Agents connecting on LinkedIn - what's the point?

[PerfectStorm]

The one area where I find it useful is getting an introduction to agents by a mutual connection. Some of the jobs I go for are handled by specialist interim providers so are never advertised. Many of these providers will carry out a detailed assessment and or formally interview you first before even considering putting you forward for a role. Hence a personal introduction carries quite a lot of weight.
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However if (as in so many of these cases) both agents don't know you from Adam, what introduction is there to make? This is the bit I don't get.

[edison]

However if (as in so many of these cases) both agents don't know you from Adam, what introduction is there to make? This is the bit I don't get.

I obviously didn't write my earlier post very clearly.

I meant a non-agent connection of mine (usually a past colleague/friend) who can introduce me to a new agent that I don't already know.

[tsmith]

LinkedIn = A rebadged Facebook. Swap the headers over its difficult to tell the difference.

LinkedIn could be useful if it was able to separate jobs from non jobs in the feed. But it doesnt - so as a job seeker its almost totally useless.

The one in a million times you scroll the news feed and actually find a role you could be suited for makes it a frustrating timewaste for contracting candidates.

I prefer a job listing site every single time.

Recruiters complain the best candidates arent on job sites. The best candidates are passive - ie not actively looking.

So Linkedin gives them access to candidates they can spam in a different way to an email list.

LinkedIn's tagline should be
"Making work place social media time wasting acceptable - one cat video at a time"

[CoolCat]

Can someone please explain something to me

1) Agent requests connection on LinkedIn
2) You accept
3) Nothing happens
4) Your feed fills with bollocks about the various agents' companies

Perhaps the wider question could be 'what is Linkedin even for?' as whenever I log into it all I see are people arsekissing about their companies' products, or agents seemingly going round collecting connections they don't do anything with.

What am I missing?

I use it mainly to keep in touch with old mates. Indeed I wish it had been around earlier, as I would love to know where some of my mates pre linkedin are these days.

I accept requests from anyone including agents. But I dont actively use linkedin to market myself.

Its also useful to see what lies some people clearly put on their CV's, as they make it public on linkedin.

Biggest functionality improvement linkedin could implement for me would be a "genuine friend" flag, so that I could flag genuine friends and handle them differently to the masses of other people I am connected to, for instance being able to post to genuine friends only would be useful.

I dont regard it as a suitable place to keep sensitive information.

For some agents its clearly a tool to search for candidates etc, although they are undoubtedly being hoodwinked by most of the role histories people put up.

[SimonMac]

I like LinkedIn, recent job searching has been more fruitful on there than the job boards.

If I see something on JobServe etc I will usually then find the agent on LI and approach through there as it bypasses the auto filter rules they have setup when scanning CVs

[edison]

LinkedIn = A rebadged Facebook. Swap the headers over its difficult to tell the difference.

LinkedIn could be useful if it was able to separate jobs from non jobs in the feed. But it doesnt - so as a job seeker its almost totally useless.

The one in a million times you scroll the news feed and actually find a role you could be suited for makes it a frustrating timewaste for contracting candidates.

I prefer a job listing site every single time.

Recruiters complain the best candidates arent on job sites. The best candidates are passive - ie not actively looking.

So Linkedin gives them access to candidates they can spam in a different way to an email list.

LinkedIn's tagline should be
"Making work place social media time wasting acceptable - one cat video at a time"

I think you're far off the mark, it's definitely not just a version of Facebook.

It's becoming more useful for jobs being advertised and more companies are using it for direct recruitment. I'm finding the main job sites less useful as time goes on as a lot of roles I'm interested in never get formally advertised. I follow about 150 recruiters on LinkedIn and many of them regularly post details on roles or share details of roles their colleagues are dealing with. Job boards are still a better bet for low-mid rate roles but given LinkedIn's user reach, I can only see it gaining more prominence.

[MonkeysUncle]

The most I have got out of Linkedin is interesting articles to read about on up and coming changes to tech, especially around Office 365 (which I specialise in).
I follow a few large solution providers and consultants who work closely with Microsoft and they are always posting about new features.
You sometimes find links to blogs or information I wouldn't normally find.

Dont think I have ever got a gig through linkedin.

[hairymouse]

I think you're far off the mark, it's definitely not just a version of Facebook.

It's becoming more useful for jobs being advertised and more companies are using it for direct recruitment. I'm finding the main job sites less useful as time goes on as a lot of roles I'm interested in never get formally advertised. I follow about 150 recruiters on LinkedIn and many of them regularly post details on roles or share details of roles their colleagues are dealing with. Job boards are still a better bet for low-mid rate roles but given LinkedIn's user reach, I can only see it gaining more prominence.

I really know very little about Linked In. Can you give me some more details about how you see the roles that recruiters are working on? Exactly how do you follow someone and is that different to connecting with them? I always answer any invitations that are sent to me, but I never seem to have option to follow someone or see any roles.

[edison]

I really know very little about Linked In. Can you give me some more details about how you see the roles that recruiters are working on? Exactly how do you follow someone and is that different to connecting with them? I always answer any invitations that are sent to me, but I never seem to have option to follow someone or see any roles.

You automatically become a follower of anyone that becomes a connection of yours AFAIK.

You don't have to be a connection to follow someone. Just go to their profile page and to the right of their name are three buttons including one called 'More.' Click on that button and there is an option to follow them.

My last contract was as Head of IT for a large company. I got inundated with connection requests from IT suppliers many of which I ignored. I'm culling a lot more of those now and replacing them with recruiters. Now, a good proportion of posts in my feed are about new roles, both perm and contract.

[hairymouse]

You automatically become a follower of anyone that becomes a connection of yours AFAIK.

You don't have to be a connection to follow someone. Just go to their profile page and to the right of their name are three buttons including one called 'More.' Click on that button and there is an option to follow them.

My last contract was as Head of IT for a large company. I got inundated with connection requests from IT suppliers many of which I ignored. I'm culling a lot more of those now and replacing them with recruiters. Now, a good proportion of posts in my feed are about new roles, both perm and contract.

Thanks, I'll check that out.