Advantages of using Linkedin.com

Hello,

I have never setup a Linkedin account. Has anyone had decent success "networking" with this site? I'm at point where I want to get my feelers out there.
I have friends that use it (they are in different fields), and have been contacted or contacted other people within their field. I am looking for an IT perspective.

Thanks.

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Comments

SrSysAdmin

CompuTron99 wrote: »

Hello,

I have never setup a Linkedin account. Has anyone had decent success "networking" with this site? I'm at point where I want to get my feelers out there.
I have friends that use it (they are in different fields), and have been contacted or contacted other people within their field. I am looking for an IT perspective.

Thanks.

I've been contacted several times from HR people looking to fill positions. I have never followed up on any of them, but just the fact that I've been contacted tells me that there is the possibility of having success with the site.

Look at it this way...you will never NOT get a job because you have a LinkedIn account, so what is there to lose?

Obdurate

CompuTron99 wrote: »

Hello,

I have never setup a Linkedin account. Has anyone had decent success "networking" with this site? I'm at point where I want to get my feelers out there.
I have friends that use it (they are in different fields), and have been contacted or contacted other people within their field. I am looking for an IT perspective.

Thanks.

That reminds me I actually have a Linkedin account -- but damn if I know when the last time I logged in on it.

My guess is Linkedin is dying -- everyone uses facebook or twitter now (except me, I spend enough time on the computer).

~Obdurate~

veritas_libertas

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

I've been contacted several times from HR people looking to fill positions. I have never followed up on any of them, but just the fact that I've been contacted tells me that there is the possibility of having success with the site.

I have connections with different hiring folks for contract gigs that post positions that they are looking to fill. If I didn't have them on my LinkedIn account I might never know if they are hiring for something I am interested in. I also have connections with old coworker, managers, etc. If I lose my job to the economy those people might be able to help me out. If one my former coworkers gets a new gig he/she might contact me about a place there! I think it's an excellent resource.

eMeS

Quite a few of the regulars here are heavy LinkedIn users, and there is a TechExams LinkedIn group.

Personally I've picked up quite a bit of work-related contacts from LinkedIn; at best I would say it has been a great source of new leads for me, and is a good way to keep up with various people that I've worked with/for.

Obdurate wrote: »

My guess is Linkedin is dying -- everyone uses facebook or twitter now (except me, I spend enough time on the computer).

This does not match what I've seen. I think of LinkedIn as almost an online version of your resume that can connect to other people's online versions of their resumes. Facebook is much more casual/less professionally oriented, and Twitter is used for an entirely different purpose.

MS

wheez

To be honest I've never really had any benefits from being on Linkedin. I do find it really useful to keep up with what previous colleagues are doing. They might land a nice job at a company where I'd like to be.. Having an easy way of quickly reaching out to these people might be the key to landing a(nother) job yourself! You never know..

CompuTron99

Thank you for all the feedback.

Paul Boz

I've got a linkedin profile but almost never log into it. I have plenty of friends and colleagues listed but i prefer to stay in touch with the important people with a more personal medium like phone calls and emails.

snokerpoker

I only use Linkedin to keep in touch with people I used to work with. Facebook is so popular its hard for other social networking sites to compete.

veritas_libertas

snokerpoker wrote: »

I only use Linkedin to keep in touch with people I used to work with. Facebook is so popular its hard for other social networking sites to compete.

I realllly don't like Facebook. It just doesn't at all appeal to me. Somehow I don't think I am alone on that.

RouteThisWay

Facebook and LinkedIn appeal to two totally seperate audiences.

Facebook is a social medium that competes with things like MySpace. It is a place to put your pictures, keep up with friends, post what you ate on your chicken biscuit this morning, tell everyone what time you woke up, and play Farmville.

LinkedIn is a place to advertise your professional skills, resume, etc. Meet new contacts through different professional groups, meet recruiters, etc. It is used more as a professional tool, than FB.

Daniel333

Something weird about a boss that clearly didn't get along with you and was on the verge of firing you trying to friend you on linkedin. So weird.

In any event, I have received a handful of job interviews off Linkedin as well as kept up with some coworkers I might not have otherwise bothered to friend on facebook. So it's been pretty useful.

eMeS

Daniel333 wrote: »

Something weird about a boss that clearly didn't get along with you and was on the verge of firing you trying to friend you on linkedin. So weird.

I had a similar thing happen to me on LinkedIn as well. A peer manager that I used to work with several years ago up in Boston. We couldn't stand the site of each other. He was the same jackass that once told me that because I didn't work 60 hours per week that I didn't deserve to be promoted.

One day not too long ago he sent me a connection request on LI. I replied "Go f*ck yourself.".

MS

Paul Boz

RouteThisWay wrote: »

Facebook and LinkedIn appeal to two totally seperate audiences.

Facebook is a social medium that competes with things like MySpace. It is a place to put your pictures, keep up with friends, post what you ate on your chicken biscuit this morning, tell everyone what time you woke up, and play Farmville.

I disagree 100%. I have more clients on facebook than linkedin and I'm in the norm.

veritas_libertas

Paul Boz wrote: »

I disagree 100%. I have more clients on facebook than linkedin and I'm in the norm.

This actually shocks me... Do you use your Facebook page more for business than friends/family

eMeS

veritas_libertas wrote: »

This actually shocks me... Do you use your Facebook page more for business than friends/family :

Shocks me a bit too...I know a few people who use Facebook for business, but they're all insurance sales people and life coaches...sounds like there's more going on than this....

Guess it's time to get on there and set up an id...

MS

yuriz43

LinkedIn is great for a few reasons. In contrast, Facebook is completely useless, and I will list why:

1.
A problem I've run into lately is not being able to track down some of my old managers and co-workers from jobs I worked at years ago. When applying for new jobs, having an online database of people you have previously worked with is valuable and very convenient.

2.
Networking Networking Networking . Think of LinkedIn as a routing protocol for people in your industry. The fact of the mater is, the more people you're connected to, the more exposure you will have to potential employers, recruiters, etc... This is not to say that you should go around adding everybody under the sun. But anybody you have worked with is definitely a good candidate.

3.
Consolidation of information. Having records of companies you've worked at, and a summary of your skills is great when it is time to update your resume. In fact, some employers will ask you for a link to your linked in page. This gives the potential employer the ability to see positive comments left by people you've worked with! Definitely a big plus.

I think this covers the high points.
Facebook on the other hand is slowly turning into Myspace. A collaboration of clutter **** 'personal' journals, filled with stupid flash games, and other nonsense. E-mail does a fine job of keeping in touch with family and friends. We don't need constant life updates, pictures of every social event, and other personal information streamed in real time.

tpatt100

A few of the HR hiring people from my last job all requested to join my network, I accepted because I assume they want to keep in touch in case new opportunities arise. I have connections with all of my old coworkers, it helps to know who is where. I have been contacted for possible job opportunities due to my profile, and come to find out in a couple of interviews they said they double checked me on LinkedIn. I also used it to research people who are interviewing me to find out what they are strong in.

I won't do Facebook though. I don't want religious, or political views or something stupid I might say clouding the judgement of potential employers or even current ones.

veritas_libertas

tpatt100 wrote: »

I won't do Facebook though. I don't want religious, or political views or something stupid I might say clouding the judgement of potential employers or even current ones.

Exactly...

vCole

I include my LinkedIn profile in my signature (personal email) and have had multiple perspective employers check it out. They get to know about my hobbies, see what I look like, and read my recommendations. It's actually been very helpful.

cablegod

eMeS wrote: »

One day not too long ago he sent me a connection request on LI. I replied "Go f*ck yourself.".

MS

I just knew you were awesome. That just reaffirmed it.

networker050184

tpatt100 wrote: »

I won't do Facebook though. I don't want religious, or political views or something stupid I might say clouding the judgement of potential employers or even current ones.

My view also. There should be a definite line between professional and personal life IMO. I do have a Facebook I visit like once a month, but nothing professional. I wouldn't want a current employer or potential employer to get the wrong idea because one of my drunk friends left some crazy comment or brought up some old memory of teen mischief.

Hyper-Me

I have my FB pretty locked down and wouldnt want an employer looking at it.

Not that there is anything bad, but you never know how people will take things, especially on the internet.

LI is cool, I can't say ive "benefited" from it but I could see it happening one day.

NetworkingStudent

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I realllly don't like Facebook. It just doesn't at all appeal to me. Somehow I don't think I am alone on that.

+1 I'm not a fan of facebook eithier

I really don’t like the whole concept of sharing 90%-%100 personal life on Face Book. I think that site encourages people to share way to much info!! Why should people be encouraged to share their full name, plus picture? However, my biggest fear with facebook is that employers and employees try to get others to join their facebook page, and this can cause controversy among many groups of people. What if you say something that is offensive to your boss, or a co worker? Moreover, what if you call in sick, but display a picture of a new TV you just bought, would you still have a job? If your employer is your friend, you may find yourself out of a job.
I love linked in….
I have a linked in account, and I love the fact that you can share a little or a lot of information. My favorite thing is the groups you can join, I like getting the discussions sent to my email box.

dynamik

I actually deleted my FB account a few weeks ago. Only a small percentage of my "friends" on there are actually my friends, and I don't like updating the world on what I'm doing with my personal life. I use LI for keeping track of business contacts, and that's enough social networking for me.

veritas_libertas

dynamik wrote: »

I actually deleted my FB account a few weeks ago. Only a small percentage of my "friends" on there are actually my friends, and I don't like updating the world on what I'm doing with my personal life. I use LI for keeping track of business contacts, and that's enough social networking for me.

Same here, yesterday evening I deleted my Facebook account. I just don't use it.

eMeS

dynamik wrote: »

I actually deleted my FB account a few weeks ago. Only a small percentage of my "friends" on there are actually my friends, and I don't like updating the world on what I'm doing with my personal life. I use LI for keeping track of business contacts, and that's enough social networking for me.

To be fair, aren't all of your "friends" really just people who feel sorry for you?

MS

eMeS

tpatt100 wrote: »

I won't do Facebook though. I don't want religious, or political views or something stupid I might say clouding the judgement of potential employers or even current ones.

In fairness though, it's possible, and people often do, display similar information about themselves on LinkedIn, and in many other ways as well.

Almost everyday I see people that display on LinkedIn their political affections, religious preferences and other personally-related things that most of us wouldn't want prospective employers/customers seeing. I probably have 1 or 2 things on my profile that are a bit iffy from a professional standpoint.

Generally I don't care what people think or do on their own. That's everyone's own business. As an potential employer for someone what I definitely don't want is that kind of stuff blatantly shoved in my face. I don't care if someone is a member of the democratic, republican, or racoon **** hair political party. What I would care about is if someone has a personal mission to convert others to their way of thinking.

Occasionally in the middle of the night if I need something I have to head up to the local Wal-Mart. There is a young woman that works there. On her smock she wears a piece of flair that says "Make the Scary Republican Go Away!". I live in Texas, which at the moment is mostly Republican. I don't even completely disagree with her sentiment. However, I really don't want to see nonsense like that advertised in my face when I go to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night to buy bananas for my kid's breakfast the next day.

Back to LinkedIn, I have one connection whom I worked with about 10+ years ago. He is a CIO at a small financial services company in New England. He regularly connects on LinkedIn to high-end escorts and prostitutes. It's very obvious and it gets communicated to all of his connections....

Despite all of this, IMO the dumbest thing on LinkedIn is the TripIt application, which handily displays when and where someone is traveling, and keeps a log of past travel activities....

MS

BradleyHU

Obdurate wrote: »

That reminds me I actually have a Linkedin account -- but damn if I know when the last time I logged in on it.

My guess is Linkedin is dying -- everyone uses facebook or twitter now (except me, I spend enough time on the computer).

~Obdurate~

you dont need to be on ya computer to be on twitter or fb...i hardly use my fb anyways, and i would never really use that to network, except with pplz i already know. but i'm on twitter heavy. and most pplz are using their smartphones (and dumbphones like voyager, nv, sidekick, etc) to access fb & twitter.

LinkedIn never really had the mass appeal that twitter, fb, and myspace have. LinkedIn was always professional type social network, so that weeded out alot of pplz.

eMeS

BradleyHU wrote: »

LinkedIn never really had the mass appeal that twitter, fb, and myspace have. LinkedIn was always professional type social network, so that weeded out alot of pplz.

This strikes me as funny.

"LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 60 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals."

If 60 million members isn't "mass appeal" then what is?

Is this less membership than Facebook and MySpace? Without a doubt. However, you do have to be 18 to register on LinkedIn.

MS

Aldur

eMeS wrote: »

This does not match what I've seen. I think of LinkedIn as almost an online version of your resume that can connect to other people's online versions of their resumes. Facebook is much more casual/less professionally oriented, and Twitter is used for an entirely different purpose.

+1

Everybody at work uses LinkedIn for business contacts and FB for friends and family contacts. To me this provides needed separation from work and social life.