Agents and their linkedin requests

[TiroFijo]

Wots all this about then!
Agent calls me up...

Agent- Hi xxxx you were looking for a gig last year.
me - yeah but I've been working since last November.
agent - that's great, who are you working for?
me - sorry can't give out that info.
agent - no probs, take care and let us know when u are next on the market.
me - sure thing, toodle pip.

About 5 min later I get a linkedin request from said agent. Now I find linkedin pretty useless to the point I haven't updated it since three years ago and never check it. This is the 3rd request from differents agents to which I just hit the 'I do not know this person' button.

Now this is a standard agent trick, call up people that were looking some time ago and find out their status and if they are working then find out where they are working... I guess the linkedin requests is now another tool that they employ to get at your previous and present gigs.

[NotAllThere]

I get a lot of linked in requests from agents and just bin them. I use linked in soley to keep track of business contacts.

Hmm. Maybe I should set up a Xing account or similar, just for agents. Then they can all talk to each other.

[TheFaQQer]

If the agent is someone I know reasonably and like (and there are a few out there!) then I have no qualms about adding them as contact.

If it's someone that I have no idea who they are / have never found me work / don't like, then there is no chance of me adding them.

I had an agent ring me a while back and say "I saw on someone else's LinkedIn profile that you ran a training course that they went on. Do you have his contact details?" which was a bit rich since we have a similar skill set. Still, I'm such a nice guy that I passed his details on to my friend to see if they could work together.

[minestrone]

I have asked this before.

Got 2 agents on and both have got me multiple gigs in the past. The rest get knocked back.

I now have "in contract and not looking" written pretty high up my profile, that seems to act as a repellent to the little insects.

[ratewhore]

I get a lot of linked in requests from agents and just bin them. I use linked in soley to keep track of business contacts.

Same as that.

WHS

+1

etc...