3 ms·

> I wouldn't personally hire someone via recruiters or LinkedIn, but I would hire someone via a recomendation from a contact I maintain on LinkedIn. I'm a recr

by fecak 10y ago

> I wouldn't personally hire someone via recruiters or LinkedIn, but I would hire someone via a recomendation from a contact I maintain on LinkedIn. I'm a recruiter, and fully understand reluctance to use recruiters (expensive, not to mention a host of other reputation issues). I don't quite understand "I would't hire someone via...LinkedIn". 'Hire someone via LinkedIn' could mean a host of things. The most obvious would be an ad - you might place an ad on LinkedIn, and that could be 'hiring via LinkedIn'. LinkedIn ads are relatively expensive, so I wouldn't fault you for not placing ads there either. But to many, LinkedIn is just a database or catalog of people who you can reach out to (or who can reach out to you). If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? If someone approached you and said "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you", would you say no? I expect the answers are "no" to both questions, but when we (in recruiting) talk about using LinkedIn for hires, we generally would agree that there are a handful of ways LinkedIn might be useful in the hiring process.

nailer 10y ago
Well yeah, I think we're agreed. We might not use recruiters, but LinkedIn still helps us maintain business connections.
- dorfsmay 10y ago
  Which now are going to be part of some shadow profile inside Microsoft databases (à la Facebook).
  - asadlionpk 10y ago
    I think my business connections data is the least of my concerns. It's mostly public anyway.
jacquesm 10y ago
> If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? There's a good reason for me not to have a linkedin profile. Recruiters somehow still manage to find me but this is fortunately less of a problem than it would be otherwise (judging by my colleagues and friends). It's a bit like not being visible in google: if you can't google it, it doesn't exist. And if you're not on linkedin the laziest contingent of the recruiting profession will be unable to locate you. Fine by me.
- bduerst 10y ago
  Tangental, but are there any laws against SMS recruiter spam in the U.S.? Some recruiters have found my SMS somehow and text me with offers now. Mildly infuriating.
  - vitd 10y ago
    I don't know about laws, but your cell provider should have information about where to report spam texts, and those would certainly qualify. You should get reimbursed for the charges (since SMS in the US makes no sense and receivers pay for them).
- fecak 10y ago
  Most recruiters view a LinkedIn profile as an invite to reach out to almost anyone, and many recruiters apparently are reaching out to people who explicitly say "please, don't contact me if you're a recruiter". There used to be an "interested in" section at the bottom of profiles. It appears to be gone now, and you could check off things like "Career opportunities", "networking", etc. That section appears to be gone now. Using LinkedIn isn't lazy for recruiters, it's smart - it's just the easiest way to find people. The easiest way to find active job seekers would be resume/job boards. Recruiters who limit themselves to only using LinkedIn to identify potential candidates are lazy. Many devs could be found in a host of other places, and many like you don't want to be on LinkedIn. The other reason recruiters tend to rely on LinkedIn is they can get quite a bit of value out of it even at the free level.
- 10y ago
martin-adams 10y ago
>> "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you" I think this is my problem with LinkedIn, that conversation doesn't happen. I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what their angle is. I literally scan the bio of the one connecting for the words 'recruiter' or 'business development' and then reject them. It's because I'm not looking to use LinkedIn for that reason. Turns out it was this exact frustration that sparked the motivation to create a startup in my daily vlog. Link for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGTowTy88dEKxrFibOimYnSzM0e0_KMtD https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGTowTy88dEKxrFibOimY...
- fecak 10y ago
  I think these conversations don't happen because job seekers aren't really using LinkedIn in this way, at least yet. When I coach job seekers, I usually encourage them to use LinkedIn to try and identify companies that could be a fit similar to how recruiters use LinkedIn. If you're a Python dev and you want to work within 30 miles of Dallas TX, you can do an advanced search on the word Python (maybe add a couple others) and then set location to Dallas metro. Your results will be individuals, and those individuals all should be working for local companies that are using Python (with some false positives obviously). That's a decent list to start off for someone, because it's not just companies that are currently listing open jobs - applying only to open jobs isn't the best way to find jobs.
- xenophonf 10y ago
  I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what their angle is. I think these are recruiters/business developers who don't want to pay for InMail or Premium accounts.
  - fecak 10y ago
    >I literally scan the bio of the one connecting for the words 'recruiter' or 'business development' and then reject them. It's because I'm not looking to use LinkedIn for that reason. If someone is scanning the bio just to find out whether the messenger is a recruiter or in biz dev, chances are the difference between a free or paid account is trivial. As a recruiter, I was reluctant for many years to use a paid account, as I received feedback from some candidates that seemed to equate a paid account with the most aggressive recruiters that overstepped bounds in LinkedIn. I eventually caved to get a paid account, but I don't know that the additional features are worth both (a) the expense and (b) any negative stigma that some may associate with having a paid account.
g051051 10y ago
> If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? I'd never approach someone cold like that. >If someone approached you and said "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you", would you say no? I'd absolutely say no, because that kind of unsolicited approach means that you're just fishing, and that I happened to wind up in your net along with umpteen others. In other words, you approaching me via a LinkedIn profile doesn't mean you're actually interested.
- fecak 10y ago
  OK. If you happened to be on LinkedIn and saw someone that had taken the time to put together an attractive profile (nice summary, links to GitHub and maybe a tech blog, their email address (contact me at...), a comment about being open to new career opportunities, all the niceties), and that person's skill set was a fit for a position you had currently available, would you just pretend you didn't see this person at all? Would you somehow try to find a mutual acquaintance? I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't approach someone "cold" - in my example I'd say it's hardly cold (they are inviting contact), and I don't think my example is an edge case. Your answer to the 2nd question is a bit more troubling to me. If someone stumbles on your profile on LinkedIn, does some additional research to see about your company, finds out it's a place he/she might like, why do you say this is "fishing"? You may be the only person this job seeker reached out to - why would you assume otherwise? LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for job seekers to find information about a company - usually a bit more informative technically than standard company PR (other than a tech blog). I think if you're dismissing candidates simply because you happened to see them on LinkedIn, or simply because they learned about the existence of your company via LinkedIn, you aren't doing your employer any favors.
  - pricechild 10y ago
    If that's how it really worked then it might work out ok. But this is the real world and standards aren't going to be kept that high. Even if you stick to doing things well, your competitors won't and they will turn us off you too.

by fecak 10y ago

nailer 10y ago

Well yeah, I think we're agreed. We might not use recruiters, but LinkedIn still helps us maintain business connections.

dorfsmay 10y ago
Which now are going to be part of some shadow profile inside Microsoft databases (à la Facebook).
- asadlionpk 10y ago
  I think my business connections data is the least of my concerns. It's mostly public anyway.

jacquesm 10y ago

> If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? There's a good reason for me not to have a linkedin profile. Recruiters somehow still manage to find me but this is fortunately less of a problem than it would be otherwise (judging by my colleagues and friends). It's a bit like not being visible in google: if you can't google it, it doesn't exist. And if you're not on linkedin the laziest contingent of the recruiting profession will be unable to locate you. Fine by me.

bduerst 10y ago
Tangental, but are there any laws against SMS recruiter spam in the U.S.? Some recruiters have found my SMS somehow and text me with offers now. Mildly infuriating.
- vitd 10y ago
  I don't know about laws, but your cell provider should have information about where to report spam texts, and those would certainly qualify. You should get reimbursed for the charges (since SMS in the US makes no sense and receivers pay for them).
fecak 10y ago
Most recruiters view a LinkedIn profile as an invite to reach out to almost anyone, and many recruiters apparently are reaching out to people who explicitly say "please, don't contact me if you're a recruiter". There used to be an "interested in" section at the bottom of profiles. It appears to be gone now, and you could check off things like "Career opportunities", "networking", etc. That section appears to be gone now. Using LinkedIn isn't lazy for recruiters, it's smart - it's just the easiest way to find people. The easiest way to find active job seekers would be resume/job boards. Recruiters who limit themselves to only using LinkedIn to identify potential candidates are lazy. Many devs could be found in a host of other places, and many like you don't want to be on LinkedIn. The other reason recruiters tend to rely on LinkedIn is they can get quite a bit of value out of it even at the free level.
10y ago

martin-adams 10y ago

>> "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you" I think this is my problem with LinkedIn, that conversation doesn't happen. I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what their angle is. I literally scan the bio of the one connecting for the words 'recruiter' or 'business development' and then reject them. It's because I'm not looking to use LinkedIn for that reason. Turns out it was this exact frustration that sparked the motivation to create a startup in my daily vlog. Link for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGTowTy88dEKxrFibOimYnSzM0e0_KMtD https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGTowTy88dEKxrFibOimY...

fecak 10y ago
I think these conversations don't happen because job seekers aren't really using LinkedIn in this way, at least yet. When I coach job seekers, I usually encourage them to use LinkedIn to try and identify companies that could be a fit similar to how recruiters use LinkedIn. If you're a Python dev and you want to work within 30 miles of Dallas TX, you can do an advanced search on the word Python (maybe add a couple others) and then set location to Dallas metro. Your results will be individuals, and those individuals all should be working for local companies that are using Python (with some false positives obviously). That's a decent list to start off for someone, because it's not just companies that are currently listing open jobs - applying only to open jobs isn't the best way to find jobs.
xenophonf 10y ago
I get connection requests and I'm left baffled to what their angle is. I think these are recruiters/business developers who don't want to pay for InMail or Premium accounts.
- fecak 10y ago
  >I literally scan the bio of the one connecting for the words 'recruiter' or 'business development' and then reject them. It's because I'm not looking to use LinkedIn for that reason. If someone is scanning the bio just to find out whether the messenger is a recruiter or in biz dev, chances are the difference between a free or paid account is trivial. As a recruiter, I was reluctant for many years to use a paid account, as I received feedback from some candidates that seemed to equate a paid account with the most aggressive recruiters that overstepped bounds in LinkedIn. I eventually caved to get a paid account, but I don't know that the additional features are worth both (a) the expense and (b) any negative stigma that some may associate with having a paid account.

g051051 10y ago

> If you saw a LinkedIn profile that you thought would make a good addition to your team, would you not reach out to that person just because you found them on LinkedIn? I'd never approach someone cold like that. >If someone approached you and said "I saw your profile on LinkedIn and I like what your company is doing, I'd like to get together and discuss the possibility of working with you", would you say no? I'd absolutely say no, because that kind of unsolicited approach means that you're just fishing, and that I happened to wind up in your net along with umpteen others. In other words, you approaching me via a LinkedIn profile doesn't mean you're actually interested.

fecak 10y ago
OK. If you happened to be on LinkedIn and saw someone that had taken the time to put together an attractive profile (nice summary, links to GitHub and maybe a tech blog, their email address (contact me at...), a comment about being open to new career opportunities, all the niceties), and that person's skill set was a fit for a position you had currently available, would you just pretend you didn't see this person at all? Would you somehow try to find a mutual acquaintance? I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't approach someone "cold" - in my example I'd say it's hardly cold (they are inviting contact), and I don't think my example is an edge case. Your answer to the 2nd question is a bit more troubling to me. If someone stumbles on your profile on LinkedIn, does some additional research to see about your company, finds out it's a place he/she might like, why do you say this is "fishing"? You may be the only person this job seeker reached out to - why would you assume otherwise? LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for job seekers to find information about a company - usually a bit more informative technically than standard company PR (other than a tech blog). I think if you're dismissing candidates simply because you happened to see them on LinkedIn, or simply because they learned about the existence of your company via LinkedIn, you aren't doing your employer any favors.
- pricechild 10y ago
  If that's how it really worked then it might work out ok. But this is the real world and standards aren't going to be kept that high. Even if you stick to doing things well, your competitors won't and they will turn us off you too.