Job-hunting on Linkedin: Recruiters, Groups and Networking, oh my!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Job-hunting on Linkedin: Recruiters, Groups and Networking, oh my!

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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

# ¿ Mar 26, 2013 10:08

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:12

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Brian Fellows posted:

I've got a couple of issues that always pop up when using Monster or any of the other job sites, maybe someone here can help me avoid getting the issues on LI. Or at least give me tips in general I guess?

1. I live far away from where I want to work. I've got a degree from the area I want to work in, but whenever I put my resume online tons of recruiters from the area I'm CURRENTLY in and have no interest in staying in email me. My resume and skills sell themselves, but is there any way (short of a blurb in my description, which I don't want my current employers to see) to give an "I'M ONLY INTERESTED IN OPPORTUNITIES IN THIS GEOGRAPHICAL AREA" vibe? Because up to this point 90% of my recruiter traffic I can rule out within 2 seconds.

2. I make more money than someone my age in my field typically does. That gives me two problems... first I'll get into discussions with a recruiter only to find out after talking for half an hour that they're talking about a job with a laughably lower salary, and second I'll get recruiters that'll instantly give up on me when they hear what I'm making now. I'm willing to take a pay cut to move back to where I want to be, but for some reason, throwing out my salary has been a deal-breaker to recruiters up to this point. So what would you guys suggest is the right time to bring up at least my salary range that won't waste anyone's time and won't scare recruiters off immediately?

1. Save yourself the trouble and just list off where you want to work on your profile. If someone asks, tell them you're moving.

2. It's really not so much their business what you make now, but the numbers you're willing to work for. When they ask you what your salary range is, don't just say what you're making.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2013 21:39

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

evensevenone posted:

I'm the one who brought the distinction up, and I do think its important to at least be aware of. There are certainly good recruiters who work on contingency. The problem is that at least from what I've observed the bad ones are the ones you hear from the most. They don't really understand their industry and they cast a really wide net for applicants because they suck at screening. So you need to be aware that the person calling you out of the blue and telling you that you are a shoe-in for a job may in fact be a moron.

Reputation is a big deal for established headhunters, but I suspect most of those guys leave the industry pretty quickly because they aren't having a lot of success.

Moral of the story: be aware of who you are dealing with and be suspicious if they don't really know what they're talking about.

A recruiter who is casting a wide net is doing his job correctly. He needs to cast a wide net to succeed at his job. Now, he may conduct an awful phone interview with you because he needs to talk to 200 people a day, has a thick foreign accent that is almost unintelligible, and does not consider it necessary to ever ask you more than three questions, but that will sort itself out on his end without any more hassle in your direction.

I've dealt with plenty of recruiters who suck rear end, and talk a big game about finding me a position and then disappear even after I try to call them back. They're lovely, whatever. Even they did not BS on me on an interview; if they didn't have an interview to get me, I didn't get one.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2013 21:47

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

HiroProtagonist posted:

If they're joining Stairmasters, they must be.

It sounds like you're trying to be snarky, so just in case that's not what you intended, it actually is quite difficult for goons unfamiliar with LinkedIn to network effectively. Trying to build a network without any common ground is quite difficult.

I'm a little confused at who is taking the piss in this thread now, because IIRC you or someone else did not recommend goon networking.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2013 06:41

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Sarcasmatron posted:

You seem to be doing the same thing you're accusing the OP of: there's no ONE TRUE WAY to use LinkedIn.

To refer to LIONs as a universally derogatory term is specious at best, and a bit dated given LI's definition: http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1146.

Again, I'm curious as to how many people you've hired or jobs you've gotten through LinkedIn, as the post you're quoting is at best an edge case.

LI's definition of a LION also says "Don't network with people you don't actually know."

If someone could kindly explain the benefit of having hundreds of contacts that you have no professional or personal relationship with whatsoever, that would be great.

Name Change fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Apr 11, 2013

# ¿ Apr 11, 2013 09:57

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

COUNTIN THE BILLIES posted:

When applying to a job on LinkedIn, what format is your resume/cover letter? Does it matter?

Some jobs want .docs, others dislike them for whatever reason. If you can send both a doc and a pdf, that is pretty good (since everybody can read a pdf).

# ¿ Apr 26, 2013 22:26

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I've been looking on the job market over the years and I've never not seen "2-5 years experience" as one of the blurbs for any serious job. Remember that the "requirements" are the employer's ideals and not a real requirement in many cases, and some postings have all sorts of poo poo that's really overblown in terms of actual importance to the position.

# ¿ May 15, 2013 23:01

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Quarex posted:

I just approved the requests from the random people who added me during the ~6 years my profile was just "my name/political science graduate student [no picture]." Now, to figure out why an Army squadron commander, the owner of a bead store, an attorney, and a seed marketer wanted to connect to me.

Has anyone tried putting their LinkedIn URL on a r�sum�? Does that look cool or stupid? I realize a lot of the information would be duplicated, but it seems like it could serve as shorthand for "incidentally I do know how to use the Internet (and might even have interpersonal communication skills)." I am sure that is what a "skills" section is for, but putting "COMPUTER AND INTERNETS" in a skills section seems even dumber still.

Though I sort of wish my knowledge of MS-DOS batch file scripting and text-based versions of WordPerfect would somehow come in handy at some job somehow.

I hyperlink it (in a tasteful headline manner, along with my website) when I send my resume in somewhere, since it's been some years since I have had to print a resume.

# ¿ May 17, 2013 08:58

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

This landed in my inbox today:

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130612170852-15454-hire-economics-don-t-waste-your-time-applying-to-job-postings

At this point I get about three calls a week on average. It's been well over a year since I've applied to anything but on a lark. Back when I did apply anything, I would only get callbacks for high turnover stuff like retail sales, where having a heartbeat, a free schedule, and no visible higher career ambition was more important than qualifications.

I think the trouble for a lot of people is to actually start networking, somehow. That can be hard out of school. You need that first job where you can meet people. That starts with posting a (good) resume on job boards. Actually using that resume to apply for stuff? Total waste of time. You need recruiters to call you with real openings.

Recruiters can be poo poo too. If it's an Indian with a thick accent who can't or won't tell you anything substantive about the job, just do yourself a favor and forget they ever called. If the recruiter is actually trying to touch base, learn what your deal is and what your needs are, that's a good opening. If the recruiter is trying to sell you on coming to an interview right now before giving any details, forget about them, he's trying to get you into a poo poo sales position or to work for an insurance company or something even more horrible.

If you are at a job and getting calls, don't settle for lateral movement if you can afford to sit there at your current job. Either they substantially beat your current pay or give you a position in the career you want (probably both if the job is any good).

# ¿ Jun 15, 2013 00:43

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

CarForumPoster posted:

Step 1) Join a gently caress ton of a groups related to your field. Dont bother reaiding or looking at them again, theyre just to rank in search.
Step 2) I did the following searches:
Recruiter narrowed to [My area],[My State]
Technical Recruiter narrowed to [My area],[My State]
Recruiter narrowed to [My University Alumni] (because you can add all of them as connections)
Engineering Recruiter not narrowed to anything.
Step 3) Add people til it makes you fill in captchas.
Step 4) When they add you, contact them about placement.
Step 5) Profit

I did this late last night and have spoken to one this morning on the phone with about 4 reply emails.

I already have about 20+ area recruiters as connections on LinkedIn that place people in my field. Most of them I picked up not through LinkedIn, but weirdly enough, through Careerbuilder (with a minority from Monster). Is anyone having any similar luck with other post-your-resume sites? I have only very recently had any luck with LinkedIn.

By the way, if you are on a resume site, update the resume once a month even if it is the same document. Otherwise you won't get calls. Expect an insurance company to send you an automail within the hour that you upload--ignore that and wait for actual recruiters.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2013 19:02

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Boris Galerkin posted:

OK, so I add the recruiters and then message then when they add me that I'm a blah blah blah and searching for a blah blah blah. They respond back and ask me to send them my resume.

Should I also be sending a cover letter to them at this point?

Never send a cover letter unless one is asked for.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2013 18:26

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

MrKatharsis posted:

It's so they can add a bunch of skills you don't have so when you show up to an interview you look like a jerk. Don't give them a word doc.

No. No, no, no. Give them a word doc. If you are actually afraid your recruiter is going to put lies on your resume, you're with the wrong recruiter or you're an idiot.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2013 20:28

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

VideoTapir posted:

Neither of those sites appear to have resume-uploading features. Jobserious appears to be a headhunter. (and it hasn't replaced Careerbuilder) ZipRecruiter just does job listings.

I tried signing up for job alerts at Jobserious, and it sent me to a page with a logo that appears to indicate it is the same company as ZipRecruiter. https://www.zipalerts.com/login They both also had the same weird autodetected location data in their alert forms.

When I see the same product rebranded and things redirecting to one another, I think click-bait link farm articles and phishing. Those sites seem really sleazy to me.

ZipRecruiter totally has a resume posting feature, for the record. JobSerious looks super-barebones and to basically be nothing but signing up for email alerts. I get enough unsolicited "email alerts" as is.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2013 21:30

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Trabant posted:

Joined Stairmasters recently, looking forward to learning from you all. However, regarding contacting HR/recruiters:

I'm confused. I've sent messages (I have InMail) to probably 10-12 recruiters over the many, many months that I've been looking to change jobs. These are people who (a) are employees of the company, not headhunters or vendors/contractors, and (b) explicitly say that those interested in jobs should contact them directly. In most cases, they are actually the person who posted the opening on LinkedIn. My messages are brief and to the point, like this:

but I'm getting absolutely zero responses. Worse, none of them are even visiting my profile. Am I too aggressive? Not aggressive enough? Should I include a link to my resume, apply first, something else entirely?

Thoughts and ideas are greatly appreciated. This whole endeavor has been very frustrating for me.

I think most people are poo poo at using LinkedIn, if that helps.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2013 03:21

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Trabant posted:

Thank you both. I'll keep plugging away at it and try not to freak out over not getting responses.

I'm finding more success by going through 2nd-degree contacts and establishing internal referrals anyway. Hasn't lead to a job yet, but at least I scored a couple of phone interviews and new contacts.

As an example, I finally got an acceptance to a connection request I made to a recruiter yesterday. I sent the request weeks, if not months ago. He immediately sent me a mail about [position] at [company]. I replied back almost immediately and have yet to hear anything further about anything. To some people LinkedIn is just a thing they have, like Facebook, rather than a serious tool.

Not all recruiters are created equal, either. Some of them are just terrible.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 08:00

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

LinkedIn sometimes invents random endorsements that it suggests for people to give you based on keywords already present in your endorsements. Someone endorsed me for "Books." :wtc:

It's basically a way to keep you doing *something* on LinkedIn.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2013 18:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Mak0rz posted:

So what's the best course of action then? Or does it even matter? I'm not exactly getting them from strangers, at least. Considering the bullshit nature of LinkedIn endorsements I'm assuming anyone who matters probably doesn't even bother with them?

I don't think it particularly matters one way or the other how much you pay attention to endorsements.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2013 02:30

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

So here's something I did on LinkedIn very recently. Someone in the thread has probably done something similar and posted about it, but it likely deserves to be repeated, so:

1) I wanted to be on the radar of recruiters in targeted businesses/industries.

2) So, I searched LinkedIn for:

-People in [Place I'm in]
-In Staffing and Recruiting
-Who are a 2nd Connection
-In [X Business]

You can ask these people to friend you without LinkedIn checking if you actually know them.

3) I friended 40-60 recruiters within 72 hours. I would say 90%+ of them accepted, because what does a recruiter love more than recruits? I am friends with so many recruiters now that LinkedIn thinks I should join network groups for recruiters.

4) Within less than a week, I noticed I was getting way more search hits, in the vein of 50-200% more than usual on any given day. Within two weeks, I was getting way more profile hits and getting friended by more recruiters.

5) Stuff happening, we'll see.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2013 07:07

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Mak0rz posted:

This might be a question better suited for the grad school thread, but here goes anyway. Today I decided to go back to my profile and actually add content. I'd like to get my academic projects in there as part of my profile. I wrote an M.Sc. thesis and did a research paper over the past three years and the supervisors of both projects are interested in turning their content into scientific publications. I'd like to at least say a few things on LinkedIn about them if that would be beneficial*, but I'm apprehensive about revealing pre-published information out of fear of getting scooped.

Does anyone have any tips for this or at least information about whether or not it's a good/relevant idea to include it?

* I don't really have much in the way of professional work experience so academic projects are most of what I have going for me. I think they would be pretty good things to mention.

You can do things like have direct links to portfolio items in your profile. "Here is my education! Here is a project I worked on during that education!" Whether it contains sensitive information is not really something I can comment on, that's your call.

I would focus on getting your keywords down and figuring out under what circumstances you want people to find you.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2014 21:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Shnooks posted:

I applied to a job on LinkedIn yesterday - is it weird to connect with the recruiter?

Should probably read the OP.

LinkedIn connections are not your friends. Use LinkedIn to promote yourself!

# ¿ Jan 7, 2014 21:09

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Erdricks posted:

I haven't used LI in about 3 months, but when I got on today and decided to browse the people you might know feature it wanted me to start putting email addresses in, like I was some kind of spammer. It's not like I've been doing much lately, but even before I took a break I hadn't done a mass invite spree since I signed up about 18 most ago. What gives?

LinkedIn has built-in protections against sending invitations to just anybody. If it's someone you connect with, it wants the person to be able to corroborate that you worked with them or to have some or other connection, like an email or another connection in common. LinkedIn is officially still against open networking, even though many people are circumventing this as a rule now.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2014 21:27

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Tai-Pan posted:

Sure, I totally get this. And as much of a dick as I came across, I try to make time for as many of these as I can, usually about 1 a week. I just hate it when the attempt is to be an end-run around an interview, but I am more forgiving with people just starting out.

Now, if you are more advanced in your career you should make it worth my time if you expect me to respond. As an example, I had someone say that he had mapped out three marketing strategies that we were not using and he wanted to review them with me with the expectation we keep him in mind when we had an opening.

That got my loving attention.

What is the point of "connecting" with people you don't know. On the balance, it will either be useless or annoy them. Why would you want either of those?

I don't know where you are in your career, but I actually had this exact discussion with some more senior folks and every one of them has started marking all of these people as spam. Frankly, I think India has started causing a lot of this attitude because I get 3-5 requests a day from Indian SEO/PPC/Web Development/Tech Support company owners every day.

The circle of people I actually "know" in real life makes for a functionally useless LinkedIn network, as a lower-level professional. I'm not on LinkedIn so that I can move laterally along my career or not at all, since my coworkers certainly don't have jobs for me (now or probably ever) and may often be looking for the same jobs I am. If you are not doing social networking as a starting professional, good loving luck.

I don't use open networking to ask people I don't know for coffee. That's weird and reeks of multiple bad signals unless I really have a detailed thing I want to discuss with you, as you mentioned. I use it to connect with recruiters to facilitate mutually beneficial relationships and secondarily increase my site visibility. Recruiters being far more proactive on the whole LION thing than I am anyway.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2014 21:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

smackfu posted:

My LinkedIn is kind of a mess. I work for one large company, generally on one project, but occasionally get put on a part-time temporary assignment for 6 months or so. So at the moment, I have myself listed as having two positions at my employer, one as a Lead Software Developer with a description of my regular job, and one as a Software Consultant with my temp job. This makes sense to me, I guess, but I think it comes off as confusing. Any advice? Do people use Projects for this?

Why not just list yourself as "Lead Software Developer and Software Consultant" and then bullet point as normal?

# ¿ Jan 29, 2014 23:05

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

HiroProtagonist posted:

Honestly I am not sure it matters a whole lot. I doubt anyone cares enough to investigate the possibility that someone may or may not have "swapped recommendations." There is also a number of perfectly legitimate reasons that two people would recommend each other that casts no aspersions on the value of either recommendations.

Don't overthink things.

I had a professor (also fairly high up in the Microsoft hierarchy in my field) who who gave me a rec but didn't want one in return to avoid such an appearance. That was 2011 though, and I think he's softened up on that actually. I think the way LinkedIn is being utilized is evolving past the creators' original intent.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2014 01:33

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Star Man posted:

So I'm a working stiff that got fired from his last job three months ago. I created a LinkedIn account because a job I was applying for with Red Robin has a feature to use information from your profile.

My education can be summed up to an associate's degree and a mountain of credits for an unfinished undergrad in university. I'm mainly trying to find a stable, full-time job in whatever menial labor position I can fill while I ride out my year of residency for in-state tuition. Is having a LinkedIn profile worthwhile for that kind of job search?

What is your asssociate's in? I did absolute jack with my LinkedIn for a long time before starting to work on it and network, so I wouldn't take it down or anything.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2014 12:29

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

spacejung posted:

Here's a link to an example of a practice that is probably fairly rare, but it may serve as a cautionary tale to some.

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...cal-job-seekers

One thing I'm always wary of is people who seem to make most of their living off of LinkedIn connections. As far as I can tell that's the only time you are going to run into a reaction like this.

This is more just someone initiating their own personal social media catastrophe. Also, if it's not a recruiter I am not really into the whole unsolicited connection thing. I know of few people outside of recruiters who really even give a poo poo about their LinkedIn accounts, and not all recruiters do either. I have had recruiters who post Facebook-y updates to their feed.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2014 01:23

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I'm currently doing one of those one-month free LinkedIn account upgrade trial offers. It's worth noting that one of the features is being able to use InMail to make unsolicited connection requests.

At this point, the whole "don't network with people you don't know" line coming from LinkedIn is finely powdered bullshit.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2014 23:57

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Tai-Pan posted:

Then, if you believe that is true, Linked-In is absolutely destroying the only value it had whatsoever.

If you think "500+ connections" is the future for everyone then just kill the whole site now because it is nothing more than a searchable resume database. If all connections are meaningless then there is no point in connecting in the first place, right?

Just put your resume on Indeed and be done with it.

Did you pause to consider what it was besides this?

Most current resume databases suck and make networking directly with recruiters impossible.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2014 20:12

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

It's long been talked about that LinkedIn has some algorithm/protections against connection spam. For obvious reasons, LinkedIn does not articulate what these protections are or really even confirm they exist.

What is definitely true is that the site now encourages you to be a LION and uses fewer networking restrictions as a selling point for account upgrades. Open networking still doesn't mean "drop a connection request to everyone ever without thought," though.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2014 21:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Jerome Louis posted:

A recruiter contacted me for a position. I've seen the position posted on the company website and it's something I could do, it's just that it's a senior level position and the requirements for it were an MS with 5 years of experience or a pHD with 3 years of experience. I'm a BS with 2 years of experience so I didn't bother applying. We're discussing the position tomorrow over the phone. Is this something recruiters commonly do - go after people even though they might not fit the requirements for the job? Do I realistically have a chance? I'm gonna go for it either way.

I wouldn't get into a "I might get this job" attitude about a position that a third-party recruiter (if this is indeed third party) lined me up for until I actually have an in-person interview for it. I would still apply for it, but it's not really anything until the company in question acts on it.

Recruiters vary wildly in quality.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2014 22:55

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Jerome Louis posted:

This is actually an internal recruiter, either way I'm not getting my hopes up too much

If it's an internal recruiter just follow up on it and apply, out here in Seattle people would die to have internal recruiters call them.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2014 00:29

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

corkskroo posted:

I assume you guys have seen this making the rounds on LinkedIn:

Jesus Christ.

Yeah that's been around a month or two now. Good stuff.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 21:31

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Tai-Pan posted:

She is obviously a nasty hateful person, but you can imagine that after getting hundreds and hundreds of requests she might snap. I think I heard that the instructions on getting into the job bank are pretty clear that they are only for senior professionals.

I too flip out and try to make people feel bad because they dare to message me on a networking site.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 18:28

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I heart bacon posted:

I wonder if she had no idea that this would ever get passed around the internet and not in a way that would make her look all that fun to be around professionally or casually.

It's clear she's an evil moron, so probably not.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2014 00:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

ObsidianBeast posted:

I disagree, although I'm willing to admit that maybe I'm incorrect, but I'd consider your job title to be something you don't just make up. If you don't like your title, you should talk to someone who can actually change it, but I don't think you should just put down something that sounds good.

Again, maybe I'm wrong or naive or something, so correct me if I'm wrong, but your description of a job is where you can go into more detail of what you actually did, and the job title is whatever you agreed to when you took the job.

The most I'm willing to do on a job title is change it to what I actually do and that will come up in searches, as opposed to whatever arcane, meaningless terminology my company uses. It's also important to get out from under your job title if it's not what you want to do in your next job.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2014 18:40

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

There seems to be an off-and-on misconception in this thread that you should use LinkedIn to do unethical, irresponsible things, like:

Connect to absolutely everyone and spam out connection requests all the time, forever. No, connect to the people you are interacting with and with the recruiters you want to interact with. People on LinkedIn are not your Facebook friends, so you don't have to "know" them. LinkedIn officially doesn't like LIONs, but in practice they actually encourage this behavior and try to sell you on account upgrades by making it easier to do. You won't get anywhere on LinkedIn if you limit yourself to people you work with/your college friends. They don't have jobs for you and they probably want the same jobs you do.

I recently went through an interview process at [Tech Company.] I didn't get the job. I still connected with all the recruiters I interacted with there, which was helped along by the fact that they were in my gmail address book at that point. It's a large company and not all doors are closed.

Lie on your LinkedIn resume. Please don't. This will only lead to bad things. If you are officially an Analyst II, you can put that down. If you are an Analyst II but you are actually recognized as the foremost analyst out of the people you work with, you might get away with "Senior" or "Lead." That wouldn't be lying or even really dishonest. If you want to skirt around the issue entirely, leave out "II" and just make sure your bullet points describe how god-drat great you are at analyzing. If Analyst isn't descriptive enough, use what you actually do if it sounds better/will get better hits off recruiters.

LinkedIn is ideally an at-a-glance resume that targets the position/field you actually want to work in. You should be aggressive with how you use and promote your page, without being overzealous or foolish.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2014 20:19

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

HiroProtagonist posted:

Whee, Linkedin just saw fit to give me another month free of premium.

I'll take some time to figure out what might have changed since the last time they gave it to me and update accordingly.

They are now pushing upgraded membership really hard as a way to make unsolicited connections. It literally suggests me random people to friend, without having to know any contact details, on my own current free month. "No open networking" is dead.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2014 17:57

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Tai-Pan posted:

I still have yet to see a single suggestion or anything like this. Can you share a screenshot?

This will completely end LinkedIN as a professional tool.
It will become nothing but a cesspool of the unemployed.

I'm doing a one-month freebie of Premium. If I go looking through profiles of connections, I can literally just connect with anyone it suggests on tabs that open up on the right-hand side.

Between rampant LIONs before this ever got underway and Premium being a buy-in to not having as many doormen between you and making connections, do the math really. From my vantage point LinkedIn is networking for recruiters and people who want jobs and not really anything else.

(A network that just establishes that you work at a company and are important to others has no actual utility.)

# ¿ Jun 20, 2014 20:01

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

We seem to have this conversation about the utility and responsible use of connection requests over, and over, and over again.

Certainly LinkedIn should not and does not cater only to seasoned professionals and should not stonewall anyone without a job, "cesspool" though they may be.

Recruiters use LinkedIn a lot to talk to people they don't actually have a professional relationship with, using it in a way very similar to Careerbuilder or Monster (for the record, the calls I get from recruiters finding me on actual job boards is still much higher than it is on LinkedIn even after I spent some time aggressively seeking out recruiters on LinkedIn).

LinkedIn is both a job board and facilitates networking. Networking is about getting a job or a better job. Presenting LinkedIn as a walled garden where you can show Bob your new bone-white business card, or that it was once intended for that, is really disingenuous and obviously incorrect when you load up the basic UI.

What's at issue here is whether or not LinkedIn is breaking down the barriers between professional networking and JOBAPALOOZA.COM THE #1 JOB BOARD ON THE NET. Arguably, it is. It's simply easier to make connections when you have a paid account. You can send requests to 2nd-tier connections without getting a "how do you know this person" dialogue if you know what you're doing, with or without Premium access. Advertising for Premium clearly states better connectivity as a selling point. This enables people who have no idea what the gently caress they're doing to poison the well a little.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2014 01:25

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:12

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Putting your LinkedIn on is a good idea and is what I do. Anyone who puts their Facebook or Twitter on a resume is an idiot.

Tai-Pan posted:

I think your perspective might be a bit skewed on this. I can understand why a junior person without many connections would feel like "95%" of LinkedIn is talking to recruiters. Thats what you are and who you know.
But _most_ of us in the business world are not starting out; People starting out is the small minority.
The vast majority of LinkedINs participants are not using it to find another job.

You don't understand LinkedIn. The largest and fastest-growing demo on LinkedIn is students/college grads. Your profile is structured like a resume. The site is self-evidently geared toward finding a job, and this is what they market their main purpose as, with aiding hiring managers going hand-in-hand. The main difference between LinkedIn and a job board is that LinkedIn's profile is much more articulated and there is an actual social media mechanic. This is where LinkedIn proves more valuable than the many job boards.

Insisting that LinkedIn is designed as an exclusive social club for people who have and love their jobs is silly.

Name Change fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Jul 1, 2014

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 00:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Job-hunting on Linkedin: Recruiters, Groups and Networking, oh my!

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