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LinkedIn: what is the purpose?



Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,738
Playing snooker
Is it a valuable networking tool for professionals?
Is it a place that people use to sound and feel important / successful?
Or is a bit of both - or maybe neither?

Genuinely interested as I don't have a LinkedIn account but I have read the profiles of a few people I know. I can see how it could be useful but doesn't it give the impression to your current employers that you are continually looking for another job?
 

Driver8

On the road...
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 31, 2005
15,944
North Wales
I had it once but was constantly hassled by recruitment agencies so I cancelled it (which is easier said than done).
 

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm
Helpful Moderator
Jul 21, 2003
19,738
Playing snooker
Makes it easy for ex-colleagues to get in touch, if they've got a job going they think you might be interested in.

Otherwise rubbish.

Suggest that for the strapline at the top of their homepage
 


Rugrat

Well-known member
Mar 13, 2011
10,212
Seaford
A place for people looking for a new job and in need of help to get it

A place where so called headhunters fish around because they have inadequate research capabilty

It's OK but fairly limited and I use it merely to nose around and see what work colleagues of yesteryear are up to
 

clapham_gull

Legacy Fan
Aug 20, 2003
25,128
I think it's one of those things that "when gets popular" it's really hard to fish out the value.

Seems to have become a bit of a vanity exercise with the "clustering" of profile. Oohhh - I'm an also looked at.

Makes me laugh when I look at people I've worked with and they've quite literally taken credit for work I did.

You could possibly have "a comments" section but Jesus :)

I read a boring trade website years ago where there was story about someone deciding to move from company to company I crossed paths with. Underneath the comments (something like):

mmm... didn't actually resign...

 

Superphil

Dismember
Jul 7, 2003
25,387
In a pile of football shirts
I've made a number of contacts through it and have secured considerable amount to of business from it, so it's OK by me. I think it comes down to how good your profile is, and how you go about making contact with people through it.
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Mar 27, 2013
51,892
Burgess Hill
A place for people looking for a new job and in need of help to get it

A place where so called headhunters fish around because they have inadequate research capabilty

It's OK but fairly limited and I use it merely to nose around and see what work colleagues of yesteryear are up to

Pretty much sums it up. Not just headhunters though - my firm (and loads of others) have an army of people that are paid to surf it looking for potential candidates (because it's on the face of it cheaper than using headhunters).

The newsfeed stuff is mostly either boring, or advertising masquerading as 'articles of interest'

Once on it, if your profile has anything indicating you hire people, agree contracts or similar you'll likely get bombarded with requests to 'connect'. Unless you're actually looking for a job or it's someone you know, usually best to ignore most of them. It's basically facebook for professionals.
 

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,320
Uffern
Makes it easy for ex-colleagues to get in touch, if they've got a job going they think you might be interested in.

I've had a couple of pieces of work out of LinkedIn - and potentially a couple more. I find it pretty useful
 

jakarta

Well-known member
May 25, 2007
15,616
Sullington
Although I'm on it have to say that I know virtually everyone I'm linked to in any case from a professional point of view (as you do when you work in a niche type of job) but at least people don't (on the whole) post the sort of crap they do on Facebook.

There are one or two technical groups I'm a member of which are of some interest to me but seeing as I'm hoping to pack in my Consultancy Work and just do my University Lecturing a few years down the road I will probably terminate my Account then.
 


Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
Helpful Moderator
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Apr 30, 2013
13,754
Herts
Umm. Probably the most successful marketing tool out there (for B2B, that is). Cheap as chips too.

An example: say that you regularly sell to a Project Manager, Subsea Pipeline Flow Assurance for BP, you can then search for similarly titled people in all BP's competitors and email them directly, using "InMail".

Generated at least £3m turnover last year from contacts initially made via LinkedIn.
 

Lyndhurst 14

Well-known member
Jan 16, 2008
5,109
Very over rated and irritating resource. That Microsoft paid $26 Billion for it beggars belief.

The fact that I’ve been endorsed on LinkedIn by people who haven’t a clue what I do for a living just about sums it up. Got my best job leads from people I met in the pub.
 

Sheebo

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2003
29,165
It's ok - the timeline is becoming like Facebook / the apprentice though. Use it for staying in contact with clients / associates but can't say it's a key tool for me.
 


Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,205
Brighton
I've made many contacts and secured my current job off the back off it. I've also used it as a recruitment tool when looking for hiring a specialism into my team. For me it's a very useful tool. Like most things you get out what you put in.
 

Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
55,530
Back in Sussex
Umm. Probably the most successful marketing tool out there (for B2B, that is). Cheap as chips too.

An example: say that you regularly sell to a Project Manager, Subsea Pipeline Flow Assurance for BP, you can then search for similarly titled people in all BP's competitors and email them directly, using "InMail".

Generated at least £3m turnover last year from contacts initially made via LinkedIn.

Yeah, but apart from that?
 

SUA Seagull

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2016
408
Stratford-upon-Avon
I took redundancy in my early 50s a few years ago and set up my own company. My former company snaffled my business cards and contacts data so I used Linked-In to establish contacts within my business sector and, all-in-all, it has turned out to be quite a useful marketing tool. This week, for example, it is running a series of very useful (and completely free) on-line lectures on management, finance and other business disciplines. It also enables me to check out the credentials of people who contact me (both invited and uninvited). My golden rules are not to use it like social media and to be very cautious about the people with whom you Link-In, as many people who approach you (particularly recruiters) are simply seeking to plunder your ideas or contacts. I reject far more “invites” than I accept. Many on Linked-In appear to use it in an effort to show others how popular they (apparently) are, by accepting contacts with everyone who Links-In with them. That’s not what it’s about. Used sensibly, it can be a decent networking tool. I have benefitted from one or two positive business openings from it. Equally, and quite importantly, it allows others to do their due diligence on you (...which is why your profile should be accurate, honest and error free). It’s about developing B2B contacts and, for me, (on balance) it just about merits participating in it. Like any social medium, it all depends on what you want to get out of it. But it is about business, and those who use it to waffle on about their private and social lives are usually dumped fairly swiftly. For sheer amusement value, some of the bulsh*t job descriptions and life experiences people quote are borderline gibberish, compiled from various sources of “management speak” text books. They are usually the invitees to avoid at all costs!
 
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FamilyGuy

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
2,365
Crawley
I've made a number of contacts through it and have secured considerable amount to of business from it, so it's OK by me. I think it comes down to how good your profile is, and how you go about making contact with people through it.

What he said
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Oct 8, 2003
49,061
Faversham
pointless. but I'm on it.
 

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