Three Tips to Make LinkedIn Work Harder

CNN Money lists three ways to make LinkedIn work harder as follows:

1. Get a vanity URL. "When you sign up, you get assigned a link to your profile that's a long string of random-looking code. Change that link to your name so it's easier for recruiters to copy and share your profile."

2. Add the right photo. "A picture taken by a pro reinforces your professionalism and can help people who are trying to remember if they have met you before. If all you have are vacation photos, you're better off posting nothing."

3. Show your expertise. "When recruiters look at your profile, they'll check to see what you've been doing on the site. Answering fellow users' questions on this forum helps to establish you as an expert in your field."

My thoughts on this:

• I still haven't set up a LinkedIn account/profile, but I've been meaning to do so. Anyone using it now? What benefits are you seeing from it?


• I have a professionally done photo taken for business purposes, so I'd probably use that. It's five years old, but I don't look much different.


• I'd say "show your accomplishments" as well as "show your expertise." Let people know you are delivering results (within the realm of confidentiality, of course -- you can't share company secrets) and they will be interested in knowing you.


• Are recruiters really trolling LinkedIn looking for contacts/job prospects? Anyone heard of this or had it happen to you?

What is missing? Are there any tips you would suggest be added to this list?

Comments

[Chris]

I work in technical consulting and find this is a good way to keep in contact with many former colleagues through job (& therefore professional email) changes, etc.

There are definitely recruiters trolling through the boards, I probably receive one or two solicitations a week for both short term consulting work or full time positions with consulting companies that compete with my own employer.

Chris

[Mike]

"Are recruiters really trolling LinkedIn looking for contacts/job prospects? Anyone heard of this or had it happen to you?"

I'm also in a technical field. I find the trolling recruiters obnoxious, but yes, they're there. Besides the recruiters, who I ignore, I have gotten two requests for interviews from small to mid-sized local companies who were looking for I help.

[indio]

I've been using LinkedIn for many years. It's a great way to build a network and maintain it, without using Facebook where you would disclose personal info. Headhunters use it quite frequently to recruit and search on key word terms in your profile, even though your full resume may not be posted. I don't use a professional photo because my goal is more networking rather than finding a job and I want to look like I would if you met me, not posed or cardboard like.

[Mark Shiffer]

I get contacted quite often through LinkedIn by recruiters. Being in the IT field, it kind of lends itself well to that scenario though. IT recruiters are constantly searching for potential candidates to fill positions and LinkedIn is their holy grail. I don't mind it. I'm always open to hear about what is going on out there.

The main reason I am on LinkedIn is to stay in contact with professional colleagues and stay updated on where they are and what they are doing. It is also very useful when you need the inside scoop on another company and need to remind yourself of who you know on the inside or who one of your colleagues knows.

Very useful tool, but its market capitalization is ridiculous. Are we back in the 90 tech bubble again?

[Sarah]

I like using linkedin, and treat it almost as a digital resume. Definitely a lot of recruiters though. Even when you set it up so it is clear that you aren't currently looking.

[No Debt MBA]

I also have been contacted by recruiters via linkedin which I don't mind since it happens infrequently. LinkedIn is a great tool to keep track of your network since I can never remember which company everyone has moved to. It answers the question "do I know someone at XYZ company".

I'd say being on LinkedIn is not doing a ton for my career in terms of promotion, but it does help track my network. Not a huge advantage but it's not a ton of effort to use either.

[Bad_Brad]

LinkedIn is an awesome tool. If you are hunting for a job in pretty much any white collar field, you really can't afford to not be on LinkedIn. I use it mainly to keep in contact with old business school contacts as well as past colleagues. But every once in a while, a very interesting job opportunity pops up there that I would not have known about if not for LinkedIn.

[Jess]

I am also in a technical field and get contacted once or twice a week by recruiters. I don't mind this, since I know that if I ever do need a job, I have people out there looking for me. Plus, it gives me a feel for what skills are in demand, who's hiring, and what my market rate should be.

[FMF]

I'm interested -- is anyone concerned with the security issues associated with LinkedIn? After all, people can see a lot about your life using it. Any chance ID thieves could take advantage of the info?

[Bad_Brad]

FMF - ID thieves are after credit card information. I suppose if an ID thief already had your credit card, and wanted to be able to answer "security" questions about you or more easily pose as you for some purpose, he might be able to mine LinkedIn for that. But I view that as such a minor risk that it never even popped into my mind in the six years I've been on LinkedIn.

[BD]

I've been on LinkedIn for years, but never once have ever had any recruiters call me. Though, my field was in Graphic Design, so that was not surprising at all. Hopefully LinkedIn will be more beneficial to my new career once I get through college.

[SteveD]

I've been on LinkedIn for years, since before Facebook. I've used it as a place to collect contacts from people I used to work with, much like a Rolodex, though I don't think I've ever contacted anyone there. Facebook is much more useful for this, as people update their profiles there more often and they're far more interesting. (For privacy I have two Facebook accounts -- one for my real friends, and one "professional" profile for coworkers and the like, so I can separate my personal and professional lives.)

I'm in IT and get hit by recruiters regularly, many who probably found me through LinkedIn, and they've never offered any job worth following up on. When I was looking for a job earlier this year, I didn't find any value in LinkedIn... I even used it to follow up on a job post from a friend who works at LinkedIn, but got no response!

While I love the idea of a professional social networks site, I don't think LinkedIn has been built very well, and I've found it more annoying than useful.

[indio]

Like others that have posted about this discussion, I work in IT. The company I work for, probably hires about 75-80% of its new hires through LinkedIn and referrals represent the other 25%. The profile doesn't usually contain a lot of personal info beyond academic dates and work experience. If you don't want to use your email address, you don't have to. It is interesting to see who has clicked on your profile or how many times you've shown up in a search. This info used to be available for free, but now it's a service you pay for.

[CoolMouseLuke]

I've used LinkedIn since 2004. I've found you only get out of it what you put in. If you just have a few direct connections, you won't be able to see much, nor others to find you. The larger your network, and the better quality it gets, the more you can get out of it.

The best direct use I've had is for interviews, both as interviewee and interviewer. To be able to look up the person, get a feel for their career path, certifications, college, sports teams, sometimes books they read, past companies, hot buttons, are all extremely valuable the night before going to an interview. Sometimes I look up someone coming in for an interview also for a key position, though not that often.

I've combined my LinkedIn profile with both my IT contacts, and my real estate investing contacts. I've thought about separating, but it give me a broad view with the banking/finance/mortgage folks combined with the IT contacts at various companies. It has also helped me to raise private money for my investments.

You do have to be careful as a manager though, as recruiter you connect with can poach your key personnel who are also connections. A lot of recruiters turn off the view to see their individual connections for this purpose.

[First Gen American]

I love linked in. It also has a great feature where you can upload your address book to linked in and whenever someone new joins that's already in your address book, it notifies you.

I disagree about putting accomplishments down especially if it's for your current employer. (Self Employed is a different story). Unless you're out of work, making a virtual resume on linked in is a big red flag. In fact, for a while there, when someone joined linked in, it was a telltale sign that they were looking for a job. Certain accomplishments might also be considered proprietary information (like how much money you saved or how much you grew a strategic customer).

I use it all the time for my line of work (engineering sales). It's a great place to find contacts. If you need it for that purpose, I'd also suggest that you also join your industry specific groups on linked in to increase your visibility to connections.