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Linked In Or Out?
Mr_Whoopass writes "I am the IT Administrator for a regional restaurant chain, and as of late I am noticing more and more people sending me invitations to sites like LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. Mother always taught me to be a skeptic, and, knowing more than the average Joe about how information can be used in this digital era, I am reticent to say the least about posting such personal details as my full name and where I work on the net for all to see. I have thus far managed to stay completely below the radar, and a search on Google has nothing on my real persona. However, now times are tough, and I see sales dropping in the industry I work in as it is a discretionary spending market to be sure. I wonder if I should loosen up on the paranoia a bit and start networking with some of these folks in case of the all too common layoff scenario that seems to be happening lately. What do other folks here think about this? I am specifically interested in what people who work in IT think (since I know that just about every moron who has 'Vice President' or sits on the 'Executive Team' is already on LinkedIn and has no clue about why they should be trying to protect their identity)."
I know many people for whom LinkedIn was important in getting a new job. Not only can people see what you have done, but more importantly, LinkedIn shows potential employers who you know, which is valuable information to them. They can choose you above someone else because of the people they know, and will be incorporated in the company's network by hiring you.
-- Cheers!
I was signed in to LinkedIn for a couple of years, and never had a single job offer (I'm MSc i Computer Science and have never been unemployed, just for the record). Neither have I heard of anyone else who has had any benefit from it. So it propably won't pay off. Or - has anyone got a job through LinkedIn?
Yeah, but most of these "friends" aren't real. It's like facebook where you can have 100s of so-called friends but none of them would actually do anything for you. What use is that? It's like the late-90s/early-00s internet bubble, where instead of companies trying to grow marketshare but having no viable business plan, you have people trying to be popular but with real viable end goal for it all.
Social networking to meet new people is great, but as far as networking goes, the more people that are in it, the less each individual is worth. I would think you're almost better using social media to meet new people, but having fewer but true friends and some contacts around the industry that know your potential value to a business from real contact rather than just another face online hyping him/herself.
Huh? LinkedIn makes no secret of the fact that they sell "premium" accounts which can see the full details of anyone, whether they are in your network or not. The result of this is that if you're even remotely worth hiring you will be nagged by head hunters day and night. This is why I kindly requested LinkedIn to take my info off their stupid site.. it took 3 strongly worded emails, but they did.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I heart facebook & linkedin. Used to be hard to find high-value debtors once they left the country, now linkedin tells me where they are and who they work for. I work in Melbourne, and every week I lovate people in Istanbul, Dubai, Honh Kong, LA, Brussels....once facebook or linkedin gives me a bunch of info to start with, the rest is easy. Like other posters have noted, some people cannot afford not to have a presence on these sites. Works for me...KA-CHING
That's a good point. And it brings up another aspect of these web communities: Companies hire people for both what they know and who they know. The latter is often exploited by marginally ompetent people looking to latch onto someone else's coattails.
I'm already known in my professional community. So there are a lot of people trying to find details about me, like my wife's/kids'/dog's names so that they can go into an interview and BS people into thinking that we're the best of buddies.
As an employer, I don't place much weight on these sorts of resources because they are easily manipuated. And as an employee I wouldn't want to work for an outfit that placed too much emphasis on social networks. Its an engineering firm, not a frat house.
Have gnu, will travel.
* Loss of privacy.
Yes, but in general you shouldn't share information on facebook, twitter, you blog, website or anywhere else online that you don't want everybody else in the world to know about you. :))...
That's as simple as it gets... Now really is your full name something you don't want to share with everybody else?
Also it's okay to be critical about what pictures you accept being associated to on facebook... And it's okay to censor your blog for comments you don't want people posting on it...
Personally, I've linked my slashdot account to my website, on which my name, address, email and phone number can be found. And so to the extent possible I try to only post stuff that I'd stand by (yes, sometimes I'll stand by for some bad comments too
And if I absolutely must say something I don't want put my name on, then I'll consider if I really ought to post it anyway, and I must AC is always an option.
It's a lot like real life.
It that a metaphor people on slashdot understand? How about a car analogy. :) )
(Sorry, couldn't help but wondering
The only site I use is LinkedIn, because it is a good way to keep a thin attachment to people who are just contacts, but people I don't want to loose touch with entirely. That to me is far different than telling people misc details about my life that I consider to be private.
I share your opinion. Although I am very negative towards the very idea of social networking as such, I still find LinkedIn to be acceptable because it is professionally oriented (unlike Facebook and others). I primarily use it as a job seeking tool and use to receive some offers from time to time.
because it is a good way to keep a thin attachment to people who are just contacts, but people I don't want to loose touch with entirely.
That's one of the best reasons to be on it. I started using LinkedIn (free, not paying!) to get in touch with old colleagues; that's it, nothing more. Recommendations and invitations are for only people I absolutely know (I reject any others out of hand.)
For any social networking sites, it's the Thermodynamics of Humanity--crap and chaos will increase. AOL, Yahoo Message boards (social, financial, etc.), the garbage always builds up.
On that note, are only a few places I still follow that have stayed "fairly" clean. Joke as much as you want, but Slashdot has stayed pretty close to mission over the years. Groklaw is still pretty good. Motley Fool is still fairly new, but has hung on to it's central theme for a couple of years now.
Think of social networking sites like sex, or dating: Before you sign up, imagine that some Glenn Close nutjob is going to hunt you down and kill your pets, or some pimply teenager is going to show up on your door step 16 years from now at the family reunion shouting, "Dad! Mama tol' me you owed us for that fling all those years ago!"
If those kinds of problems are foreseeable, don't use the sites.
Never confuse movement with action. --Hemingway
For what it's worth, I've never hired a person because of a facebook profile, but I have not hired plenty of people because of facebook profiles.
Contrary to what you seem to think, the employer/employee relationship goes both ways, and finding and keeping good employees is just as important for you as finding a good job is for them.
So, if you decide based on my Facebook page that we aren't going to get along, it's better for both of us to find that out before you hire me.
On the other hand, if you don't have a decent and convincing online presence yourself, I may not even consider you, and you'll never know.
...or do you want others to determine your identity?
I am a very private person and I do not share much information about myself. Anyway, one day, I showed up at a function with a girlfriend. Folks were a bit surprised because they all thought I was gay. Talk about folks determining your identity! I have also been accused of being an alcoholic because I do not like to talk about what I do between jobs.
I don't think a person should blab every minute detail about their life, but it is important to share a few things about yourself otherwise folks assume the worst. I have gone a bit far in preserving my privacy and as a result, it has hurt me because folks just assume I have a lot to hide.
A web presence connected me with one founder who hired me as first technical employee in his startup (which was fun until we went out of business) and a big corporation with a six figure bonus + relocation package (but no interesting work to go with it).
I get a lot of traffic from recruiters from my linkedin account, some of which I'd entertain if I was looking for a job.
Once you reach the limits of your real-life social network, you really need another marketting strategy for career growth. While not ideal (there's a lot of noise) linkedin is worth the hassle.
Wow. Thank you. This is actually quite concerning. I'm now at a loss as to how they justify this under their privacy policy. Unless I can find some kind of clarification of or control to disable this, I guess I will be deleting my account. Thanks again.
I've turned down jobs because of the employer's or my new superior's facebook profile. A few months back Irefused a job after seeing the CEO was in groups like:
"If you don't love the Australian flag then GET THE FUCK OUT"
"I love Bundaberg Rum"
"I tried to watch Transformers and all I saw was Megan Fox"
I'm an open-minded, relatively intelligent guy, and despite the nearly 20% salary increase the job was worth, not a chance. So yeah, facebook works both ways.