LinkedIn

pinkydapimp

I have a few questions regarding LinkedIN.

I have been on there for a while, but never really used it. However, I am wondering if i am missing out.

A few questions.

1. I am friends with many coworkers and my boss on LinkedIn. I have my job and title listed, but none of the rest of my resume info. Would it look bad for me to fill this in? Might they think i am looking for employment elsewhere? While i do like my job i am entertaining the idea of possibly seeing whatelse is out there. However, i wouldnt want my employer to know that.

2. What else on LinkedIN are you using? Are the groups beneficial?

3. Jobs and LinkedIn. i have heard that LinkedIn is one of the first places employers go to search for employees. Is this true? Anyone gotten a job based on their LinkedIn profile?

4. Pics - Pic in the profile or no? I feel odd about throwing my pic on there. However, it seems most people have one. What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

ptilsen

1. All of my co-workers, my boss, myself, and many of my former co-workers from my last two jobs are on LinkedIn. Almost all of them have work history, as do I. I even have current clients (as in my employer's clients) on LinkedIn. If you've heard it referred to as "Facebook for work", there's a reason.

2. I looked for "certification" groups in the past, but never got too deep into it. I don't see it being used actively unless you are a sales guy and networking for your current jump or looking for a new job.

3. Well, it's free and a step above Craigslist. We look there before posting on the sites. There is a paid component as well that seems decent. I occasionally get highly relevant job offers on LinkedIn -- that is a big plus. On Monster/CareerBuilder/Dice, the results range from mediocre to poor unless you have a hyper-specific skillset. I have never actively used it for job search, however. Monster is still the best way to look for jobs -- LinkedIn is no more likely to supplant Facebook than Monster.

4. It probably doesn't make a difference for anything, even job search. I mean, I guess there is an argument to be made that someone may be more or less likely to get you an interview or offer based on your appearance.

Hypntick

I have the owners of my company and what co-workers I have that do use the site. Also quite a few former co-workers and bosses, various recruiters, owners and employees of companies we support, my student mentor from WGU, etc. etc. etc. I am also a member of a few groups, I get emails from them from time to time which I chime in on, but nothing major. I've had a job offer or two come my way as well, nothing I would leave where I am for though. As for the pictures, not a huge fan of them, heck even my facebook account doesn't have any pictures of me.

It is a great tool to use when job hunting as well. When interviewing for this position I looked up the owners and my boss, found out some info about them and went the extra mile. Shows that you actually give a crap about wanting to work there, instead of just showing up for the paycheck.

SteveLord

Filled out a few things, added a few co-workers, but haven't touched it in probably at least a year.

N2IT

I'm an active participant on LinkedIn. I have met a lot of great contacts through Linkedin and maintained relationships through LI. Infact 20+ coworkers I used to work with still remain in contact because of that tool. No texting, no phone calls, but we email back and forth through the tool. It works well. As far as groups goes there are some good ones that provide value and some that don't. I personally love the Excel group I am apart of and the resume writer group. Both groups have helped develop me as an IT/Business professional. Recently I have been reading and partipating in this new Business process management group. It is very informative and really brings to light a lot of different strategies.

blargoe

I use it mainly to keep up with past co-workers, but I do keep my profile updated and do get contacted about jobs regularly. There was one opportunity that I wish I had pursued, but passed up the interview thinking things would turn around here.

Everyone

1. I may have gone about this differently than others. I don't add people I currently work with. I add them when I leave a company.

2. I have mixed feelings about the groups. I get sent e-mails telling me about what is going on in every group I'm a member of, and I really don't care about them. I could probably change some notification setting, but haven't bothered. None of the discussions I've seen have really interested me. I have however been contacted to talk about a job opening because someone found me through a group we were both members of.

3. I don't think there is any "First place" people put jobs out there. I think when openings come up at most companies, they typically go out to all job sites that the company uses at the same time.

4. I haven't put a picture on my profile because I don't have a good recent professional one. I don't care enough to go have a professional picture taken either (i.e. me in a suit looking all business-y).

bryanthetechie

I use LinkedIn quite extensively for groups and networking. I've known some people who have gotten great jobs through LI networking as well. Also... there's a TechExams.net group if anybody is interested (with 477 members).

chappys4life

LinkedIn has always seemed like a weird technology to me. I signed up years ago and saw little benefit so I never really used it. I have seen more and more recruiters on it so it is making me reconsider.

I have been debating a personal landing page with something lik[FONT=Georgia, Times, 'Liberation Serif', serif]e flavors.me for a while too though. [/FONT]

erpadmin

I got an interview with an actual employer through LinkedIn. I was contacted by them, not the other way around. I pretty much turned them down, but it was nice that I was solicited by an actual employer, as opposed to a recruiter (in-house [the good ones] or the regular scumbags who can't read [the bad ones]....lol) Actually, there is one external recruiter that I would work with....only because he's no-nonsense and shoots straights. (A rarity.) The other guys I tend to ignore.

Everytime I've earned a cert, or am involved in some educational endeavor, I do update my LinkedIn profile. I like that I have a LinkedIn, but not the evil Facebook. It's public too, and I don't care who sees it (my bosses are on it...but we're "connected" like that.) In fact, we've discussed LinkedIn, and I stated that I do have a profile, but I only use it to meet other like-minded professionals...not to get a job. (Which is actually true...my resume isn't even that reflective of what I want in the next gig and I get contacted at least twice a week about such-and-such position at such-and-such place.) I imagine my prospects would improve if I just tweeked it slightly. But I'm ok for right now.....

onesaint

pinkydapimp wrote: »

1. I am friends with many coworkers and my boss on LinkedIn. I have my job and title listed, but none of the rest of my resume info. Would it look bad for me to fill this in? Might they think i am looking for employment elsewhere? While i do like my job i am entertaining the idea of possibly seeing whatelse is out there. However, i wouldnt want my employer to know that.

2. What else on LinkedIN are you using? Are the groups beneficial?

3. Jobs and LinkedIn. i have heard that LinkedIn is one of the first places employers go to search for employees. Is this true? Anyone gotten a job based on their LinkedIn profile?

4. Pics - Pic in the profile or no? I feel odd about throwing my pic on there. However, it seems most people have one. What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

I've had the same question about the profile and some thoughts to add.

1. I'm wary of updating my information (summary) as I think it will be viewed as a sign of intent to jump ship. I disabled update notifications and profile tracking to the best of my ability. The settings are convoluted like Facebook though, which I don't like. I would say skip the profile update for now and wait until you move to a new position just to avoid any trouble. I would be curious to see if someone has actually done this though and the result.

2. I use the groups and have found some interesting conversations in the Infosec groups. Most of the Cisco groups are just banter. I don;t honestly see much of a use in them aside from some specific groups.

3. I've heard the same. I had an interview a while back where the Manager and CEO had both looked over my profile and made references to it.

4. I have my pic on there. Something semi-professional. I don't see any issues arising from it.

pheroman

All of my co-workers, my boss, myself, and many of my former co-workers from my last two jobs are on LinkedIn. Almost all of them have work history, as do I. I even have current clients (as in my employer's clients) on LinkedIn.
on my opinion it's really so good and there is alot of knowledge that's we share there
regards

Ryan82

I want to say I have had a profile on there for like 5 years. To me, LinkedIn was basically like MySpace, a tool that was used to connect to people but never really elegant in its approach to doing so and was not really utilized.

Then it seemed like a year ago some changes occurred in the way of connecting with people and in the way of really making job searching available. I will say that LinkedIn is now a very viable tool for job searching.

In fact, I just landed my dream job through LinkedIn with a Fortune 100 company and they reached out to me. Also, I have noticed that potential employers whom you have an interview set up with will take a look at your LinkedIn profile so make sure if you do have one, don't neglect it.

Everyone

Ryan82 wrote: »

Also, I have noticed that potential employers whom you have an interview set up with will take a look at your LinkedIn profile so make sure if you do have one, don't neglect it.

In addition to this, it doesn't hurt to look-up whoever you will be or have just interviewed with on LinkedIn. Sometimes you'll be given the name of your interviewer prior to an interview. I like to look them up to learn a little bit about who I'll be talking to. If I'm not given the name before the interview, I make sure I write down the names of everyone who interviews me, and look them up afterwards.

erpadmin

Everyone wrote: »

In addition to this, it doesn't hurt to look-up whoever you will be or have just interviewed with on LinkedIn. Sometimes you'll be given the name of your interviewer prior to an interview. I like to look them up to learn a little bit about who I'll be talking to. If I'm not given the name before the interview, I make sure I write down the names of everyone who interviews me, and look them up afterwards.

If you want to look up someone incognito, make sure you are signed out. It is not hard to guess who "Someone from Job X" is...especially if you're on that list to begin with.

When you're signed out, you will appear anonymous.

pinkydapimp

Question. For those of you that do some side work or might even have started a small business on the side, would you put that on your linkedin/resume?

joehalford01

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Question. For those of you that do some side work or might even have started a small business on the side, would you put that on your linkedin/resume?

I don't have my side work listed, but that's not necessarily a bad idea, as long as it doesn't make you look hokey.

PsychoFin

Over here LinkedIn is getting huge. Loads of my friends and co-workers have gotten their jobs from linkedin contacts (either old co-workers or potential employer contacts). The jobs database is great and offers very targeted jobs, and it is refreshing to get to talk with the actual companies versus all the recruiters.

As for myself and most people I know, we have all our past positions and some have descriptions, we also list certs, education etc.
I don't agree with the fact that it makes you look like you want to jump ship if you update your details.

Cheers,
Fin

erpadmin

PsychoFin wrote: »

Over here LinkedIn is getting huge. Loads of my friends and co-workers have gotten their jobs from linkedin contacts (either old co-workers or potential employer contacts). The jobs database is great and offers very targeted jobs, and it is refreshing to get to talk with the actual companies versus all the recruiters.

As for myself and most people I know, we have all our past positions and some have descriptions, we also list certs, education etc.
I don't agree with the fact that it makes you look like you want to jump ship if you update your details.

Cheers,
Fin

I'm with you on all of that.

In fact, IMO, I think it looks better for you if you just have LinkedIn, but not Facebook. I know people love the Facebook, but so far, I have not fallen. I have twitter, but only for finding deals with certain deals and I linked that up with LinkedIn. (No one AFAIK tweets dumb crap that follows me.)

I am in serious need of updating my resume/LinkedIn profile to better highlight my PeopleSoft experience and to focus it more on senior-level positions/management. It reads too much of a general IT resume right now. But I really like LinkedIn.