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I might have missed it in the OP, but I didn't see a lot of information on this: what is the best way to handle the "current position" requirement? I've been unemployed for a few months now, and LinkedIn keeps asking me for my current position. Do I say "unemployed"? That doesn't seem like the best way to draw attention.
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Mar 4, 2013 01:41
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The approach I would probably most recommend is to simply list your last full-time position as continuing to the present. Once you get hired somewhere else, you can change it back if you so desire. Nobody will care or most likely even notice the date switch. The most anyone will see is "StarSiren has a new job title!" on their news feed, or whatever the exact post looks like. I think the stigma against being unemployed is slowly fading, but it is definitely still around and it's good to be mindful of it as far as employment history goes. Resumes are a different story entirely (and yes, that should be accurate). Check with the resume thread if that's an issue as well.
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Mar 4, 2013 06:42
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Is "All-Star" the same as 100% profile completion? EDIT: For my headline I currently have "Seeking opportunities for blah blah blah". Is that fine or should I change it to something better? Mr. Big fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Mar 4, 2013 06:59
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Whoa, seriously? It's pretty dishonest to say you are still working at your last job when you're not. What happens when your potential new employer calls to check references and the cat comes out of the bag?
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Mar 4, 2013 14:00
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kansas posted:Just curious - what does connecting with someone you don't know (e.g. random person, someone in Stairmasters, etc.) actually get you? I would feel awkward asking a random person for support when they have no idea if I am a capable person or a corporate slacker. Conversely if someone I didn't know asked me for help I would be worried because I wouldn't feel comfortable effectively vouching for someone when I've never worked with them. The larger the network, the greater the likelihood that you have a 2nd degree connection that will be useful, either as a recruiter, an inside reference, or even a hiring manager in a given market or vertical. For example, if you're looking for a media or ad tech position in Southern California, I'd be a good person to request a connection with. At no point has anyone asked me to comment on a connection, and if they did and it was someone from here, I'd say "person I've interacted with on an internet forum". Bear in mind, when I was at Comcast Entertainment Group, we hired a senior Network Engineer who I knew from the internets and who hung out on our internal Counter Strike server for a year - the offer to interview for the position was made before anyone had met him face-to-face. At one of my gigs last year, we all made connection requests with each other right away, as it made it easier to see who had a connection over at Company X, and made it easier for initial contact if someone was introduced. We also used to mock people who had the email block up for invites, as it really is defeating the purpose of using the service, unless you're high enough up the food chain to have your assistant or a social media consultant manage your LinkedIn presence. -- I'm fairly confident most of the people in this thread aren't quite there yet. Having an inordinately large number of friends in the context of Facebook might appear to be an indicator of an underlying psycho-social disorder, but it's certainly not the case with LinkedIn. At the end of the day, the people using LinkedIn most effectively don't care about recommendations or endorsements - it's an expanded network that's of value. Feral Bueller fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Mar 4, 2013 |
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Mar 4, 2013 15:32
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HiroProtagonist posted:The approach I would probably most recommend is to simply list your last full-time position as continuing to the present. Once you get hired somewhere else, you can change it back if you so desire. Nobody will care or most likely even notice the date switch. The most anyone will see is "StarSiren has a new job title!" on their news feed, or whatever the exact post looks like. Absolutely do not do this. Your last position should show the actual dates of employment. The solution is to have your own business on the side, and keep at least a couple of clients/customers active, then you show an uninterrupted employment history and make a couple hundred bucks a month on the side.
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Mar 4, 2013 15:36
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I list my own brand as my employer. Even though I did all kinds of creative work, I'm predominantly an illustrator/designer, so that's what I'm emphasizing.
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Mar 4, 2013 19:01
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Mr. Big posted:Is "All-Star" the same as 100% profile completion? I'm thinking it is. I just hit 50 connections, and reached All-Star status. When I hover over the bubble, it doesn't show me the next level like it used to.
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Mar 4, 2013 20:58
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Sarcasmatron posted:Absolutely do not do this. This seems more accurate. I use to do freelance photography/videography for weddings, events and short films, but it's something I haven't touched for almost 3 years now (moved across the country and never re-established myself). Would it make sense to maybe list that as my "current" position even though technically I haven't done anything with it recently?
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Mar 4, 2013 23:30
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StarSiren posted:This seems more accurate. Yes. Ideally, go do something with it as well, even if it's shooting LinkedIn headshots.
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Mar 5, 2013 02:12
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kansas posted:
If it doesn't have a chance of biting you in the rear end, just give it, you never know when the favor would be returned.
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Mar 5, 2013 04:58
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Sarcasmatron posted:Absolutely do not do this. Your Linkedin profile is not your resume. The purpose of a Linkedin profile is to attract jobs; the purpose of your resume is to give potential employers a representative snapshot of your experience. Don't confuse the two. hitension posted:Whoa, seriously? It's pretty dishonest to say you are still working at your last job when you're not. What happens when your potential new employer calls to check references and the cat comes out of the bag? Any new potential employer, if they bother to check references at all before you interview with them (or you at least have an opportunity to interact with them in some way) will always ask first, and will be going off of your resume information, not your Linkedin profile. If a potential employer StarSiren posted:This seems more accurate. Yes, concerning Linkedin profiles, part-time employment is a great way to fill any perceived gaps in employment. If you can insert anything part-time in order to fill a gap in employment history, my advice is to try and do so. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Mar 5, 2013 |
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Mar 5, 2013 07:22
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I don't think I even had the option to include a comment when applying for the group, and no permission to message the group owners, but I just got accepted anyway so all is good! I will probably send out a few connection invites to some of you fine stair-manufacturing professionals.
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Mar 5, 2013 09:35
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Send connection requests, I'll gladly accept them, even if we aren't in the same field of business. I just want to expand my network. Like I said before, most of my connections are localized, meaning their from or around Croatia, and aren't even crucial for my job hunting as an illustrator/designer/writer. People from this area don't really know how to use LinkedIn, there is no mention of recruiters or anything like that, it's mostly just 'here, I've made one of those LinkedIn profiles, like professionals do'. So, this topic is very useful.
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Mar 5, 2013 11:55
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StarSiren posted:I might have missed it in the OP, but I didn't see a lot of information on this: what is the best way to handle the "current position" requirement? I had this problem too, I put down "Fellow job seeker" at "my university" as my job title. I have yet to have it be treated as a negative or mentioned in an interview.
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Mar 6, 2013 03:24
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I just got a message from a recruiter I connected with. It's a generic message asking if she can help me with anything, but it's an open door so I'll take it. Especially because there is a position on their website that I am both interested in and qualified for. And I'd be thrilled to land an interview. From what I've been learning, just landing the interview isn't enough to actually be interviewed. Also, thanks to the motivation stemming from this topic, my appearances in search results have quadrupled over the past week! I can only imagine it's going to skyrocket even more in the coming weeks.
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Mar 6, 2013 03:48
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I got an email the other day from Linkedin that said my profile was one of the "top ten percent viewed in 2012" or something of the sort. I imagine it has to do a lot with geographics (given the amount of government contracting that goes on in DC and my profession being heavily involved with business development concerns in that area), but I suppose it still says something.
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Mar 6, 2013 04:18
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My favorite part of LinkedIn is getting multiple messages from different recruiters for the same exact position (the description is identical down to spaces) at the same company at different salary ranges that sometimes don't even overlap each other. I'm very tempted to message the guy at the bottom and point this out to him.
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Mar 6, 2013 04:36
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Defenestration posted:If anyone is curious the character limit on connection request messages is about 300. I tried to send one to the director at another publishing company and I was ~400 characters over the limit on a 115 word message Sorry if this is late, but if you have a message you want to send that is in any way more in-depth than "Hey, I'd like to add you to my professional network, please check out my profile" or the like, then definitely make the connection before sending the message. Even just from what a couple other posters have said, depending on the app/OS that someone uses to access Linkedin, they may not even see any message attached to a connection request. kansas posted:Any suggestions for dealing with an impersonal/mostly unknown connection that is asking for me to give their resume to our HR department? I don't want to hand it to HR and either say 'I have no idea if this guy is good' nor vouch for someone I do not know. This person I literally met once at meeting a year ago. Guess I could just say I barely know them and don't feel comfortable giving their info to HR which would be a semi-implicit recommendation. What do you have to lose? Go ahead and forward their resume, just don't "vouch" for them if you don't feel comfortable doing so. The worst that can happen is that the person doesn't get hired. Who knows, you might luck out and get a nice referral bonus out of the deal if HR decides they want to extend an offer. Forwarding a resume isn't an implicit recommendation, at least to sane people. It's merely a "hey, this person is interested and check out their resume to see if they're qualified for anything we have available." kansas posted:Second question, has anyone ever been asked to provide an endorsement (the real kind, not the skill kind) for someone who is really terrible and most certainly does not deserve one? You owe it to the person requesting it to reply negatively, just to let them know if nothing else. For example, say you were in the reverse position, and a potential job came down to asking for an endorsement from someone who thought you were terrible, just never told you so? It's possible to phrase a rejection like this in very diplomatic terms; for instance, "I'm comfortable with being listed as a reference, but please make sure it's specific to a certain area," or, "thank you, I appreciate you asking me to be a reference, but I'd prefer if the request was limited to a particular area of expertise." That'd be the best advice I could give. koolkal posted:My favorite part of LinkedIn is getting multiple messages from different recruiters for the same exact position (the description is identical down to spaces) at the same company at different salary ranges that sometimes don't even overlap each other. Recruiters working for the same company are always competing, especially when it comes to the same or similar positions (ex: junior level versus senior level positions). Don't pay it any mind. You're the one in charge of requesting the salary you expect, don't rely on their given ranges as gospel. Some attention should be paid to the given salary ranges, but you'd be surprised how many hiring managers and recruiters are simply ignorant of the industry that they're recruiting for, and have no idea what a fair salary range is going to be. Rather than waiting for it to self-correct, if you're interested in a job but think the salary is too low, apply anyway and request a 'fair' salary when that time comes. The worst that can happen is the same result as if you never applied in the first place. e: Check out the "Growth" tab of Stairmasters.  NETWORKING
HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Mar 6, 2013 |
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Mar 6, 2013 04:54
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Got into stairmasters thank you. Sent a few requests myself! The only thing it would let me pick for hassle free adding is 'friend' but I don't think anyone even cares. edit: wow quite a few legit stair guys in there! Sancho fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Mar 6, 2013 |
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Mar 6, 2013 05:43
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HiroProtagonist posted:Your Linkedin profile is not your resume. The purpose of my LI profile is to give potential employers a representative snapshot of my experience, so by your definition it most certainly is my resume. Forbes agrees with me. There are a number of suggestions for how to deal with this issue. I have yet to see one that suggests saying you are currently employed when you're not. If you've got a link to one, I'd love to see it.
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Mar 6, 2013 05:51
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Sarcasmatron posted:The purpose of my LI profile is to give potential employers a representative snapshot of my experience, so by your definition it most certainly is my resume. Sorry, I think Forbes is wrong. Based solely on my own experience, a Linkedin profile is not a resume, and being unemployed definitely still carries a stigma to varying degrees. You're free to disagree though. As I said in the OP, everything I've written is based on my own experiences and those whom I've spoken to and advised about their Linkedin profiles. If nothing else, it simplifies the question considerably to simply leave things as-is until you find a new job. This is a great article though, I'm going to add it to the OP. e: I think this is a difference in semantics. By "representative snapshot of your experience," I meant that your profile gives a lesser version of the information in your resume. This is to include "less detail" as well as "less relevant experience." Sorry if that was unclear and caused a miscommunication. Your resume should always be the definitive and most polished (for the job you're applying for) representation of your professional persona. Linkedin might overtake that some day, but that's not the case yet. HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Mar 6, 2013 |
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Mar 6, 2013 05:56
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Sarcasmatron posted:The purpose of my LI profile is to give potential employers a representative snapshot of my experience, so by your definition it most certainly is my resume. I always tried to think of my Linkedin profile as a resume that is always "on" where people can get a decent idea of my history / achievements. I see other peoples profiles when I know they were terminated months ago and "haven't updated" their profiles, I think it would be fairly common. Not right, maybe even intentionally deceptive.
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Mar 6, 2013 10:56
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Can someone explain "InMail" to me? It looks like it's for people who have a closed network and requires that you have a connection with someone who is connected to them already but I want to make sure I understand what it is before I go asking colleagues to send an introduction on my behalf. TouchyMcFeely fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Mar 6, 2013 |
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Mar 6, 2013 16:07
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Omgbees posted:I always tried to think of my Linkedin profile as a resume that is always "on" where people can get a decent idea of my history / achievements. I agree with you there. I view my LinkedIn profile as a non-job specific resume that is out there 24/7. Someone compared it to a dating profile and I think that is a very reasonable comparison. I also think that people in different industries use LinkedIn very differently. And anybody reading this thread should keep that in mind. People giving advice in this thread should do the same. What is standard in one industry can be a big faux paux in others.
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Mar 6, 2013 16:31
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I'm trying to send a connection request to someone who posted a job that I want to know more about, but LinkenIn won't let me do so if I select the "I don't know [NAME]" option. Doesn't this clash with the OP's advice to connect to others when in doubt? Would it be improper to select another option like "Friend"?
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Mar 6, 2013 18:05
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LinkedIn as a website does not encourage adding people you don't know. I'm not sure what industry the OP is in where it's common to do so.
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Mar 6, 2013 18:13
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hitension posted:LinkedIn as a website does not encourage adding people you don't know. I'm not sure what industry the OP is in where it's common to do so. It's not common to a specific industry, it's common to using Linkedin for the purpose of finding a job.
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Mar 6, 2013 18:52
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I've had a couple of recruiters that I didn't know accept connections from me, but to be fair we had groups in common between the two of us. Maybe that's the trick.
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Mar 6, 2013 19:05
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It's fine if that's your personal style but people reading the thread should be aware that LinkedIn as a website really frowns upon this behavior and it can lead to account restrictions.quote:The LinkedIn User Agreement states that we have the right to restrict, suspend or close your account if warranted. Customer Service can often lift a restriction after you acknowledge you've read some educational information on proper site use.
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Mar 6, 2013 19:36
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hitension posted:It's fine if that's your personal style but people reading the thread should be aware that LinkedIn as a website really frowns upon this behavior and it can lead to account restrictions. I've got to agree with this guy. No offense to the OP or others in this thread, but I don't see the benefit of adding anyone and everyone you can get to accept your invite. I only accept people I recognize, and only send invitations to people I personally know (although that could just be someone I've emailed with a lot at work). If everyone was connecting with everyone else indiscriminately, it defeats the whole point of linkedin, and it might as well just be any other job search board. If you don't know the person, are they going to give you a recommendation? As we just saw, it's not likely. So really all it is doing is getting visibility to random recruiters, which from my point of view is more annoying than useful. There's a marginal benefit to adding other people who use the same message board as you, but I wouldn't recommend adding someone you don't have any connection to at all. Also, as mentioned, Linkedin also states you should only accept connections if you know the person.
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Mar 7, 2013 07:47
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GTGastby posted:If everyone was connecting with everyone else indiscriminately, it defeats the whole point of linkedin, and it might as well just be any other job search board. If you don't know the person, are they going to give you a recommendation? As we just saw, it's not likely. So really all it is doing is getting visibility to random recruiters, which from my point of view is more annoying than useful. This goes both ways. If everyone was only connecting with people they know, it defeats the whole point of linkedin, and it might as well just be any other social networking site. The existence of features like InMail and Get an Introduction implies that at some point, you'll want to connect directly to someone you're only loosely connected to. Isn't that why the site also tells you if someone is a 2nd or 3rd+ level connection? Any given user's viewpoint will be defined by how he/she answers the question "what's the point of linkedin." If you use it solely to keep a database of people who would recommend you/people you would recommend then certainly, it makes zero sense to add people who don't fit that description. It's also going to really depend on where you draw the line for words like "know" and "connection." I know you but we've never actually worked together -- would you recommend me for a job? zmcnulty fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Mar 7, 2013 |
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Mar 7, 2013 08:50
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I went through Stairmasters a few days ago to send connection requests to goons (didn't get far though because I couldn't find the "Connect" option for most people). Of course these goons can't vouch for me, but I'm using LI as a general networking tool to meet people in industries or geographic locations that I'm interested in. If I ever have a related question, I'll have name/email address to contact. By the same token, I'm happy to accept any connection requests thrown my way. For people who are in Stairmasters but aren't accepting/sending connection requests, why are you in the group? I'm also in a weird (self-imposed) situation because I'm avoiding people I've worked with in my current job (of 9 years). I don't want to tip off my office that I'm finally fed up with them and I don't want to freak out clients who will be unhappy with my departure. As a result, my sad little Contact List consists primarly of friends, family, and a few former (happy) clients. However, I've backed up my work address book so the minute I give notice, I'll be spamming EVERYBODY. On a different topic, LI's blog has a bunch of articles with general LI tips or geared toward Jobseekers. In particular, I found this article helpful: How to Get a Job with Your Dream Employer. PennoyerNeff fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Oct 3, 2014 |
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Mar 7, 2013 08:56
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Question, is there a way to see who you have already sent invites to and that hasn't accepted? When I scroll through the "People you may know" I send invites to people I actually know, but I don't want to send invites to people who won't accept for some reason. Edit: Sorry, that wasn't very hard, "Inbox", "Sent", "Sent Invitations".
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Mar 7, 2013 09:07
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PennoyerNeff- You're probably all over this but do be aware that LinkedIn is very, very searchable. It's usually the first result (even above Facebook) when I google a person these days. There are ways to make your profile information only visible to contacts, but nothing's ever really secret on the internet.
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Mar 7, 2013 14:00
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GTGastby posted:I've got to agree with this guy. No offense to the OP or others in this thread, but I don't see the benefit of adding anyone and everyone you can get to accept your invite. I only accept people I recognize, and only send invitations to people I personally know (although that could just be someone I've emailed with a lot at work). I wrote out in the OP why connections and having more of them is always a good thing. You're looking for visibility to recruiters, and combined with the other activities mentioned in the OP, adding more connections will cause your profile views to balloon. If you aren't looking to be more visible to recruiters, then this might be the wrong thread for you. C-Euro posted:I've had a couple of recruiters that I didn't know accept connections from me, but to be fair we had groups in common between the two of us. Maybe that's the trick. That absolutely is the trick! See the section about Groups in the OP. 
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Mar 7, 2013 15:04
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hitension posted:PennoyerNeff- You're probably all over this but do be aware that LinkedIn is very, very searchable. It's usually the first result (even above Facebook) when I google a person these days. There are ways to make your profile information only visible to contacts, but nothing's ever really secret on the internet. Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I'm aware LI is searchable. The plus side to being piss-poor at self-marketing is that nobody knows me by my LI name. =\
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Mar 7, 2013 18:27
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GTGastby posted:So really all it is doing is getting visibility to random recruiters, which from my point of view is more annoying than useful. I missed this the first time around but for people who are job hunting, this is EXACTLY what they want. Why wouldn't you want people whose job is literally to find you a job? Looking for a job is frustrating and annoying, especially when you're inundated with jobs you're not qualified for, don't want, etc., but it's better to have options than to not, period.
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Mar 7, 2013 18:43
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HiroProtagonist posted:You're looking for visibility to recruiters, and combined with the other activities mentioned in the OP, adding more connections will cause your profile views to balloon. Seconding this - Having more connections means you show up far more often in searches. It also allows more potential recruiters to send you a connection request for free instead of paying for the privilege of contacting you. If you're searching for a new job, your goal should be to make it as easy as possible for recruiters to find you and get in touch with you.
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Mar 7, 2013 19:26
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If your only goal is an immediate job search then post your resume on Monster.com or something. What I like about LinkedIn is the quality of the networking - particularly allowing me to keep in easily and without any effort touch with former colleagues, or people I've worked with from other companies. People who could actually help find a job. A million recruiters who are spamming job openings aren't worth the weight of one guy on the inside who is willing to personally deliver your resume to the hiring manager and put in a good word. I think if you are spamming connection requests you might have some short term gain but are sacrificing the long term strength of your network. Which is actually also probably why LinkedIn discourages it - because if it is just another job site then what's the point? Going to a company website and submittnig my resume directly does just as much good as a recruiter. I'm not disparaging recruiters - they serve a purpose and I always accept a connection request from one. But they are a small part of LinkedIn. Not the main purpose. Thoguh fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Mar 8, 2013 |
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Mar 8, 2013 03:22
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