Good analysis. I've been thinking this for a while, but the write-up crystallized the reasons. If you want my services, you'll know it, and you won't be hesit

Good analysis. I've been thinking this for a while, but the write-up crystallized the reasons. If you want my services, you'll know it, and you won't be hesitant to pay for them. (I've had the strange experience of a client whom I billed at $125/hour send me a tip for saving their business... in 5 hours) LinkedIn is useful for surveying the landscape, but I generally know beforehand whether I'm likely to obtain a job, though I'm always game to look around. (I am currently in graduate school, but I'm trying to collect enough data to build a regression model for deciding how long I can afford to spend on my dissertation before the opportunity cost catches up with the forward earnings differential.) Bottom line -- unless you're taking the big risk and starting a company (congratulations and good luck!), the truth has always been the same. It's not what you know. It's not even who you know. It's who knows what you know, and their perception of your value, that will make the biggest difference in your career (again, this is far less important to serial entrepreneurs). Thanks to transburgh for submitting this. I can now point people at this page when the topic of LinkedIn and professional 'networks' comes up.