Reply to: LinkedIn and Recruiters

[Manic]

I secured my current role through Linkedin. recruiter contacted me as normal channels weren't working for him (so he told me afterwards).

I also limit my contacts list and have recently purged anyone resident in India with the job description "UK Recruitment"

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

Them bombarding your contacts isnt your problem. It is not like they'd say 'I got your details via andyg's contact list' is it?

TBH, when I was working and despite networking, I never found LinkedIn worked for me. I regularly made my contacts aware of jobs when they werent working. Id contact them and ask them to refer any jobs my way but got sweet FA off them. So, I jacked the whole thing off.

Sure some, many say Linked In works. I just think it is like a professional facebook jobbie.

Having the right network means that even if people in your connection list don't have a job for you there and then, their connections find you much easier and they might have one. It's something to grow and nurture. Your connections' circumstances change, they move to a different recruitment desk, leave their job, etc but others will find you.

LinkedIn needs very little nurturing, your profile needs to be updated and you need to work on your network a little by joining the right groups, see what others with similar skills are up to, what the market wants, etc.
You probably don't need to spend more than 2 hours a week on it, tops. It's not a 'professional facebook jobbie' but it needs to be understood.

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

I don't understand. Why wouldn't you connect with recruiters?

One problem is that if your privacy settings are not set then recruiters will be able to see your contacts and their details. They can then use you to contact them and potentially bombard your contacts with requests, etc.

But that takes 5 seconds to fix. I set 'who can see your connection list' to 'only me' about 4 years ago and it has stayed the same. I review my security and privacy settings once every 6 months and they have been stable, LinkedIn hasn't been changing them.

I don't get why people would restrict their presence or ability to connect on the biggest networking tool there is. I have internal recruiters connecting with me too, not just agencies. I had two calls from an agency I know from LinkedIn on Friday about two very good jobs.

You can publish your portfolio on LinkedIn, you can showcase your skills to a wide audience, it's a great tool.

[malvolio]

They do, but not very much.
But not insigificant if this is anything to go by. Assume the same amount for Monster, jobsite, etc.

https://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/recruiter/pricelist.aspx

One typical 3monther at £400 a day at 15% earns them around £4k...

And I suspect they will negotiate a discount for repeat business.

[ruasonid]

Some of the recruiters are just putting up fake roles on linkedin to harvest CV's, so not much difference to jobs boards.

I have been watching the market closely for several months. Every 2-3 months the same jobs come up. Called recruiters to ask why and they said they'd call me back...

[billybiro]

They do, but not very much. they also have meta-tools that do the posting for them; one mickey job description and a couple of other details and hit the button, a job is posted to all the usual suspect boards...

I don't care what any agency (much less individual agent) says, it's all about the money.

Don't feed the beast - The Great Recruitment Agency infestation

[andyg]

They do, but not very much. they also have meta-tools that do the posting for them; one mickey job description and a couple of other details and hit the button, a job is posted to all the usual suspect boards...

I don't care what any agency (much less individual agent) says, it's all about the money.

They do, but not very much.
But not insigificant if this is anything to go by. Assume the same amount for Monster, jobsite, etc.

https://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/recruiter/pricelist.aspx

[malvolio]

Them bombarding your contacts isnt your problem.

True but then if the LinkedIn privacy settings are set correctly then there is no chance that they can. The point is, the recruiters/agencies do post job opportunities and 'like' other recruiters/agencies that are doing the same. Therefore, you see all of these in your feed and can reply to any that suit your skill-set (they tend to post a contact email address). I've noticed an increase in these types of posts so wonder if it is cheap way of advertising roles rather than via the job boards (Monster/JobServe/etc) - my assumption being that the agencies have to pay the jobboards to advertise roles.

They do, but not very much. they also have meta-tools that do the posting for them; one mickey job description and a couple of other details and hit the button, a job is posted to all the usual suspect boards...

I don't care what any agency (much less individual agent) says, it's all about the money.

[andyg]

Them bombarding your contacts isnt your problem. It is not like they'd say 'I got your details via andyg's contact list' is it?

TBH, when I was working and despite networking, I never found LinkedIn worked for me. I regularly made my contacts aware of jobs when they werent working. Id contact them and ask them to refer any jobs my way but got sweet FA off them. So, I jacked the whole thing off.

Sure some, many say Linked In works. I just think it is like a professional facebook jobbie.

Them bombarding your contacts isnt your problem.

True but then if the LinkedIn privacy settings are set correctly then there is no chance that they can. The point is, the recruiters/agencies do post job opportunities and 'like' other recruiters/agencies that are doing the same. Therefore, you see all of these in your feed and can reply to any that suit your skill-set (they tend to post a contact email address). I've noticed an increase in these types of posts so wonder if it is cheap way of advertising roles rather than via the job boards (Monster/JobServe/etc) - my assumption being that the agencies have to pay the jobboards to advertise roles.

It is not like they'd say 'I got your details via andyg's contact list' is it?
But it wouldn't be andyg. The agency/recruiter would see my real name. Therefore, an example would be "Hello CEO of Daimler Transport, I received your details from [my real name]. He suggested we should connect as I can send you lots of CV's". I then receive an email from said CEO asking why I'm giving his details out.

[washed up contractor]

I don't understand. Why wouldn't you connect with recruiters?

One problem is that if your privacy settings are not set then recruiters will be able to see your contacts and their details. They can then use you to contact them and potentially bombard your contacts with requests, etc.

Them bombarding your contacts isnt your problem. It is not like they'd say 'I got your details via andyg's contact list' is it?

TBH, when I was working and despite networking, I never found LinkedIn worked for me. I regularly made my contacts aware of jobs when they werent working. Id contact them and ask them to refer any jobs my way but got sweet FA off them. So, I jacked the whole thing off.

Sure some, many say Linked In works. I just think it is like a professional facebook jobbie.

[cojak]

I only have those recruiters I’ve worked with in the past.

I’m not in the market for a new job and am not interested in being in someone’s butterfly collection.

[andyg]

I don't understand. Why wouldn't you connect with recruiters? One of the main functions of the site is that it's another recruitment/job search tool, obviously in a different way from more traditional job boards.

Why would you intentionally restrict that? I don't get it.

I don't understand. Why wouldn't you connect with recruiters?

One problem is that if your privacy settings are not set then recruiters will be able to see your contacts and their details. They can then use you to contact them and potentially bombard your contacts with requests, etc.

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

To be honest I've found it to be really useful. I've gone on to several recruiters specialist lists and the ones that have then gone on to contact me more than once are all the ones I've connected with. I definitely think it works.

Although you're right - my feed is now full of sales guff.

I find LinkedIn very useful, I've got a ton of info from it as I tend to connect with people who have a similar career path/interest and it requires me to keep up with development.
I have also found contract and permanent roles through it too.
You can control your feed by unfollowing people whose posts you don't like.

[PermieToContractorAndBack]

For those that don't use LinkedIn and/or those that ignore connect requests from recruiters, one thing that I have found is that as long as you set your privacy options so that only you can view your details, connecting with recruiters is a valuable source of new opportunities. Why? Because recruiters will generally 'like' posts from other recruiters in their network who are advertising new roles. Those likes appear on your LinkedIn front page which you are able to respond to. There are three new roles today that are not currently showing on the jobboards!
The privacy setting means that only you can see your contacts so recruiters can't connect and harvest.

I don't understand. Why wouldn't you connect with recruiters? One of the main functions of the site is that it's another recruitment/job search tool, obviously in a different way from more traditional job boards.

Why would you intentionally restrict that? I don't get it.

[mattfx]

To be honest I've found it to be really useful. I've gone on to several recruiters specialist lists and the ones that have then gone on to contact me more than once are all the ones I've connected with. I definitely think it works.

Although you're right - my feed is now full of sales guff.