Linked In Or Out? 474
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)."
First questions first (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First questions first (Score:5, Funny)
What's your real name allready?
What is your quest?
Re:First questions first (Score:5, Funny)
Go ahead! Mod me redundant! I know you want to!
Good enough for Marks then good enough for me. (Score:4, Funny)
Re: his name (Score:5, Funny)
Re: his name (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It propably won't.. (Score:1, Funny)
you're welcome..
Re:Degree (Score:5, Funny)
LinkedIn is great because Kevin Bacon is on it and you can see how many degrees removed from him you are. He has "500+ connections" on LinkedIn. I'm only 3 degrees away myself and I'm not even in the entertainment industry.
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:5, Funny)
What can't you loosen if you don't play? I can see a scenario where you can't lose if you don't play.
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.
Re:First questions first (Score:3, Funny)
2. To seek the Holy Grail.
3. What? African or European Swallow?
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Degree (Score:2, Funny)
He's the guy with the most connections on LinkedIn.
Re:Degree (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Want a job? Get on LinkedIn (Score:1, Funny)
A lot of the companies I've worked for think of themselves as one big family.
So do many cults...
Re:First questions first (Score:2, Funny)
African or European?
Yellow pages? (Score:5, Funny)
That's assuming you have a name like "Dominos Pizza" or "Allstate Insurance".
For the rest of us with people names, we're generally more concerned about the White Pages.
Re:First questions first (Score:5, Funny)
How did you know my real name was blue?
I had always been careful about separating my online and offline self, but did break down recently and become active on linkedin. I hate giving up the privacy, but it is an easy way to network. I appreciate the importance of being able to find potential employees and clients. And, since one of my old major clients is laying off thousands of people who could bece future clients, might as well give up.
Fortunately, google doesn't index whois yet, so parts of my identify are still intact.
Privacy is an illusion.
PK
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:3, Funny)
and the idiot that wrote that terrorists could use coal ash to build nukes.
You've got to have something to draw your plans with...
Re:First questions first (Score:1, Funny)
African or European?
I don't know...
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:4, Funny)
to get me + wife into the local swingers scene
There, fixed that for you.
But seriously, I usually do this through work mates, when I move to a new area, but my last position the workers were all stuck (not IT people), so I also relied on my facebook contacts.
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:4, Funny)
Re:First questions first (Score:2, Funny)
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:3, Funny)
"As far as networking goes, the more people that are in it, the less each individual is worth."
I think you've just defined a new corollary to Metcalf's Law.