LinkedIn ...?

Gorgon Heap · #1 29th February 2012, 09:07 AM

Help me out here, would you please?

A year or so ago this college professor I knew insisted joining this LinkedIn site would be monstrously important. Of course, he also insisted nobody under 25 uses email.

Well, I'm rather over 25 and message boards such as this very one are my only experience with "social media".

Having signed onto the LinkedIn months and months and months ago, I now feel I have to ask ... is it supposed to do something?

I can see other people on there and I guess somebody could get a childlike pleasure out of connecting people like puzzle pieces, but what's the point? "Hi! I'm me and you're you and we're all on the Interweb! Hooray!"

Interweb savvy folks please fill me in.

Harry · #2 29th February 2012, 09:29 AM

I think the premise is a high-tech old-boy backdoor network, but what exactly you're supposed to do with it is beyond me. I suspect that if I was in a career where friends in high places might do me some good, they'd be too busy to bother with a social networking site, no matter how pretentious it was. I joined it on someone else's recommendation, but I have no use for it, really. The only one who has ever contacted me is my niece's father-in-law, and I pretend I don't know him and don't respond to his messages.

Dudley · #3 29th February 2012, 09:30 AM

I got my current job by being contacted on LinkedIn.

puttering · #4 29th February 2012, 10:51 AM

I received a job offer from a company that found me on LinkedIn, but it was (i) just after I started at my current job and am very happy here, and (ii) a 90 minute commute. So I didn't take it. But it's good for that sort of thing, anyway.

Also, occasionally I'll get an LinkedIn invitation to "join" someone's network who works in my industry, even though we may not have ever met. Then I'll be at an industry event and meet a person, recognizing their name as one of my LinkedIn contacts, and put a face to the name.

So, TLDR: networking.

Beadalin · #5 29th February 2012, 10:51 AM

It's great when you're job-hunting and more or less useless at all other times. So no, it's not supposed to "do" anything except keep your professional network online.

When I needed to find a job in another state, it was absolutely valuable, as trying to get a toe into employers without a personal connection was pretty much impossible. Using LinkedIn, I found direct contacts and contacts-of-contacts at the employers I was targeting, and thus was able to get my resume reviewed and land phone screens / interviews because I could get in touch with a human being instead of an HR resume dump.

I've also helped people get jobs at wherever I've been currently employed at the time, since they can see where I work, get the scoop, and then I can refer them in for the positions they're interested in. And since I get referral bonuses for new hires, it's totally worth it.

Gorgon Heap · #6 29th February 2012, 10:55 AM

Ooooohhhhh.

Lounsbury · #7 29th February 2012, 11:14 AM

If one is a professional, LinkedIn is a very useful tool in professional networking. And identifying persons of potential business interest.

I can say that in my line of business and at my level it has real utility. It has utility beyond job hunting.

ivylass · #8 25th March 2012, 12:53 PM

I'm on it. Is paying extra for the upgrade service worth it? I'll be hunting for a new job after I get my MBA (last class in one month and one day, not that I'm counting

) and I have been working with the career counselor at the university and getting my functional resume put together. I guess I'm a little unclear on the etiquette...do I approach my contacts with what I'm looking for? Or do I play Six Degrees of Separation and use my contact to connect with someone else to connect to someone else and say Howdy?

*hajario* · #9 25th March 2012, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivylass

I'm on it. Is paying extra for the upgrade service worth it? I'll be hunting for a new job after I get my MBA (last class in one month and one day, not that I'm counting

) and I have been working with the career counselor at the university and getting my functional resume put together. I guess I'm a little unclear on the etiquette...do I approach my contacts with what I'm looking for? Or do I play Six Degrees of Separation and use my contact to connect with someone else to connect to someone else and say Howdy?

Congratulations on the MBA.

I say you can use it for both of those things. Make sure that it's up to date. Headhunters use keywords to search Linkedin to find people and maybe one of them is looking for a newly minted MBA.

iampunha · #10 25th March 2012, 06:45 PM

I use it to research the people I'm targeting in cover letters, the people I'll be talking to in interviews, the people who would be above me at those companies, etc. It's free information.

THespos · #11 26th March 2012, 05:02 AM

I recruit for new positions through LinkedIn.

Aside from job searches, getting value out of LinkedIn involves putting a lot in before you get anything out of it. Putting in means you get a business card, you add that person to your network. It also doesn't hurt to mine groups, including alumni groups from high school/undergrad/grad school/etc. for people in your particular line of business and add them, too. If you publish anything for your particular business sector, share it with your network.

Taking out (for me) means looking for people who are connected with specific companies I want to crack, asking for intros to new potential clients and vendors, and developing prospects.

There's one other thing I consider indispensable about LinkedIn - the ability to see the company one keeps. If I'm considering a business relationship with someone, I want to see that they're connected with the good guys in our industry and not in business with the bad guys. So, I make an effort to look at contacts, see which of those contacts are active (by matching them up with companies on the prospect's resume) and getting a sense of whether they're a Jedi or a Sith Lord.