Does anyone here do Linked In?

axisus

I joined many years ago but got fed up with it sending me incessant emails and notifications so I dumped it in the end. It wasn't that easy to quit!

Anyway, with possible employment threat on the horizon I'm wondering if I should rejoin and try to galvanize some connections.

Anyone here joined? Is it any use or just Facebook for posh twits?

Jono111

Yes, and after my recent redundancy it got me two interviews. It is good for finding ex colleagues who may be working in companies you are applying to and getting them to push your CV in front of the hiring manager. I found also that after applying for a role I would get one or two views from the company I had applied to so hiring managers also use it to check you out so make sure your profile is good.

munckee

I use it and get contacted about job opportunities fairly regularly.  

drofluf

Yes, my company uses it as a sales tool. I’ve also had headhunters get in touch with me via it with generally fairly relevant opportunities. As long as you’re discerning with who you connect with - i.e. people in your industry - I think it can be a useful tool. 

Bridgehouse

Very much used as a way of checking people when recruiting. Well worth having a good profile and some endorsements as it might get you shortlisted more often

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I’m on there. I mostly use it for checking contacts before a meeting, or seeing someone’s background before an interview. 

“The Firm” uses it for all sorts of marketing guff and thought leadership that I highly doubt anybody reads. 

Philly_Q

At my firm's annual (virtual) conference last year we had a 90-minute presentation from someone telling us what a useful business tool LinkedIn can be, how quick and easy it is to set people up as contacts and we should all aim to add at least a few hundred contacts.

Our marketing department sends an email every week telling us useful things staff have posted, or picked up, from LinkedIn.

I'm sure they're right but I still haven't used it.

monquixote

Yeah it's great.

I use it specifically as a professional contact book and online CV / recruiting tool. In tech you can pretty much just create a profile indicate you are looking for a job and opportunities come to you.

I don't bother posting or reading anything anyone else posts that's just like a crap business Facebook.

thecolourbox

I'm my experience, LinkedIn as anything but a way to get recruiters' attention or find jobs, is quite a baffling experience. Lots of posts about how great things are or memes that look like the yuppies of the 80s have gone into graphic design. Yahhhhhh

But it's decent for looking for a job, I'm sure the recruiters would say it's useful as well. I'm looking for jobs currently to escape my current one and it's quite fruitful in getting you talking to people (usually caveats of recruitment agents largely being tossers) and as others have said it can be good to find further colleagues in positions that may now be of interest to you

fastonebaz

Yes I use it like a public professional cv 

Fretwired

I'm on LinkedIn. It is a useful tool to find people - I know several recruiters who swear by it and some SMEs use it to advertise vacancies so if you're potentially looking for a new job I'd say join. What have you got to lose?

EricTheWeary

When I was having one of my ‘redundancy doesn’t make you less of a person’ sessions we had a presentation on LinkedIn. Basically established that it’s useless for public sector jobs. People often over share so it’s a good way to find out information on people. My nephew works in fashion marketing and uses LinkedIn a lot so I’ve found out loads about him I didn’t know. 

It is, I think, the longest lasting social media platform so it must have something going for it but there are plenty of types of jobs that are outside of it’s catchment. Lots of people on here in IT type jobs who will have found it useful. 

Edit : basically horses for courses, if the type of employment/ employer you will be looking at uses it then use it and if they don’t then don’t. 

M1ck

I got my current role as a direct result of being on LinkedIn - it pays to keep your profile up to date, but don’t treat it like Faceberk 

prowla

I use Linked In for jobseeking, but I can't be doing with being friends with people I don't know and all that malarky.

Similarly I use Facebook for guitar pages, but am not interested in other people's holiday snaps and daily diaries.

scrumhalf

Are you chaps using the free version or have you paid the extra sub? 

fastonebaz

Free

andyp

I was let go from my previous job last summer (I am lucky as that was the first time it’s ever happened to me, but it was a huge worry at the time for me) and I decided to brush up my dormant LinkedIn profile and used it to actively look for jobs. It was invaluable.

I took the month free trial of the Premium service and without LinkedIn I’d not have got my current job. I managed to find the job and accept the offer within my notice period and started straight into the new role. I’m not sure how I would’ve done without LinkedIn. The premium bit was very useful, but ultimately didn’t impact me getting or seeing the job I accepted and it’s definitely not worth the cost if you are not a recruiter or something.

I would absolutely recommend it for finding a job. I have only ever written one post, but it has a decent range of news and industry information if you spend a wee while finding companies and people to follow.

LuttiS

I dislike linkedin.. I signed up as a course I was on gave a fancy badge or something for my LinkedIn profile..  
My issue is that I actively try to distance myself from colleagues, people I used to know and personal contacts.. my work and social life are very separate entities and for the most part I don't really want to be contacted by ex work people. 

Stratavarious

Yes.. great for keeping business and work connections.  

DefaultM

I got made redundant along with about 700 other people last year, and its fascinating how many of them it turns out were in senior positions according to their LinkedIn profiles.
One girl, I was marking her work for 4 years and it turns out all along she was actually my manager! I can't believe she never said anything to me.

ThePrettyDamned

I have an account, wildly not used and out of date.

I dislike it.

I don't like that a potential employer would check it having seen my cv and cover letter. That's what I want them to see - social media is something I very much dislike, and LinkedIn is mostly full of nonsense "entrepreneurs" trying to get you into their, ahem, reverse funnel scheme. As such, a potential employer checking mine may think, "oh, he doesn't keep his LinkedIn up to date very well" - that has less than nothing to do with what I'm like as someone to work with. 

I've seen some friends and colleagues on there and it's astounding how misleading some of the info is.