LinkedIn

[Fred Bloggs]

It all depends on what you want from LinkedIn. If you want it to be the saviour of your career that keeps you permanently employed then I have some snake oil I'd like to sell you, if you see it as a fancy list of people you work with then it has lots of value.

It's up to individuals to manage their contacts. I have two agents on my long list of contacts, both have proven through years of me doing business with them that they can be "trusted" to not spam my contacts. The rest of my contacts are simply just a computerised rolodex that keeps me fairly up to date with where my business contacts are working these days; for that, it's worth the £0 fee alone!

Fair enough, except probably ~60% of my contacts aren't on LinkedIn!

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

I disagree, I don't think its useless at all. I managed to get a couple of interviews going direct using it. Also when my last contract finished I sent a message to all the agencies and also managed to get a lot of calls back regarding potential roles with an interview arranged.

It's not as good as jobserve but at least an extra option.

[DS23]

it's quite useful for researching future clients. and staying in touch with old clients. and it's another window to advertise on. every little helps.

[norrahe]

it's quite useful for researching future clients. and staying in touch with old clients. and it's another window to advertise on. every little helps.

Also quite handy when you have an interview, you can research the individual interviewing you, find out if you have any mutual contacts and then get them to put a good word in for you, it's how I got my last gig.

[Fred Bloggs]

Also quite handy when you have an interview, you can research the individual interviewing you, find out if you have any mutual contacts and then get them to put a good word in for you, it's how I got my last gig.

Only if they're on there. I don't have a great deal of success finding people I know on there.

[pmeswani]

Only if they're on there. I don't have a great deal of success finding people I know on there.

I haven't had that problem. For every company I have worked for, I have added at least one contact on LinkedIn.

I have been approached by a few companies for some genuine roles, but have been approached for some carp roles. It's swings and roundabouts.

And yes, I have some agents on my list, and I have just recently removed one for spamming.

[CheeseSlice]

I used to quite like Linkedin for keeping in touch with people, but what has really put me off it recently is:

1. Twitter integration
2. Being able to 'LIKE' connection messages/updates, Facebook style

You also get a bunch of idiots saying "please reply/like if you can see this message, I want to verify I have 'XXX' contacts like Linkedin says I do"

IMO it has now lost all of its professional appeal, and has been hijacked by a bunch of attention seekers.

[edit] Cleaned up language given the forum section. Also, to finish on a more positive note, Linkedin allows you to 'ignore' people who spam your updates page.

[Fred Bloggs]

One thing I dislike about LinkedIn lately, is if anyone posts a vacancy it gets flooded by Bob's mates all offering "a CV with much quickness and plenty cheapness". Pretty soon folks are going to just stop posting opportunities in public due to this.

[xoggoth]

Hmmmm. Cheers.

[stek]

Try Xing, especially if going down the DE/CH route for rolls.