LinkedIn Usefulness & Jobs

Note bene: This is somewhat of a long post, but a fast read. If you want to skip most of it just read the Bottom Line at, uhm, the bottom. But, I think and hope this post may help people -- especially younger people -- understand LinkedIn.com.

Jen asked about LinkedIn.com, a social networking site for "professionals," whatever exactly that means. More specifically, Jen asked:

What do you think of LinkedIn? I got an invite to join some time ago and ignored it, but I've heard it mentioned much more since then. Not sure whether or not I want to join.

I really have no idea how helpful it actually is, it probably depends on who you are, but here are my thoughts on it.

First, one should know that more than 80% of jobs are found through personal connections; that is, despite your personal experience, most people get jobs through a friend or a friend of a friend etc. I got one of my best jobs this way and got two very nice interviews lined up the same way (and a straight up job offer overseas similarly.)

Unlike Facebook where anybody you've ever met is a "friend" LinkedIn focuses on creating adding "connections [friends, colleagues, managers, etc.]" that you actually know. Like Facebook, you can see your connections' connections. E.g., I can see the 37 connections of W.H., who is a connection of mine. I can't see the actual connections (the real people) past that but I can see that currently I have 34 connections, which branch out to over 700, which branch out to nearly 50,000.

It's not that far away from the hypothesis that everyone in the world is six steps away from everyone else. In this case, on LinkedIn, I know 34 people, who know over 700 people, who in turn (total) know over 49,000 people.

With LinkedIn you can recommend someone to someone else or vice versa. Say I know a middle school principal who is looking for a teacher. I also happen to know a teacher that I would personally endorse. I can use LinkedIn to recommend the teacher to the prinicipal (if they both are on LinkedIn).

Of course, in reality I would probably just pass along the name. The prinicipal may have reason to doubt me, or "trust, but verify," and look up the teach on LinkedIn (maybe I have a close relationship with the teacher). But with LinkedIn the prinicpal can look up the teacher and see who has "reccomended, [commentented on]" the teacher, and a brief resume if the teacher has set it up. I'll use my own examples here, instead of the possibly hyopthethical teacher.

Endorsements are essentially postive remarks from other people, usually people you have worked with. You request them from other people or simply endorse someone on your own. Here are a couple I have on my LinkedIn profile (these are slightly abbrevieated -- full names are shown on LinkedIn -- the details are verbatim.)

From T.E., May, 2007

Details of the Recommendation:

"Jon's knowledge of web design and implementation added great value to launching the site and the product. He brought things to the table we hadn't thought of."


Service Category: Graphic/Web Designer
Year first hired: 2006


Top Qualities: Personable, Expert, Creative

Another:

By M.S., May, 2007
Details of the Recommendation:

"Jon is a creative thinker who does not fear the unknown. He is able to enter into new situations with courage and honesty and develop his skill set to the best of his ability. Students, parents and coworkers love him! Dedication and perserverance are very strong traits!"

One More:

From J.S, May, 2007

Details of the Recommendation:

"Jonathan took on his role as a worship leader even though he had limited previous experience in that area. He exhibited a commitment to excellence by quickly improving his skills and knowledge, pulling together a team which included students and succeeded in providing meaningful times of worship. He has also accompanied students to conferences, where he has engaged in meaningful intereactions with them. His intellectual and spiritual depth enables him to tackle the hard questions young people often ask."

(You do have the option of accepting or rejecting recomendations, in the event someone it out to get you, even if they played nice at work.)

You can see my public profile at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/3/ab4/32. I still have to update it, but it is an abbrievated resume. To see my full profile you have to register.

LinkedIn has other features, such as joining groups (such as your alumini group), among other things. Some may make you appear more attractive on LinkedIn, but remember, your personal connections are the most important.

The Bottom Line:
I haven't used LinkedIn that much so I don't know how useful it really is, but it never hurts to join. It is probably one of those things worth doing no matter what. It's free, and can help.

It is nice to have an abbrievated resume always ready to go, as well as a portfolio of endorsements from people you have worked with. It is also cool to browse your contacts and theirs', as well as browse jobs with a resume/contacts already in place.

Finally, probably most importantly, people further into careers than I reccomend joining it. To be sure, I'll have my LinkedIn profile updated before I start looking for my next job (which will be quite soon.) I probably won't find it via LinkedIn, but if I do I'll be awfully glad I took the whole hour or so to get things setup properly.