LinkedIn

[NervousRexx]

I’ve been advised by a friend to join LinkedIn as apparently some agencies are using this as a recruitment channel. As a bit of dinosaur (20+ years in IT; 10+ years contracting), I’ve secured every contract via Jobserve and if a contract is advertised on other websites (IT Job Board, CW Jobs, JobSite, Technojobs etc), 99% of the time they seem appear on Jobserve.

2 questions:

1. How many contractors have secured roles via a LinkedIn approach?
2. Are other contractors experience of Jobserve the same as mine?

Any feedback appreciated.

[TheFaQQer]

I've had a few enquiries via LinkedIn, but nothing appeared.

I only connect to people that I know and like and want to be connected to. That includes some agents, but not all the ones that I get as requests. I also keep my connections hidden, so that agents can't mine my network for new contacts.

I had an agent ring me once because he'd read on someone else's LinkedIn profile that he'd been on a training course that I'd run. Rather than sound me out about the role (which I could have done!!), all he wanted was the other guy's phone number

[d000hg]

It is worth being on there and very easy to do... create a profile which is basically your CV basically.
You can then find groups in areas you work in - say "C++ programmers" or "transport management" - I;ve had contact from agents looking who is in a relevant group as well as just doing a keyword search. Groups also let people post jobs directly.

And for skipping agents, find people you've worked with and 'connect' with them. This is the networking part and you never know, you might find an 'in' that way.

Definitely worth the time to set up.

[tractor]

..

It is worth being on there and very easy to do... create a profile which is basically your CV basically.
You can then find groups in areas you work in - say "C++ programmers" or "transport management" - I;ve had contact from agents looking who is in a relevant group as well as just doing a keyword search. Groups also let people post jobs directly.

And for skipping agents, find people you've worked with and 'connect' with them. This is the networking part and you never know, you might find an 'in' that way.

Definitely worth the time to set up.

I have done this and found a few ex colleagues that I lost touch with. 3 weeks and no enquiries yet, although I came up with a few searches.

I joined a few UK groups that I have a business interest in but most are populated by Bob who persistently post stuff like 'am now qualified in most excellent ITIL' etc

[Jeebo72]

I’ve been advised by a friend to join LinkedIn as apparently some agencies are using this as a recruitment channel. As a bit of dinosaur (20+ years in IT; 10+ years contracting), I’ve secured every contract via Jobserve and if a contract is advertised on other websites (IT Job Board, CW Jobs, JobSite, Technojobs etc), 99% of the time they seem appear on Jobserve.

2 questions:

1. How many contractors have secured roles via a LinkedIn approach?
2. Are other contractors experience of Jobserve the same as mine?

Any feedback appreciated.

I've secured jobs through Linked In. Also got offered roles in Zurich, Doha, etc etc through linked in, that were interesting and I'd have never looked for on my own.

I always use cwjobs when looking.

[Wanderer]

I’ve been advised by a friend to join LinkedIn as apparently some agencies are using this as a recruitment channel.

It's a great way of keeping in touch with people you have worked with. Just be careful about accepting invites from agents and you may want to change the settings so that people can't see your contact list or agents may abuse this feature.

[escapeUK]

It's a great way of keeping in touch with people you have worked with. Just be careful about accepting invites from agents and you may want to change the settings so that people can't see your contact list or agents may abuse this feature.

But surely if you really wanted to do that you would have just exchanged mobiles / e-mails?

[ChrisPackit]

What I find it particularly good for is having a list of connections that you are friendly with, then when a role comes up, see who works there and pop them a "Long time, no speak" email. Sometimes they can pull strings, sometimes not...

[Scrag Meister]

I'm with linked-in but like others say only add people that I have worked with.

Agents who invite me to connect I ignore and stick on hold until I have need of their services, i.e. I have a collection of invites from Agents, have a couple of agents connected who have actually got me work.

No work gained from LinkedIn, but not really tried when looking to be honest.

Jobserve and my network do the needful for much cheapness.

[TheFaQQer]

What I find it particularly good for is having a list of connections that you are friendly with, then when a role comes up, see who works there and pop them a "Long time, no speak" email. Sometimes they can pull strings, sometimes not...

Done that one before