Linked In

[MPwannadecentincome]

I do that. It's called the telephone and email.



I'm really struggling to see what it's all about and what value it adds above talking to people.

Linkedin will never replace an email / phone call or a couple of pints. It is a useful way of keeping all contacts in one place without having to track if someone has changed email address or phone, provided the contact maintains their profile in linkedin.

The value I find is in:

1) Seeing who my 'contacts' are linked to in case I need to make use of them in some way.
2) Just being able to link to someone who I may not have been particularly friendly with just because they are (a) in a position of influence or (b) are likely to be a useful contact in the future
3) Watching their status or profile updates - someone may have just changed jobs or positions or just replying to a status update is a good excuse to get in touch (whether by email, phone or whatever).
4) Watching connection updates on who they have connected with - sometimes useful for connecting with old friends or colleagues.
5) Researching if anyone knows who might be about to interview me - or even the interviewer's background, etc.
6) Joining groups and group discussions, more serious than this board! There are some job postings on some of the discussion groups. There are some groups just for UK IT opportunities.
7) Posting general questions about anything to the wider audience - or answering where it helps someone in your network.
8) This bit is fun: Asking difficult questions in public to vendors who are trying to promote their products and seeing how they squirm through the answers!

Linkedin summarises some of this information for you on your front page. It is Facebook without the trashy applications (poker, movie quiz, music quiz whatever).

Probably best to try it, if you don't like it close your account down.

For a good example of how linkedin can be useful look at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/hairy-ar...oke/13/bab/277

[BoredBloke]

It's also full of Bob Shawadiwadi folk trying to get you to tell them how they should be doing their jobs

[Churchill]

It's also full of Bob Shawadiwadi folk trying to get you to tell them how they should be doing their jobs

WHS++;

[MPwannadecentincome]

It's also full of Bob Shawadiwadi folk trying to get you to tell them how they should be doing their jobs

This is true, but I just ignore them and they continue to live in ignorance.

[pmeswani]

I do that. It's called the telephone and email.



I'm really struggling to see what it's all about and what value it adds above talking to people.

That's ok, assuming you haven't lost touch with your contacts (i.e. lost their email addy or phone number). A few posts have already outlined the positive reasons why you could join linked in. It's a "nice to know" what your contacts are doing at any particular time... you may be able to do them favours and vice versa.

[pzz76077]

Just reviewed my LinkedIn stuff and from what I can see usage boils down to 3 categories:-

1. Being contacted by agents that just want to use you for 'ins' etc

2. Being contacted by folk less skilled that you that cant be bothered to think for themselves to solve a problem.

3. Anything you put up on your profile will be used to your disadvantage.


LinkedIn is not much use to contractors that want to find a role IMO, so probably not worth the effort. If you are a lazy agent, then its worth its weight in gold.

PZZ

[Fred Bloggs]

I've been on LinkedIn pretty much since it started in the UK and I can confirm it has been pretty much a waste of time. Pimps use it to contact me when they're bored I reckon. I could see potential in it if you were prepared to be really hard nosed and work at it hard but then I guess using the telephone would yield better results. I am a member of a few LinkedIn groups and they seem to be largely used by Asian guys asking how to do things that qualified folk should know backwards.

[DimPrawn]

I've been on LinkedIn pretty much since it started in the UK and I can confirm it has been pretty much a waste of time. Pimps use it to contact me when they're bored I reckon. I could see potential in it if you were prepared to be really hard nosed and work at it hard but then I guess using the telephone would yield better results. I am a member of a few LinkedIn groups and they seem to be largely used by Asian guys asking how to do things that qualified folk should know backwards.

Thanks. I had suspected it was a waste of time.

PS. All technical forums seem to be inundated with Bob Shawadiwadi types asking the most trivial questions.

[Churchill]

Talking about Agents<spit> do any agencies bother to keep a contractor database anymore?

All they seem to do is post a position on Jobserve et al and then wait for the phone to ring.

[Fred Bloggs]

Thanks. I had suspected it was a waste of time.

PS. All technical forums seem to be inundated with Bob Shawadiwadi types asking the most trivial questions.

I know one bloke who got a telephone interview through LinkedIn for a job in Oz. But he didn't get the job in the end. That's as close to landing anything as I have heard of. I have had literally dozens of so called head hunting specialists waste my time telling me how good they were at recruiting into the unadvertised jobs market. All of them, ofcourse, deliver nothing. I think it massages their egos making them feel really important.