How to use LinkedIn?
Discussion
Like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you get from LinkedIn what you put in.
I can claim that PH is not nearly as good as used to be because the amount of noise here these days far drowns out the valuable stuff.
The difference between forums and social networks is that with the latter you curate your own experience. LinkedIn is a huge network - there are people out there who would be valuable to you, but you have to be willing to put the effort in to find them and customise your feed accordingly.
Not everybody is willing to do that, and that's fine, but it's meaningless to say "LinkedIn is s
t", because it's completely what you make of it.
I can claim that PH is not nearly as good as used to be because the amount of noise here these days far drowns out the valuable stuff.
The difference between forums and social networks is that with the latter you curate your own experience. LinkedIn is a huge network - there are people out there who would be valuable to you, but you have to be willing to put the effort in to find them and customise your feed accordingly.
Not everybody is willing to do that, and that's fine, but it's meaningless to say "LinkedIn is s
t", because it's completely what you make of it.SkinnyPete said:
My career focused friends have often told me I need use LinkedIn but I have always avoided it due to privacy concerns. However, I’m looking to change jobs and a recruiter pulled me up on the fact they couldn’t find me on LinkedIn. Up to you really, I'd rather have access to most roles in one place than trawling through jobboards full of crap all day, most big companies have feeds from their career sites that post the roles, so again, its all under one roof and you can set up alerts etc. Privacy? there's 150 million people on it, I wouldn't worry too much, whack all the privacy settings on if you're that concerned.
Apparently, it raises suspicion if a candidate doesn’t have a profile, and it gives the impression that you aren’t serious about your career or networking, especially for the level/seniority of the role I am in and am applying for. Depends, more and more people (especially tech/engineering are coming off as they get bombarded with st all day from crap recruiters) - it wouldn't make a lot of difference to most hiring managers I've dealt with, LI is a useful validation tool to see your past, who you know etc, suspicion is a bit much.
Whilst I’m confident I can put a good profile together just as I can a CV, I’m not actually sure how I should be using LinkedIn to my advantage.
For example, should I add current colleagues? Will this not set off alarm bells given I’ve never had a profile and now suddenly I'm on there with all the bells and whistles? Up to you, if you've got a decent profile, just because you haven't connected to the world and his wife really doesn't matter.
Is it OK to ask current customers who I have an excellent relationship with to recommend/endorse me, even if it screams “help me leave this place”? And does it look suspicious if I get a number of recommendations/endorsements within a short period of time (even if they are from a varity of organisations across multiple industries)? Why not? Makes you look credible, no-one will look at how many you had in a short period of time.
If someone I don’t know wants to connect then should I accept, e.g. a recruiter? And finally, if I use the “seeking opportunities” marker is it only recruiters that can see this or is it viewable by everyone? If you set your profile up, a recruiter will (more often than not) have a LinkedIN Recruiter licence. Means we can search way beyond what any standard user can. You don't have to be seeking employment, we can find you anyway and send you messages, you don't have to connect if you don't like what you hear, which much of it you wont, to be honest.
Essentially, I’m just looking for some advice on LinkedIn etiquette.
Set it up as a replica of your CV cut down to job titles/companies a maybe a couple of sentences about what you did, have some key words so you can be found, a few decent, relevant connections and a few credible recommendations, privacy at maximum and pick and choose from the messages you get.
Give it a go, if you feel its not for you, shut it down, its not the be all and end all of everything to be honest, unfortunately its become the default setting for the lazy recruiters and LI know that, however as part of a wider recruitment strategy for a large organisation, it'll always be a part of it, so its kind of a necessary evil; you just have to manage it to your needs and you'll be fine.
25 years next year in Recruitment - advice from me above.Apparently, it raises suspicion if a candidate doesn’t have a profile, and it gives the impression that you aren’t serious about your career or networking, especially for the level/seniority of the role I am in and am applying for. Depends, more and more people (especially tech/engineering are coming off as they get bombarded with s
t all day from crap recruiters) - it wouldn't make a lot of difference to most hiring managers I've dealt with, LI is a useful validation tool to see your past, who you know etc, suspicion is a bit much.Whilst I’m confident I can put a good profile together just as I can a CV, I’m not actually sure how I should be using LinkedIn to my advantage.
For example, should I add current colleagues? Will this not set off alarm bells given I’ve never had a profile and now suddenly I'm on there with all the bells and whistles? Up to you, if you've got a decent profile, just because you haven't connected to the world and his wife really doesn't matter.
Is it OK to ask current customers who I have an excellent relationship with to recommend/endorse me, even if it screams “help me leave this place”? And does it look suspicious if I get a number of recommendations/endorsements within a short period of time (even if they are from a varity of organisations across multiple industries)? Why not? Makes you look credible, no-one will look at how many you had in a short period of time.
If someone I don’t know wants to connect then should I accept, e.g. a recruiter? And finally, if I use the “seeking opportunities” marker is it only recruiters that can see this or is it viewable by everyone? If you set your profile up, a recruiter will (more often than not) have a LinkedIN Recruiter licence. Means we can search way beyond what any standard user can. You don't have to be seeking employment, we can find you anyway and send you messages, you don't have to connect if you don't like what you hear, which much of it you wont, to be honest.
Essentially, I’m just looking for some advice on LinkedIn etiquette.
Set it up as a replica of your CV cut down to job titles/companies a maybe a couple of sentences about what you did, have some key words so you can be found, a few decent, relevant connections and a few credible recommendations, privacy at maximum and pick and choose from the messages you get.
Give it a go, if you feel its not for you, shut it down, its not the be all and end all of everything to be honest, unfortunately its become the default setting for the lazy recruiters and LI know that, however as part of a wider recruitment strategy for a large organisation, it'll always be a part of it, so its kind of a necessary evil; you just have to manage it to your needs and you'll be fine.
TIGA84 said:
SkinnyPete said:
My career focused friends have often told me I need use LinkedIn but I have always avoided it due to privacy concerns. However, I’m looking to change jobs and a recruiter pulled me up on the fact they couldn’t find me on LinkedIn. Up to you really, I'd rather have access to most roles in one place than trawling through jobboards full of crap all day, most big companies have feeds from their career sites that post the roles, so again, its all under one roof and you can set up alerts etc. Privacy? there's 150 million people on it, I wouldn't worry too much, whack all the privacy settings on if you're that concerned.
Apparently, it raises suspicion if a candidate doesn’t have a profile, and it gives the impression that you aren’t serious about your career or networking, especially for the level/seniority of the role I am in and am applying for. Depends, more and more people (especially tech/engineering are coming off as they get bombarded with st all day from crap recruiters) - it wouldn't make a lot of difference to most hiring managers I've dealt with, LI is a useful validation tool to see your past, who you know etc, suspicion is a bit much.
Whilst I’m confident I can put a good profile together just as I can a CV, I’m not actually sure how I should be using LinkedIn to my advantage.
For example, should I add current colleagues? Will this not set off alarm bells given I’ve never had a profile and now suddenly I'm on there with all the bells and whistles? Up to you, if you've got a decent profile, just because you haven't connected to the world and his wife really doesn't matter.
Is it OK to ask current customers who I have an excellent relationship with to recommend/endorse me, even if it screams “help me leave this place”? And does it look suspicious if I get a number of recommendations/endorsements within a short period of time (even if they are from a varity of organisations across multiple industries)? Why not? Makes you look credible, no-one will look at how many you had in a short period of time.
If someone I don’t know wants to connect then should I accept, e.g. a recruiter? And finally, if I use the “seeking opportunities” marker is it only recruiters that can see this or is it viewable by everyone? If you set your profile up, a recruiter will (more often than not) have a LinkedIN Recruiter licence. Means we can search way beyond what any standard user can. You don't have to be seeking employment, we can find you anyway and send you messages, you don't have to connect if you don't like what you hear, which much of it you wont, to be honest.
Essentially, I’m just looking for some advice on LinkedIn etiquette.
Set it up as a replica of your CV cut down to job titles/companies a maybe a couple of sentences about what you did, have some key words so you can be found, a few decent, relevant connections and a few credible recommendations, privacy at maximum and pick and choose from the messages you get.
Give it a go, if you feel its not for you, shut it down, its not the be all and end all of everything to be honest, unfortunately its become the default setting for the lazy recruiters and LI know that, however as part of a wider recruitment strategy for a large organisation, it'll always be a part of it, so its kind of a necessary evil; you just have to manage it to your needs and you'll be fine.
25 years next year in Recruitment - advice from me above.Apparently, it raises suspicion if a candidate doesn’t have a profile, and it gives the impression that you aren’t serious about your career or networking, especially for the level/seniority of the role I am in and am applying for. Depends, more and more people (especially tech/engineering are coming off as they get bombarded with s
t all day from crap recruiters) - it wouldn't make a lot of difference to most hiring managers I've dealt with, LI is a useful validation tool to see your past, who you know etc, suspicion is a bit much.Whilst I’m confident I can put a good profile together just as I can a CV, I’m not actually sure how I should be using LinkedIn to my advantage.
For example, should I add current colleagues? Will this not set off alarm bells given I’ve never had a profile and now suddenly I'm on there with all the bells and whistles? Up to you, if you've got a decent profile, just because you haven't connected to the world and his wife really doesn't matter.
Is it OK to ask current customers who I have an excellent relationship with to recommend/endorse me, even if it screams “help me leave this place”? And does it look suspicious if I get a number of recommendations/endorsements within a short period of time (even if they are from a varity of organisations across multiple industries)? Why not? Makes you look credible, no-one will look at how many you had in a short period of time.
If someone I don’t know wants to connect then should I accept, e.g. a recruiter? And finally, if I use the “seeking opportunities” marker is it only recruiters that can see this or is it viewable by everyone? If you set your profile up, a recruiter will (more often than not) have a LinkedIN Recruiter licence. Means we can search way beyond what any standard user can. You don't have to be seeking employment, we can find you anyway and send you messages, you don't have to connect if you don't like what you hear, which much of it you wont, to be honest.
Essentially, I’m just looking for some advice on LinkedIn etiquette.
Set it up as a replica of your CV cut down to job titles/companies a maybe a couple of sentences about what you did, have some key words so you can be found, a few decent, relevant connections and a few credible recommendations, privacy at maximum and pick and choose from the messages you get.
Give it a go, if you feel its not for you, shut it down, its not the be all and end all of everything to be honest, unfortunately its become the default setting for the lazy recruiters and LI know that, however as part of a wider recruitment strategy for a large organisation, it'll always be a part of it, so its kind of a necessary evil; you just have to manage it to your needs and you'll be fine.
I was asked to use LinkedIn, by the company I work for. People started ( trying to ) use it against me ( unsuccessfully) Then there was a data breach by LinkedIn, which started resulting in some irritating ( but ultimately unsuccessful) attempts at causing me issues. Because of this, I binned it off, it was of no practical use to me, even when it did work, which was about 2 seconds worth.
GOATever said:
I was asked to use LinkedIn, by the company I work for. People started ( trying to ) use it against me ( unsuccessfully) Then there was a data breach by LinkedIn, which started resulting in some irritating ( but ultimately unsuccessful) attempts at causing me issues. Because of this, I binned it off, it was of no practical use to me, even when it did work, which was about 2 seconds worth.
I found something similar, you see I have a history of standing up to workplace bullying, which has made me unpopular with certain people in certain companies, so Linkedin could give them the opportunity to stick the knife in, should they so choose.I bet it's perfectly fine if you've always been a passive wet behind the ears, lump of worthless goo, who never upset anyone, spent their life trying to be the same as everyone else, and went out of their way to make everyone like them.
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