3 ms·

LinkedIn is full of people trying to get people to pay attention to them... but the people they are trying to impress aren't really on LinkedIn (they have a pro

LinkedIn is full of people trying to get people to pay attention to them... but the people they are trying to impress aren't really on LinkedIn (they have a profile but that's it... they don't use it as an actual social platform). In that sense LinkedIn is mostly a wasteland.

Angostura 11y ago
Annoyingly, they removed the most useful bit (for me) several years ago in terms of getting work. LinkedIn Answers was a bit crappy, but I used to spend quite a lot of time giving good detailed answers to people. That ended up with a few short consulting gigs that we quite fun "Could you come and sort this out for me". They never built on LinkedIn Answers, let it stagnate and then killed it. It was much better than the stupid Groups system.
pinaceae 11y ago
Really depends on the industry and position. Mid-level executives in IT/Tech/Consulting globally are practically on LinkedIn, it is a giant job board. A self-updating and self-cleaning CV database and rolodex. The biggest CRM system on earth. And it has gotten better recently, the product team has given up on moving into Twitter/Facebook crap features and is re-focusing on the job at hand. If they'd add hierarchies and reporting structures, they'd be even more valuable (and dangerous). B2B sales people live in LinkedIn. HR ditto. Yes, developers don't get the value - but it is not for you. Directors, VPs, MBAs,...more so.
vlunkr 11y ago
To me it looks like a wasteland of recruiters. I used to think it was neat when some recruiter would contact me about a job, but now I realize they are just spamming everyone with (your framework here) listed in their skills. The over-saturation of recruiters, connections with everyone you even slightly know, and people endorsing you for skills they don't know you have has made it all meaningless.
- gohrt 11y ago
  If you were an outsider in need of a job, you'd appreciate the recruiter spam.
  - vlunkr 11y ago
    But I don't feel like any of it is authentic. Submitting my resume directly to the company would probably accomplish the same thing.
    - selllikesybok 11y ago
      In some cases, that might even be true.
  - nileshtrivedi 11y ago
    Now only if LinkedIn had made it recruiters' emails an opt-in.
  - CaptSpify 11y ago
    Not really. I've been in that situation, and spammy recruiters are just looking at "Oh, he's got $buzzword in his profile, and $company needs $buzzword!" If $buzzword = bash, that's not really useful. It's used everywhere, and isn't really an exclusive skillset. They don't pay attention to company culture, pay, or even location. Obviously YMMV, but IME, they pretty much just throw everything against the wall, to see what sticks.
  - Pxtl 11y ago
    Not when 90% of them aren't even local.
  - stephengillie 11y ago
    Not when they all for your resume, then turn you down because you only know Chef, not Chef, Puppet and Ansible.

Angostura 11y ago

Annoyingly, they removed the most useful bit (for me) several years ago in terms of getting work. LinkedIn Answers was a bit crappy, but I used to spend quite a lot of time giving good detailed answers to people. That ended up with a few short consulting gigs that we quite fun "Could you come and sort this out for me". They never built on LinkedIn Answers, let it stagnate and then killed it. It was much better than the stupid Groups system.

pinaceae 11y ago

Really depends on the industry and position. Mid-level executives in IT/Tech/Consulting globally are practically on LinkedIn, it is a giant job board. A self-updating and self-cleaning CV database and rolodex. The biggest CRM system on earth. And it has gotten better recently, the product team has given up on moving into Twitter/Facebook crap features and is re-focusing on the job at hand. If they'd add hierarchies and reporting structures, they'd be even more valuable (and dangerous). B2B sales people live in LinkedIn. HR ditto. Yes, developers don't get the value - but it is not for you. Directors, VPs, MBAs,...more so.

vlunkr 11y ago

To me it looks like a wasteland of recruiters. I used to think it was neat when some recruiter would contact me about a job, but now I realize they are just spamming everyone with (your framework here) listed in their skills. The over-saturation of recruiters, connections with everyone you even slightly know, and people endorsing you for skills they don't know you have has made it all meaningless.

gohrt 11y ago
If you were an outsider in need of a job, you'd appreciate the recruiter spam.
- vlunkr 11y ago
  But I don't feel like any of it is authentic. Submitting my resume directly to the company would probably accomplish the same thing.
  - selllikesybok 11y ago
    In some cases, that might even be true.
- nileshtrivedi 11y ago
  Now only if LinkedIn had made it recruiters' emails an opt-in.
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  Not really. I've been in that situation, and spammy recruiters are just looking at "Oh, he's got $buzzword in his profile, and $company needs $buzzword!" If $buzzword = bash, that's not really useful. It's used everywhere, and isn't really an exclusive skillset. They don't pay attention to company culture, pay, or even location. Obviously YMMV, but IME, they pretty much just throw everything against the wall, to see what sticks.
- Pxtl 11y ago
  Not when 90% of them aren't even local.
- stephengillie 11y ago
  Not when they all for your resume, then turn you down because you only know Chef, not Chef, Puppet and Ansible.