LinkedIn - Good idea or not when looking for work?

[Tempest_5]

Hello,

Work has got to a point where we have been advised it might be good to consider other options if things don't improve order wise in the near future.

As it has been about 20 years since I was last in this situation I have not got anything like a Linkedin account.

What mystifies me about this is we have security briefs from the IT dept. about online identity theft and how to protect yourself from scams by minimising your online footprint. However, I have heard people say it's held against you in some cases if the HR dept for a company you have applied to can't find you on social media, i.e. Linkedin.

So what do you all think? Linkedin is a valuable tool for getting a job or a liabilty to personal security?

[ClaphamGT3]

Definitely have a good quality LinkedIn profile and use it actively if you're in the job market

[ReaperCushions]

Tempest_5 said:

Hello,

Work has got to a point where we have been advised it might be good to consider other options if things don't improve order wise in the near future.

As it has been about 20 years since I was last in this situation I have not got anything like a Linkedin account.

What mystifies me about this is we have security briefs from the IT dept. about online identity theft and how to protect yourself from scams by minimising your online footprint. However, I have heard people say it's held against you in some cases if the HR dept for a company you have applied to can't find you on social media, i.e. Linkedin.

So what do you all think? Linkedin is a valuable tool for getting a job or a liabilty to personal security?

Absolute necessity. Get it done ASAP, think about the following:

- Good looking profile picture
- Accurate and up to date current job description. Think about achievements over responsibilities... list what you have done to add value in your role and what you are good at, not a long laundry list of responsibilities. Less is more.
- Add qualifications, courses and all education possible
- Join groups relevant to your role (And desired future role)
- Ask for recommendations from trusted friends and colleagues
- Like /share/comment on content in your industry, especially from companies you'd like to join
- Follow companies you'd like to join
- Network like crazy. This means connecting to everyone you know ASAP then exploring other relationships out of that. For example... maybe you connect with an old friend/colleague that has moved to a company you'd like to work at. Connect to them first, then ask for an intro to the recruitment team and/or hiring manager for the department or role you want.

It is very low risk from a personal security perspective compared to the upside of the networking opportunity and job seeking prospects.

LinkedIn also has a very healthy and active 'jobs' section where you are matched using all sorts of clever AI to match you to roles etc... That only really works when your profile is sorted and ready to go.

I wouldn't be without it when job seeking. For me, it is a million times more important than a good CV.

[rog007]

Some say that the triumvirate of a continuously updated outcomes-based CV, a solid LinkedIn profile and real-time networking is the steady state to help maintain momentum with one’s career.

[Jasandjules]

I don't really update my linked in profile etc but it has got me a fair bit of work over the last year or two.....

[Sa Calobra]

I've got about 3,000 connections now; I find it a very good tool.

[Dr Jekyll]

Sa Calobra said:

I've got about 3,000 connections now; I find it a very good tool.

I thought I'd done well getting 100.

[ClaphamGT3]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

And keep your content focused, relevant and scrupulously professional - calibrate every single thing you post by the 'would I say this to a client in a meeting?' Test

[chunder27]

Utterly useless in my opinion.

All you get is endless spam from people.

Suits certain careers, not others I would suggest.

[lyonspride]

Biggest gripe with Linkedin, is this business of people endorsing others skills, It's absolute bks, it basically means the more friends you have, the more competent you look in your chosen field.

I've known young office bimbos who are endorsed as being experts in "electronic warfare" and "Avionics".

[IsaacHunter]

Dude, we live in the 21st century and I'm used to all the popular companies like Facebook or YouTube collecting our personal data. So I'm not even surprised.

[mikef]

I’d say LinkedIn as a job-hunting tool is only as good as the credibility of the people in your close network, especially if you work in a specialised industry. That can take time to build up and as said above, resist the temptation to connect with the outsourcers, sales reps and recruiters who will make up the majority of incoming requests to connect (unless it’s a recruiter who already placed you in a good role). The more you post about yourself on LI, the more spam you’ll get - and if it’s effectively a full CVyou can find yourself being put forward speculatively for jobs by agencies who don’t ask your permission...

[LukeBrown66]

Next to useless, depends on what types of jobs you want.

And if you can be fussed to deal with the endless spam that is developed from the site to your email.

I used it for years, updated it regularly, never got a peep out of anyone on it.

For me it is more of a social media site than a job site, but as I say it depends on the industry you are in.

[CzechItOut]

I have never liked LinkedIn, even though I was cold called (messaged) via LinkedIn for my current role. Their job search is horrendous, vacancies have an annoying habit of not showing the salary/rate and it is full of spam.

However, my preferred job board, Job Search, seems to have significantly fewer roles compared to LinkedIn. Which is a shame, as their search is excellent.

I think in reality you probably need to use both LinkedIn and at least one job board in order to get full coverage of all the roles available.

[StevieBee]

Tempest_5 said:

What mystifies me about this is we have security briefs from the IT dept. about online identity theft and how to protect yourself from scams by minimising your online footprint. However, I have heard people say it's held against you in some cases if the HR dept for a company you have applied to can't find you on social media, i.e. Linkedin.

So what do you all think? Linkedin is a valuable tool for getting a job or a liabilty to personal security?

IT security people are paid to be over cautious. The fact is that it's not the size of your footprint that causes security risk, it's what you fill that footprint with.

The fact is that what the HR people say has a ring of truth about it. I know when I recruit people, if I can't find them on a social media platform or Google search, a little flag pings up.

[KAgantua]

LInkedin seems to be becoming a platform for crypto-spam and virtue signalling - saw a post on there about a revolutionary new coloured system to identify staff's comfort levels with contact post CV-19 e.g. Blue was OK with hugs/ handshakes, yellow was not OK but OK with close contact, Red is no close contact at all etc.

So person is selling some coloured lanyards basically.

If the person who designed LI was dead they would be spinning in their grave...

[Sohaib-ijiiv]

I work in digital marketing so its been absolutely amazing for me in terms of what I have got out of it.

Applying for jobs (which I was doing from the 12th of May till the 14th of June) was mind numbing. The same job auto posted again and again, same job with a few tweaks in the description posted by different recruiters, irrelevant jobs popping up when you search for something specific and so on.

That said, I got my current role from there and I started last week so it does pay off.

As mentioned above its definitely shifted from being strictly professional to being full of useless posts.

[acd80]

KAgantua said:

LInkedin seems to be becoming a platform for crypto-spam and virtue signalling - saw a post on there about a revolutionary new coloured system to identify staff's comfort levels with contact post CV-19 e.g. Blue was OK with hugs/ handshakes, yellow was not OK but OK with close contact, Red is no close contact at all etc.

So person is selling some coloured lanyards basically.

If the person who designed LI was dead they would be spinning in their grave...

That wristband post popped up on my news feed as well. It is full of viruous knobheads (my industry seems to have a lot of them) but every now and again, I do get work from it.

But like everything, it's often a cause of who you know and sometimes, Linkedin does have its uses.

[phil-sti]

If you are looking for something I’d be more than happy to share your post across my LinkedIn network, every little helps.

[drmike37]

I was persuaded to join a few years ago.

Utterly pointless for me, and was as difficult to get rid of as herpes. So much spam. And then more spam.