Happy Hour! During the whole month of June, you’ll have loads of chances to get two months’ Premium Membership for the price of one.

Want to get in on it? Just check out http://happy-hour.xing.com

There you will see a timer which counts down the days, hours and minutes till the next XING Happy Hour. All those of you who upgrade to one month’s Premium Membership during Happy Hour will receive a second month for free. Membership is renewed for another three months after this period, and can be cancelled at any time.

Did you miss the first chance? No worries. If you couldn’t take part the first time around and are still not a Premium Member, you can sign up for an email reminder alerting you to the next Happy Hour. The offer will be available at the time announced on the XING start page as well. The first XING Happy Hour will sound tonight! Members elsewhere in the world, China and Argentina,  for example, should keep time differences in mind: Happy Hour time is CEST!