A renewed interest in seeing what is out there jobs wise has prompted me to re visit my Linkedin profile.

I’ve never spent much time on or with Linkedin and apart from having a profile visible I’ve only a few connections.

Have you any suggestions as to how to make the most of the tool?

Best thing I ever did online was delete my LinkedIn account. I’m a freelance we developer and it *should* be my most essential tool – it has been quite the opposite.

Rachel

Instead of using Linkedin, why not just ask a number of random recruitment agents to deluge you with spam about imaginary jobs that don’t meet any of your requirements, on an hourly basis

It amounts to the same thing

Rachel – Why’s that then?

😆

Rachel/Binners it has been a bit like that.

Have you/were you able to salvage any positives?

I do love those standard messages ‘I’d like to connect with you’ from recruiters without any attempt to personalise it. They go straight in the bin. Like Rachel and Binners, I’m freelance so LI should be a fantastic marketing tool. Never use it tho, keep my profile up to date, quite interesting to see who views it and occasionally get mildly interesting in-mails.

Some of the groups are okay although it’s a bit STW in there sometimes.

Never been offered any work. I’m sure there are techniques to improve your marketability but that feels dangerously close to networking.

In summary – what they ^^^ said..

There are no positives. Its inhabited by the kind of recruitment consultants who make estate agents and tabloid journalists look reputable. They’re all completely full of shit, and are utterly devoid of principles.

My advice is to find who the best specialist recruitment agency is in your particular field, and go in, sit down and have a chat with them instead.

My experience has been good – some irrelevant jobs that they’ve described as “perfect” for me, but I have also been contacted by some good recruiters who’ve subsequently got me jobs.

My thinking is that it doesn’t take much effort to keep your profile up to date, and what’s the worst that can happen?

Beyond that, it can be useful to connect with people you really want to connect with, and if you do that be sure to write a proper message when you contact them.

It’s just an awful setup, seems to want me to create multiple accounts, and import contacts randomly, just awful

Facebook should just do a business version, they’d clean up

I’d say that it’s essential. Keep your profile up to date, as many potential employers HR depts use it for searching. Also agencies, as above.
It’s also used to check your CV, the two should tell roughly the same story.
Big companies use it to advertise jobs, it’s now one of the most fruitful places to look for work.

I’ve found it to be quite a useful tool in obtaining work.

It’s been more useful for me for tracking the movement of people that I already know in the industry and using that knowledge to identify opportunities. My last three jobs have been as a result of changing my linked in profile and being contacted by people I already know and have a real world connection with who’ve alerted me to opportunities that I might otherwise have missed.

My tips for making Linked in useful would be :

Only ever connect with someone you’ve previously met in the flesh.
Restrict the number of recruitment agents you’re connected with to only a couple who are applicable to your industry. Bin off all the others who will gather like vultures.
Set a strict limit on the number of contacts. It’s not a competition. I use 100 which is about the limit I find I can manage. When you reach that limit it’s “one in, one out”

Obviously, YMMV depending on your industry. HTH.

About the vast majority of contact I have through linkedin is agents trying to sell me candidates, despite not being on a PSL and having already been given the same message from several other people.

Then companies trying to sell me services direct, despite not going through the correct channel.

Then I get roles that have no resemblance to my profile

I’ve had no contact with a genuine agent for a genuinely interesting role.

I do question it’s value, but like mentioned up there, it really isn’t that tough to maintain.

I do find it interesting to occasionally browse old colleagues and see what they are up to now.

I’ve found it to be quite a useful tool in obtaining work

+1

I find it a useful tool for finding the right people to contact in regards to business development and sometimes when I am looking to recruit.
Basically all of Perchys comments above are sound for keeping it within limits and controllable.

My current gripe with it is that I can’t block my current employer (and colleagues) from seeing that I’d like to find a new job…. I’ve removed all of my current colleagues, however it seems that they could still view my profile as they may still be 2nd and 3rd connections

Its inhabited by the kind of recruitment consultants who make estate agents and tabloid journalists look reputable.

Isn’t hora on it?

I think it’s useful in several ways if used thoughtfully, particularly if you are applying to jobs directly. I would not connect to any recruitment agent. I would try to get recommendations from ex colleagues, customers etc. I would make sure I’m in any SIGs that are relevant to my expertise and make sure I’m active in them (value of that depends on what your expertise is).

I got my current job through LinkedIn.

Minimal spam here, perhaps I’m not as desirable as you guys though.

I’ve found the jobs section on it is really active lately, for my sector anyway (media).

Plus it’s great for when you want to congratulate people on their work anniversaries, of course.

IHN:

Rachel – Why’s that then?

Well, I have found that being involved at the core of my particular corner of the industry is far more useful.

Organising and speaking at conferences (drupalcamps) and getting involved in the further development of Drupal 8 has made the difference between needing to look for work and the work looking for me.

As far as communicating my presence as such, things like the Drupal issue queue and profile pages, IRC and Twitter – even http://drupalcores.com all work together to provide a much better picture of me than LinkedIn.

All that LinkedIn has ever given me is recruiters bothering me about contracts that usually don’t exist, just for gathering CVs to their lists.

Rachel.

It’s handy for knowing who’s on the look out for a new job. Soon as you see someone updating their profile you know they are looking 🙂

I’ve found it to be good. Found a few jobs through people contacting me via linkedin. Connected with my current boss before getting the job which helped him get a good understanding of my skills and experience and got me foot through the door for the first interview.

There is a German equivalent, Zing…..Never ever ever use Zing…..Absolute wangers…..and it’s proper shizzer.

Having a well-maintained profile, some semi-coherent non-value postings on relevant groups for current buzzword tech and normal looks have fooled our HR people couple of times now. Should work for well for most folks in IT.

HR mistakes are now corrected and they have been “briefed” not hire anyone without having at least one technical guy involved in the interview phase.

My current gripe with it is that I can’t block my current employer (and colleagues) from seeing that I’d like to find a new job…. I’ve removed all of my current colleagues, however it seems that they could still view my profile as they may still be 2nd and 3rd connections

Yes, you can.

After writing all that I did, I forgot to actually write the conclusion!

Find out what matters for YOUR target audience and do that – it might be LinkedIn, it might be something else.

Rachel

Find out what matters for YOUR target audience and do that – it might be LinkedIn, it might be something else.

Bang on. Also, expect to revise your content regularly. Your experience changes, what is in demand changes etc…

My current gripe with it is that I can’t block my current employer (and colleagues) from seeing that I’d like to find a new job…. I’ve removed all of my current colleagues, however it seems that they could still view my profile as they may still be 2nd and 3rd connections

Yes, you can.[/quote]

Elaboration would be a great help…..

some irrelevant jobs that they’ve described as “perfect” for me

The problem I have is that I’ve told it where I am and what I do, and its job search logic ORs this information instead of ANDing it. So I get emails with “12 jobs you’re interested in” – six are for carpet fitters or used car salesmen, the other half dozen are my dream job but require a commute to the surface of the moon.

Cougar:

the other half dozen are my dream job but require a commute to the surface of the moon.

Well, in my best Norman Tebbit voice, “It’s that kind of attitude that’s holding this country back, dear boy. Get on your bike!”

edit – what bib tights for total vacuum?

Rachel