Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Hughlander
May 11, 2005

I have an "All-Star" profile but the circle isn't 100% full. So I head over to "Improve Your Profile" and it turns out a Project I created for one of the games I worked on doesn't have a description. I quickly add one and get a toast popup of: "Sorry, there was a problem processing your request. Please try again."

This has been going on for the past 3 days that I've tried this. Anyone see this before?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

Sarcasmatron posted:

TL;DR: LI is not a vending machine. Build a compelling profile, maximize the size of your network, and recruiters will come to you.

Well said. Going to add this post to the op later.

Perfect summary of the advice I'd give someone myself.

Kaysette
Jan 5, 2009

~*Boston makes me*~
~*feel good*~

:wrongcity:
Can we talk about lovely profile pictures we see? This is the most professional pic some guy could find:

Hughlander
May 11, 2005

This isn't PYF, so I hope we can't.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

Hughlander posted:

This isn't PYF, so I hope we can't.

Yeah, pretty much. Please don't do mockery here, if you really find a horrible person on Linkedin (and they exist), just take it to PYF instead. I, and others, will see it there and enjoy the hell out of it.

Let's just keep this thread to a more constructive tone.

HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Mar 18, 2013

hackedaccount
Sep 28, 2009
Give me a little guidance here if you don't mind.

I joined the group, I was accepted, and connected to one person in the group who's a 2nd degree contact. When I view any other profile in the group I get the "buy the recruiter upgrade" thing and I assume it's because everyone is a 3rd degree connection or higher.

How do I go about connecting to the other goons? Do I need to spring for a month of the premium recruiter service, build more connections within the group, and then hopefuly a bunch of other members will then be 2nd degree connections when the month is up?

KetTarma
Jul 25, 2003

Suffer not the lobbyist to live.
Join a dozen professional groups that hit your fancy, spam invite some recruiters to build a network. Join the local "networking" groups for your area. Do the same. I'm at about about 200 connections and am a second degree connection with almost anyone that I'd want to connect with for actual job crap.

hackedaccount
Sep 28, 2009
Yeah I'm doing that and I answered my own question.

If you're in the same group with someone you can go to the members list, mouse-over their name, and a "Invite to Connect" link will appear far to the right of their name. It's kinda weird because I can invite using this method but if I view their full profile first there is no option to connect, only to buy the premium service.

Ah well, invites incoming, let's build our networks!

Johnny Five-Jaces
Jan 21, 2009


I'm really dumb and cannot figure out where to put in the comment when joining the group. I tried to message the group leaders and it wouldn't let me.

MC Fruit Stripe
Nov 26, 2002

around and around we go

AgentSythe posted:

I'm really dumb and cannot figure out where to put in the comment when joining the group. I tried to message the group leaders and it wouldn't let me.
The same thing happened to me, it looks like that is disabled. Oh well, I have tried to join - my Linkedin account has been tragically neglected and I would like to start remedying that.

hackedaccount
Sep 28, 2009
Yeah it's weird. Put in the request, then go to the Groups dropdown and select Your Groups.

On that screen you'll see your groups, along with Stairmasters. Near the Stairmasters entry there is an option that's like "send a message to the admin of this group" or something. Click that and send the message that way.


EDIT: Might want to put this along with how to connect to people (what I asked about earlier) in the OP. LinkedIn doesn't have the best UI.

EDIT 2: Ah blah, didn't see the thing about you not being able to message the admins. Can't help ya with that one, sorry.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007
As far as not being able to message admins is concerned, I have no clue, I'm sorry. Does Linkedin show you anything that might give a clue why? I'm having trouble visualizing what you're seeing and it's tough to figure out what the problem might be on my end. It's one of the problems that being the type of person who needs to do hands-on troubleshooting has. :/

But as far as messaging to join the group goes, I think we need a new system, with all of the people who've had trouble with it. Would sending an email verification-type thing, for example, with your SA name and linking your Linkedin profile in the same email, be excessive?

Maybe we should just do away with it entirely. When I approve members, I check to see what industry they're in. So far, nobody in the furniture manufacturing business has popped up, so I assume they're actual goons. It seems like a lot of effort for something that doesn't seem to have been much of an issue so far.

The only other thing that I can think of to be concerned about is marketing shills sniffing out the sweet aroma of a captive audience from a large but insulated community and then joining the group to try and post garbage about their products and services. But if that happens, it's easy enough to fix the immediate problem, and then we could tackle the issue at that point.

And lastly, there's nothing on Linkedin that would directly link anyone there with a specific SA handle anyway. Unless you use the same username or something I guess, but in that case you probably weren't very concerned about it to begin with.

What do you all think? Change the verification method, or nix it entirely?

hackedaccount
Sep 28, 2009
I think you should just nix it. This sub-forum is viewable by people who aren't logged in so there's no good way to limit access.

Have one rule: The "no assholes" rule.

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



Up to you as it's work on your end but you could have them place some text in their profile and then link their profile to you in the application message. Or not, whatever.

MC Fruit Stripe
Nov 26, 2002

around and around we go

Totally TWISTED posted:

you could have them place some text in their profile and then link their profile to you in the application message. Or not, whatever.
LinkedIn is a professional website on which I attempt to con convince companies to give me a 6 figure salary and 4 weeks of vacation. I am not putting "GOONY GOON STAIR GOONS!" anywhere on it.

I dunno, I am relatively new to Linkedin, but are that many people just going to randomly join this group? It doesn't have one of those generic titles like "MCSEs" or "Electrical Engineers" or what have you.

crazypeltast52
May 5, 2010



MC Fruit Stripe posted:

LinkedIn is a professional website on which I attempt to con convince companies to give me a 6 figure salary and 4 weeks of vacation. I am not putting "GOONY GOON STAIR GOONS!" anywhere on it.

I dunno, I am relatively new to Linkedin, but are that many people just going to randomly join this group? It doesn't have one of those generic titles like "MCSEs" or "Electrical Engineers" or what have you.

LLJKs?

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



MC Fruit Stripe posted:

LinkedIn is a professional website on which I attempt to con convince companies to give me a 6 figure salary and 4 weeks of vacation. I am not putting "GOONY GOON STAIR GOONS!" anywhere on it.

I dunno, I am relatively new to Linkedin, but are that many people just going to randomly join this group? It doesn't have one of those generic titles like "MCSEs" or "Electrical Engineers" or what have you.

To clarify, I meant your SA profile, not your LI one.

Giant Enemy Cliche
Oct 10, 2012

"It was then that an ominous man stood beside me with a face of ill portent."
As a recent graduate with a not specifically vocational degree(English Language with Education Studies), a work history that contains working in a bar and doing odd bits of a music production, and an employment gap from going travelling, how useful will Linkedin be for me in my job hunt?

Everyone else's profiles are much more impressive than mine and I feel a bit like a fish out of water.

hitension
Feb 14, 2005


Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language
Why not teach ESL? It sounds like your degree is made for it and you can start immediately.

zmcnulty
Jul 26, 2003

Went ahead and made the group open, since I wasn't really screening anyone anyway. And the message/comment thing appears broken. If anyone has issue with this please let me know.

And when I say "open" I just mean that new joiners no longer need approval from a moderator. The group itself remains hidden unless you want to add it to your profile.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

zmcnulty posted:

Went ahead and made the group open, since I wasn't really screening anyone anyway. And the message/comment thing appears broken. If anyone has issue with this please let me know.

And when I say "open" I just mean that new joiners no longer need approval from a moderator. The group itself remains hidden unless you want to add it to your profile.

Sounds okay to me.

In unrelated news, I have a job again now, and again, thanks to Linkedin!

I applied through the site directly (i.e. no third party job site was linked through the "Apply Now" button). Two rounds of interviews and three rounds of negotiations later and I have a decent salary and a fat incentive package. :toot:

I'm really just saying this because now that my job search is over, if anyone asked for me to critique their profile or asked a question and I never got back to them, please remind me. Odds are that if you feel ignored, I may have just been prioritizing and didn't mean to leave you hanging.

Good luck goons!

Fuschia tude
Dec 26, 2004

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

ObsidianBeast posted:

Once you start building up your contact list, this sort of snowballs since the "you may know" seems to be at least somewhat based on your current contacts. Every once in a while I'll pull up the "you may know" page and just scan through for anyone I even recognize and send them a request. This includes high school friends, former coworkers, current coworkers, family, friends of family members, coworkers of family members, pretty much anyone. I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but make a connection with pretty much anyone. It's not expected to have any more communication with them after you are a contact (like being Facebook friends implies), so the more contacts the better.

Yeah this is probably a bad idea.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007
What am I missing? It's not clear what we're looking at in the screenshot, to me.

PrivateEyeball
Nov 7, 2009

L'etoile du Nord
Is there any way to make the "JOBS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN" section show jobs that I'm interested in?

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



PrivateEyeball posted:

Is there any way to make the "JOBS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN" section show jobs that I'm interested in?

I'd he interested in this too. I bet the answer is no though because its pretty obvious the LinkedIn algorithm is total poo poo.

Xandu
Feb 19, 2006


It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.
Mine works fairly well. I'd say about 30-40% are stuff I'm interested in, and a lot of the rest are in my field, just not anything I'm anywhere near qualified for, like job postings for a director even though I'm near entry-level.

I don't know what it's based on, maybe the groups I'm in and the fact that my previous jobs are similar to what I'm looking for help.

Omgbees
Nov 30, 2012

Xandu posted:

Mine works fairly well. I'd say about 30-40% are stuff I'm interested in, and a lot of the rest are in my field, just not anything I'm anywhere near qualified for, like job postings for a director even though I'm near entry-level.

I don't know what it's based on, maybe the groups I'm in and the fact that my previous jobs are similar to what I'm looking for help.

This happens to me as well, you get ads for junior management and director level roles in the same email. I think it's just key words from your profile.

HiroProtagonist
May 7, 2007

PrivateEyeball posted:

Is there any way to make the "JOBS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN" section show jobs that I'm interested in?

I would like to know those specifics too. My job suggestions are fairly targeted, but I also have only joined (a great many) groups that are very relevant to my profession. Even so, I still get suggested jobs that are way outside my level of experience and geographic area from time to time.

I don't know if there's a way to customize it further, but it does serve a purpose of suggesting jobs that you might be interested in but hadn't thought to look for.

I am hoping there is a goon that works as an SEO-type and/or developer for Linkedin somewhere who sees this thread and can offer some insight. I'm not displeased with the way it works right now, but it could really be better, and I'd love to know more specifics about how that particular algorithm works.

My best suspicions are that it primarily looks at the most active groups you're a member of, the geographics of their membership, as well as the keywords hits in your profile. I would also bet that the keywords it prioritizes are those listed as your "specialities" as well as the skills you've been endorsed for. Mainly because I can't think of another more useful purpose for that feature (endorsements).

HiroProtagonist fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Mar 24, 2013

Slig
Mar 30, 2010
I received a message from the founder of a company that seems to deal with setting military vets up with jobs but I've never been in the military. In the message she asked for my phone number, though we've had no previous contact. Maybe the internet has made me paranoid, but I'm wary of giving my phone number out to random internet person who has just contacted me for the first time. How common is it for recruiters to just come out and ask for your phone number? It's the first message I've gotten over LinkedIn so I'm probably overreacting. Is this just the way it's done?

evensevenone
May 12, 2001
Glass is a solid.
It's pretty normal, but that sounds like kind of a sketchy company.

The thing with LinkedIn is that you're seeing their real name and employer so there's a bit less opportunity for complete fraud. Obviously, though, if you've never heard of the company... what their profile says doesn't mean a whole lot.

Dream Weaver
Jan 23, 2007
Sweat Baby, sweat baby

PrivateEyeball posted:

Is there any way to make the "JOBS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN" section show jobs that I'm interested in?

Today was the first time that I saw a job that I was remotely interested in and I applied.
Instantly.

Name Change
Oct 9, 2005


I get caught up in what order to place things on my profile. Right now I lead in with Summary/Education/Recommendations, because I have two strong recs at this point.

In addition, I have had numerous classmates endorse me for various technical writing skills, but I haven't jumped on the boat and just started handing out endorsements willy-nilly (or any yet, for that matter). Wondering what the practical benefit to doing that is, not counting recruiters doing it.

(Also, boy howdy am I glad posting in groups appears to largely be a waste of time past a brief introduction, because that's how it always came across to me). A lot of my old classmates take to posting every little vaguely professional thing they are up to online, which increases search visibility I'm sure, but not necessarily anyone's interest. I try to keep on the basics, like my profile description, instead of blowing smoke like I'm just so busy that I don't need a job!!!

Name Change fucked around with this message at 10:14 on Mar 26, 2013

oxsnard
Oct 8, 2003
Thought I'd chime in really quick regarding groups. In most cases they're really useless. Even my environmental engineering masters alumni group for the school I attended is filled with discussions from the unhireable, socially challenged weirdos who keep posting quality threads such as "How do I go about becoming an environmental engineer now that I'm graduated and didn't get accepted into the PhD program?"

That being said I've met some amazing folks in super specialized groups, like one for a regulatory atmospheric modeling software package (AERMOD). People in that group helped me finish my thesis without hesitation just to be nice. And I've made some new contacts I can ask about stuff all across the country. Groups can be really great if it's a small community with a pretty narrow and specific interest

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


At the expense of everyone knowing how dumb I am on the internet, what's wrong with my LinkedIn profile?

http://linkd.in/ZWPM2E

I really never get any people looking at me. I'm sitting at around 2 or 3 views per month and have never been contacted by recruiters or anything, and I have no idea why. What am I doing wrong? :(

oxsnard posted:

discussions from the unhireable, socially challenged weirdos who keep posting quality threads such as "How do I go about becoming an environmental engineer now that I'm graduated and didn't get accepted into the PhD program?"

Ha ha lets laugh at the jobless losers ha.

Three of Clubs
Dec 7, 2004
really truly?

Pollyanna posted:

At the expense of everyone knowing how dumb I am on the internet, what's wrong with my LinkedIn profile?

http://linkd.in/ZWPM2E

I really never get any people looking at me. I'm sitting at around 2 or 3 views per month and have never been contacted by recruiters or anything, and I have no idea why. What am I doing wrong? :(


Ha ha lets laugh at the jobless losers ha.

I can't view anything in your profile as you're a third degree connection to me. You're also someone that I can't connect to, all I can do is send you in-mails.

At a guess the reason why few people view your profile is because you have 22 connections so you're not in many peoples networks. I'd imagine that a lot of people, like myself, can't see your profile.

hitension
Feb 14, 2005


Hey guys, I learned Chinese so that I can write shame in another language
Your account isn't public. Simple fix!

Also, it seems like you're some sort of engineer, so this might not be applicable but: make sure people in your field use LinkedIn regularly. It's starting to permeate to all fields, but there are some fields (academia and government come to mind) where people don't rely on LinkedIn as much as their own networks.

KetTarma
Jul 25, 2003

Suffer not the lobbyist to live.
I would reduce the :words: of your summary a bit. It's good information; however, it takes a bit of effort to see the good bits. A lot (most) people don't want to read an essay.

Have you ever heard of an "elevator speech"?
The idea is that it is a ~30 second self-description that you could give to a Very Important Person over the course of an elevator ride. You should have that re-planned and memorized. It's generally used as your opening question answer for your job interviews.

That should be your summary.

Also, I would throw a ton of keywords into your skills section. I think you can fit 40 in there. That's like loading metadata into a webpage for search engines...except with linkedin searches.

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Three of Clubs posted:

I can't view anything in your profile as you're a third degree connection to me. You're also someone that I can't connect to, all I can do is send you in-mails.

At a guess the reason why few people view your profile is because you have 22 connections so you're not in many peoples networks. I'd imagine that a lot of people, like myself, can't see your profile.

hitension posted:

Your account isn't public. Simple fix!

Wait, really? :psyduck: I can see my profile just fine if I log out. I have it set to "make my profile viewable to everyone". Where do I change this so I can actually show up?

edit: Is that the whole "not in network thing"?

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



You should have a link set up something like linkedin.com/in/yournamehere that goes to a very basic HTML version of your profile information. Try doing that with the public settings.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Pollyanna
Mar 5, 2005

Milk's on them.


Ohhhhhhh, right.

Ok here it is

It's otherwise perfectly visible although the network restriction thing is still uh. a thing.

  • Locked thread