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)."
no offense.. (Score:5, Informative)
...but I am surprised you are an IT admin and unaware of how both social and professional networking websites actually work. About the only thing strangers can see is your name.
Why are you afraid to put honest professional information out there? Nothing says you have to post everything about you. My profiles on social websites is very controlled and only portrays what I want. The basic rule, for me, is to keep my professional and business aspects of my life separate.
Lastly, I use my name for professional networking and a variation of my name for social. So, if a potential client e-stalks me with "Ruthered B. Hayes" they will never get the social sites I have under "R. Brenticus Hayes"
Bottom line, you control your image, be careful with it, but do not be afraid.
Re:First questions first (Score:4, Informative)
Blue! Arrrrrggg....
Privacy Is Dead, Get Over It (Score:4, Informative)
Privacy Is Dead, Get Over It [youtube.com] with Steve Rambam: This is the first part of Rambam's essential lecture, presented in five-minute snippets. It's like a good book that you don't want to put down, you'll keep viewing the snippets (or search for the entire lecture if you have time to view it all at once). Nobody who uses LinkedIn or any other of what Rambam calls "self-contributed data sites" should miss this.
job potential (Score:3, Informative)
Most jobs are found through networking and friends. Only the worst, lowes-end jobs are in the paper. That's plain fact. I've started over a few times, and I'm not interested in having to do it again.
I dunno if LinkedIn is the best place to grow your networking, but it's an avenue. If you're careful with it, I think it could be a valuable tool. I haven't yet had to put it to the test, and I hope I don't have to any time soon. But it's something that you need to build while you have a job, and not wait until you're already out of work.
I agree with another poster--of the networking social sites out there, Linked In appears to be the only one that has career value.
Protect your identity by controlling your identity (Score:4, Informative)
I created a Facebook account solely because somebody with the same name as I already had one, and people were assuming his profile was mine. So by creating a minimal profile on that social networking site, I took better control over my identity.
Linkedin has definite professional benefits, allows you to maintain limited contact with former co-workers, people who you might later find working in the same city as you've just moved to, or the firm where you are thinking of applying for a job.
If you refuse to voluntarily publish positive information about yourself, what will potential employers find? If nothing at all, they may tend to assume the worst, or at least assume you have no notable skills, hobbies, friends or publications.
no online id == no xp (Score:4, Informative)
If you aren't communicating, it doesn't tell me that you just aren't communicating, it tells me you have little experience. And in a sense, because you aren't using this resource for what it is for, it is somewhat true. Start posting questions in forums, and creating an online identity. Some online identity is better than NONE.
Business cards (Score:5, Informative)
I use LinkedIn in the same way that I would keep a business card that someone gives me. However, the advantages of LinkedIn are:
There are probably more. If I was forced to drop Facebook or LinkedIn, I'd drop Facebook as LinkedIn is significantly more useful to me.
Take control of your brand (Score:3, Informative)
If it's all available anyway... (Score:2, Informative)
Basic information such as name, address, phone number, spouse's name, employer and so on are (usually) publicly available and trivial to find, e.g. from the electoral roll. I can't see any point in hiding them and personally I make no attempt - they're right there on my web page.
Having used online employment agencies, my CV is also pretty much public information and I have put that on my web page as well. I've found at least one permanent job and a contract as a result.
It may still be prudent not to broadcast your birthdate and mother's maiden name because they're unfortunately sometimes used as security questions, but it's barely worth it because they're pretty easy to discover as well. Maybe it just gives a false sense of security, in fact.
It's possibly still worth making some effort to conceal email addresses from spambots, but that battle is pretty much lost as well.
Bank account details are on every cheque you write (and every electronic payment) so any security based on criminals not knowing them is shaky at best. They're not really secret. Credit card numbers (and even the CVV) are pretty easily read by any waiter or shopkeeper.
My point is, a lot of personal information people think is private or obscure isn't really hard to find at all. It's safest to assume it's all known and concentrate on other security measures (encryption, effective passwords...) for the important stuff.
Re:Want a job? Get on LinkedIn (Score:1, Informative)
Affirmative action only serves to force the hiring of unqualified minorities. If you think that hiring people that are friends is a bad idea, you've obviously never worked somewhere where they definitely weren't. This is especially true when the forced hire is dead weight so everyone else has to take up their slack.
Re:no offense.. (Score:4, Informative)
2 minutes of surfing the LinkedIn website, or in case you're too lazy:
http://www.quantumg.net/linkedin-recruiter.png [quantumg.net]
Enjoy.
Re:Kill all the LIONs. (Score:2, Informative)
By the way, what happens when you click "I don't know this person" on somebody's invitation? Do they receive any answer or simply get blocked from inviting you again?
It seems it's visible from invitation status in the outbox, as explained here. [patrickomalley.com]
Apparently, receiving five "I don't know" responses to invitations will introduce restrictions to your account. For example, you won't be able to invite anybody without knowing her email address.
Some merit to LinkedIn... facebook? Not so much (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:3, Informative)
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?
I think that speaks more to the quality of your Facebook friends (or your perception of Facebook friends) than anything else.
I would be perfectly comfortable asking favors of almost anyone I have as a Facebook friend.
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:3, Informative)
This is just not true. I'm actively using social networking and local bbs's to get me + wife into the local social scene. We're both from out of town and we've moved to a place with very small tight groups of friends who have typically grown up together and are a little nervous about outsiders. It's not a good environment for walking up to people in bars and introducing yourself, but these sites allow you to start goofing around with people anonymously, which then makes them more interested and curious about you when you meet them IRL.
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:5, Informative)
I think there are some fundamental differences between LinkedIn and the likes of Facebook, which is why I'm happy to be listed on the one but not the others.
In particular, LinkedIn has access only to professional information about me that I would typically share with a prospective client/employer anyway, and it only collects that information from me personally apart from the basic networking information that is the whole point (and is only collected/reliable with my confirmation anyway).
Facebook, in sharp contrast, got almost no information from me personally when I briefly signed up, yet practically had my whole life story within a couple of days because their entire MO is to get friends to volunteer information about each other. Moreover, the information that Facebook attempts to collect is often very personal and certainly not the sort of thing I would voluntarily share on-line.
Re:First questions first (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the European Swallow flies an average of 11 meters per second so that's half the answer there.
For some great analysis on the topic, read this: http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/ [style.org]
Re:no online id == no xp (Score:3, Informative)
I have an entire department of top-notch IT staff who all - collectively - have almost ZERO online id - including me. Each and every one of my hires has at least double the appropriate experience as any of the other dozens of candidates we interviewed - many/most with EXTENSIVE online id's in various networks.
Your comment is illogical and incorrect.
Posted by Anonymous Coward - check out my linkedbook facedin tubespace twitter flickr profile and hire me! Surely if I have all these online ID's I must be a good employee!
LinkedIn and Facebook can both help (Score:3, Informative)
When I was laid off Dec. 31 I immediately announced my freelance availability on LinkedIn, Facebook, and a private journalists' email list I'm on. I've been busy ever since. LinkedIn has gotten me the most/best leads, but I've gotten some nice local ones through Facebook and a few from colleagues through the journo list.
The most interesting project I've landed came from a LinkedIn contact in Austin, TX, who hooked me up with someone in Raleigh, NC, who was doing a health care IT startup and needed writing/PR/marketing help. So I have a nice freelance account doing socially useful work for good people, all arranged over the Internet (although we've met F2F since).
Don't knock networking. It's the best way to get jobs you might actually like, with people you might like -- and who might like YOU. :)
Re:First questions first (Score:3, Informative)
What... is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow in flight?
About 24 miles per hour [style.org]
Re:You can't win if you don't play (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Want a job? Get on LinkedIn (Score:3, Informative)
I've never decided to hire someone just by looking at who they know.
BUT, I have looked to see if I know anyone they know, so that I can get an informal recommendation. The more senior the position, the more I want to hear about a candidate from people I trust who have worked with that candidate. Those positions require skills that are hard to really check for on a resume.
Also, when I applied for the job I hold right now, I did so via a connection I unearthed on LinkedIn- I saw the job posting, decided I wanted to apply for it, thenturned to my LinkedIn network to see if any of my friends knew anyone at the company. Someone did, so I submitted my resume that way rather than just responding to the job posting.