Reply to: State of the Market

[avonleigh]

Recommendations on LI I would take with a large pinch of salt. I know one guy who has loads of recommendations, spends loads of time badgering people. He is one of the most crap people I have ever worked with. I would never take these into account if looking into hire somebody, they have the same amount of credibility as reviews on Trustpilot. Another platform heavily abused.

[northernladuk]

I've found LI useful for the recommendations feature. Often ask colleagues to add a recommendation at the end of a contract and have added a page on the CV with some of the highlights for some roles in the past.

It can provide additional confidence and a 360 degree view from e.g. team members, client managers, C level contacts etc.

You might find it useful to gather recommendations. Is the recommendations feature useful to you finding roles? I very much doubt. It's the one area I never bother to read.

[northernladuk]

Totally agree and unlike you I don't get it all, in fact it makes me disregard any comment they make.

Glad you said that. I didn't want to go that far in case I was the only one and I'm the same.

[Smartie]

I've found LI useful for the recommendations feature. Often ask colleagues to add a recommendation at the end of a contract and have added a page on the CV with some of the highlights for some roles in the past.

It can provide additional confidence and a 360 degree view from e.g. team members, client managers, C level contacts etc.

[gables]

One of the things that gets me most, and it is probably to do with me being old and/or a miserable git but, anyone that has 'Helping companies yadda yadda' rather than their job role. I get why they do it and times change but still irks me. And that's one of the signs that LI isn't aimed at me.

Totally agree and unlike you I don't get it all, in fact it makes me disregard any comment they make.

[northernladuk]

LI stopped being a professional forum a long time ago now. It's pretty much the same as FB nowadays. So much so that's why people moan on it. I have an account but I never use it. Still get the odd recruiter message me now and then, so it still has some purpose.

I deleted LI earlier this year and never looked back. Never got anything from it. Its worse than FB because it pretends its a professional platform, and well at least FB has some decent second hand advertisements. Not even mentioning all the corp cringe slop and bulltulip its always putting in your feed.

Must admit I wouldn't go as far as that and certainly wouldn't delete it but certainly lost faith in it years ago. Nothing that's going on on there is new either, maybe just the frequency of it, but the reams of irrelevant or willy waving posts turned me off a long time ago. People also talk about it being the new way to get work. I've found the job search offering absolute garbage. I would have thought that would have been one of it's strong points but seems to fail spectacularly. Jobserve hasn't changed its UI for what, 15 years and is still the place to go (arguably). You would have thought linkedin would have naturally become the leader in this area.

One of the things that gets me most, and it is probably to do with me being old and/or a miserable git but, anyone that has 'Helping companies yadda yadda' rather than their job role. I get why they do it and times change but still irks me. And that's one of the signs that LI isn't aimed at me.

I get it's probably still a relevant tool to some that live and work in networking but for your average contractor just looking for the next gig it's not the all being tool it makes itself out to be. It does bridge a gap, keeping in touch with useful ex-colleagues and whatever fairly basic networking requirement we need but it's no be all and end all, particularly with the rubbish people put on it as well.

[quackhandle]

One thing I have noticed on LI recently is people wanting to connect whose photo looks like a Guess Who? picture.

Err, no thanks, ScamBot.

qh

[CodeCobbler]

LI stopped being a professional forum a long time ago now. It's pretty much the same as FB nowadays. So much so that's why people moan on it. I have an account but I never use it. Still get the odd recruiter message me now and then, so it still has some purpose.

I deleted LI earlier this year and never looked back. Never got anything from it. Its worse than FB because it pretends its a professional platform, and well at least FB has some decent second hand advertisements. Not even mentioning all the corp cringe slop and bulltulip its always putting in your feed.

[SussexSeagull]

In theory this should be irrelevant to a potential client, as they should only be interested in a contractor's ability to deliver the project.
In practice clients are human too, and many would be influenced by this. Whether in a positive or negative direction would depend whether the client was compassionate or sadistic..

It is people looking for permanent jobs as well. I have no scientific data to back this up but the ones who start doing seem to be doing it for a while so I am not sure it helps them.

If nothing else it would absolutely kill you in any rate/salary negotiation if you did find a role through it.

[SussexSeagull]

Ah I should have been clearer - not a fan of the whole "life story" blur into LI but letting your network know you're looking is how I operate. I see arguments on there about folks thinking the whole open to work banner is excessive but I disagree, it's okind of what it is .....

I talk about non work stuff from time to time as it can give a better picture of yourself but there are boundaries.

The whole Open To Work banner argument is usually started by people who give five tips to find a job or similar.

[SussexSeagull]

It isn't. By all means, whine on social media, but hard luck stories in a professional forum aren't going to help your prospects, quite the reverse.

I blame it on the X-Factor/American Idol and the like.

[GJABS]

I am not sure bearing your soul in such a way is a great career move.

In theory this should be irrelevant to a potential client, as they should only be interested in a contractor's ability to deliver the project.
In practice clients are human too, and many would be influenced by this. Whether in a positive or negative direction would depend whether the client was compassionate or sadistic..

[avonleigh]

LI stopped being a professional forum a long time ago now. It's pretty much the same as FB nowadays. So much so that's why people moan on it. I have an account but I never use it. Still get the odd recruiter message me now and then, so it still has some purpose.

[fatJock]

My bum has firmly been on the bench since June.

With that in mind on a human level I am really sympathetic as I am going through something similar myself but it is a professional forum and I am not sure bearing your soul in such a way is a great career move. I have personally hinted I have been out for a while but not gone into the impact on my personal life.

Granted some of them are from the US where there is less of a safety net and, for all I know, might be more the done thing.

Ah I should have been clearer - not a fan of the whole "life story" blur into LI but letting your network know you're looking is how I operate. I see arguments on there about folks thinking the whole open to work banner is excessive but I disagree, its kind of what it is .....

[jamesbrown]

Granted some of them are from the US where there is less of a safety net and, for all I know, might be more the done thing.

It isn't. By all means, whine on social media, but hard luck stories in a professional forum aren't going to help your prospects, quite the reverse.