5 ms·

I don't like LinkedIn as a social network but as a hiring manager, there's nothing else close to it. Sometimes we wish there were, but it definitely fills a nic

by jaaron 6y ago

I don't like LinkedIn as a social network but as a hiring manager, there's nothing else close to it. Sometimes we wish there were, but it definitely fills a niche.

Etheryte 6y ago
Out of curiosity, what niche does Linkedin fill for your day-to-day work? Personally I only have a profile so people can see I physically actually exist, outside of that I don't think I've ever used the site for anything.
- UnpossibleJim 6y ago
  I thought LinkedIn was only for looking for jobs and getting business contacts, for business to business work. I see people posting personal "stories" and, to be honest, I'm a bit confused.
- xyzelement 6y ago
  // Out of curiosity, what niche does Linkedin fill for your day-to-day work? Not the original poster but I'll take a stab: Someone says "I know a guy you may be interested for your team." Guess what the first thing I do is? I have a meeting with someone (internal or external) that I hadn't met yet. Guess what I look up before I meet them? Who do I know who works at Bank of America (or whatever.) Guess where I can find an answer in two seconds? If you life doesn't involve meeting/evaluating/finding people then I guess you don't need LI. But really - you can go through your whole work life and not be interested in the professional background of people you are meeting etc?
- jaaron 6y ago
  I agree with everything in xyzelement's comment. As a hiring manager, it's only one source, but it's an important one. Examples of how I use it: - Posting job openings and company updates to my personal LinkedIn status. - Using the recruiting tools (these cost extra) to search for candidates with specific skills. - Looking through the staff of a specific company in search of potential candidates for a specific role. - For most candidates I'm only 2, sometimes 3, hops away on LinkedIn. I look to see who we know in common. - Sometimes it's the only resume-like document I have for a candidate, so I refer to it during an interview and I often share the candidate's LinkedIn profile with other interviewers when providing them context/background about the candidate - Less often, to directly message former coworkers if I don't have some other better way to reach them. - Also less often, there are some active LinkedIn interest groups, but in my experience, the quality of discussion isn't as good as other forums. I'm in LinkedIn almost every day, one way or another. So are most tech recruiters I work with. For anyone who is not actively part of the recruiting effort, I have no idea why you'd be on it that regularly. For what it's worth, we also use a lot of other recruiting tools, but I would say that it's odd to find an engineer who doesn't have a LinkedIn profile and I do recommend them for anyone who is actively job hunting (at least within tech). It's great for when you're on the market, passively or actively. An active GitHub account is also good, but it's not a place recruiters or hiring managers start their search. An active personal website is even more valuable than an active GitHub account, but also not likely the way a recruiter or hiring manager finds you. Oh, one other thought: for lots of startups and companies, applications aren't where we find all our best talent. That's not to say you shouldn't apply, it's just that the signal to noise ratio for applications is low. As a hiring manager, you can't just wait around for the best people apply for your team. You have to actively recruit. If you want to be recruited for those sort of jobs, LinkedIn is a pretty important way to show up on their radar.

by jaaron 6y ago

I don't like LinkedIn as a social network but as a hiring manager, there's nothing else close to it. Sometimes we wish there were, but it definitely fills a niche.

Etheryte 6y ago

Out of curiosity, what niche does Linkedin fill for your day-to-day work? Personally I only have a profile so people can see I physically actually exist, outside of that I don't think I've ever used the site for anything.

UnpossibleJim 6y ago
I thought LinkedIn was only for looking for jobs and getting business contacts, for business to business work. I see people posting personal "stories" and, to be honest, I'm a bit confused.
xyzelement 6y ago
// Out of curiosity, what niche does Linkedin fill for your day-to-day work? Not the original poster but I'll take a stab: Someone says "I know a guy you may be interested for your team." Guess what the first thing I do is? I have a meeting with someone (internal or external) that I hadn't met yet. Guess what I look up before I meet them? Who do I know who works at Bank of America (or whatever.) Guess where I can find an answer in two seconds? If you life doesn't involve meeting/evaluating/finding people then I guess you don't need LI. But really - you can go through your whole work life and not be interested in the professional background of people you are meeting etc?
jaaron 6y ago
I agree with everything in xyzelement's comment. As a hiring manager, it's only one source, but it's an important one. Examples of how I use it: - Posting job openings and company updates to my personal LinkedIn status. - Using the recruiting tools (these cost extra) to search for candidates with specific skills. - Looking through the staff of a specific company in search of potential candidates for a specific role. - For most candidates I'm only 2, sometimes 3, hops away on LinkedIn. I look to see who we know in common. - Sometimes it's the only resume-like document I have for a candidate, so I refer to it during an interview and I often share the candidate's LinkedIn profile with other interviewers when providing them context/background about the candidate - Less often, to directly message former coworkers if I don't have some other better way to reach them. - Also less often, there are some active LinkedIn interest groups, but in my experience, the quality of discussion isn't as good as other forums. I'm in LinkedIn almost every day, one way or another. So are most tech recruiters I work with. For anyone who is not actively part of the recruiting effort, I have no idea why you'd be on it that regularly. For what it's worth, we also use a lot of other recruiting tools, but I would say that it's odd to find an engineer who doesn't have a LinkedIn profile and I do recommend them for anyone who is actively job hunting (at least within tech). It's great for when you're on the market, passively or actively. An active GitHub account is also good, but it's not a place recruiters or hiring managers start their search. An active personal website is even more valuable than an active GitHub account, but also not likely the way a recruiter or hiring manager finds you. Oh, one other thought: for lots of startups and companies, applications aren't where we find all our best talent. That's not to say you shouldn't apply, it's just that the signal to noise ratio for applications is low. As a hiring manager, you can't just wait around for the best people apply for your team. You have to actively recruit. If you want to be recruited for those sort of jobs, LinkedIn is a pretty important way to show up on their radar.