Author Topic: Any of you using LinkedIn? (Read 4758 times)

floobydust · « **on:** January 19, 2018, 10:29:32 pm »

A coworker got contacted there, quit and took a new job.
It seems to be an alternate to the old school "apply and send in your resume" paradigm. I think you can search for skills, keywords there if a headhunter or HR.

Privacy invasions aside, they don't even have an industry category for EE's or R&D, just Civil and MecE's.

I see other coworkers, former peers etc. exaggerate so much on their profile. It's like a hollywood movie set, "I'm a star" kind of mentality.
So I have a hard time hyping my skill set, and being all about personal image, in order to find better employment.

Wondering how you guys find it.

Gyro · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2018, 10:33:53 pm »

I've got a profile that I haven't updated in years. I stopped when Microsoft acquired it.

It used to be useful for staying in touch with former colleagues though. It still sends me updates every week, but the go to my junk folder these days.

nctnico · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2018, 10:34:35 pm »

I update my LinkedIn profile every now and then and it has brought in some customers.

Halcyon · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2018, 10:35:01 pm »

I work for an organisation where "word of mouth" is everything and it's the kind of industry where "everybody knows everybody". If you make a bad name for yourself, the majority of the important employers will know about it. For me, LinkedIn is more of a hindrance, but I can certainly see how it benefits people.

For you guys it's probably more the case of "look at what I have, what I've done and what I can do" where for me it's "need to know".

Neomys Sapiens · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2018, 12:50:07 am »

I can only support the comments of both Gyro and Halcyon. I get some contact requests but they happen to be mostly not interesting. They do not even read the profile or they would have gotten the idea that the Keyword they are after shows up ONCE in a long CV. I did some work on *whatever* once because nothing better was to be had.
Then there are some groups which sound interesting at first. But the only traffic I'm getting out of them is some guys trying to sell overpriced dumb market reports.
And also a lot of people started to add contacts outside their work or even industry. When getting a Email that X added n new contacts, it could well be his/her dentist and bank clerk. That has annoyed me severely. Also, I added once a contact from a former colleague who is working in a totally different area now and I got pestered by contacts of his even after I deleted him.

rhb · « **Reply #5 on:** January 20, 2018, 01:05:03 am »

I do not have a Linkedin account and have steadfastly refused all the requests that I join resulting from people I have known joining. The interesting part is that personal emails to the people who joined rarely got a response. Only one or two of the "joiners" were people I would willingly work with again.

But I was also a personal brand name contractor in an industry where I knew most of the major figures and had since grad school. Seeing people every year at the major industry convention is *far* more valuable than a web page.

floobydust · « **Reply #6 on:** January 20, 2018, 01:13:05 am »

There is no way to prevent your LinkedIn profile from being seen in its entirety.

“Make my public profile visible to no one” only applies to search engines grabbing it. The spirit of zuckerburg lives on, fake privacy settings and confusing misleading options.

I'm not sure if the site is actually good for anything besides the occasional headhunt.

james_s · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2018, 01:51:44 am »

I have a profile but have never really used it for anything other than occasionally getting in touch with a past coworker. I haven't logged in more than a handful of times in the past few years, usually just to accept a request from someone.

I occasionally get contacted but it's invariably either temp agency recruiters or looking for something I'm not remotely qualified for based on some poorly implemented keyword search.

BradC · « **Reply #8 on:** January 20, 2018, 02:01:11 am »

I view it as just another social network, and I don't have anything good to say about social networks aside from the efficiency they display at separating people from marketable personal information.

I kinda get the impression it's used by people who either need or feel they need to sell themselves. For the profiles I've seen over the years, there is a *lot* of embellishment or turd polishing.

floobydust · « **Reply #9 on:** January 20, 2018, 02:48:26 am »

It's like all social media companies- invasive gathering of personal information with the illusion of privacy.
Once you enter your work history, it's giving a feed to all your ex-employers. The visibility/privacy settings are deceptive and do piss all. Beyond creepy.

"Your LinkedIn account is now closed. Although you no longer have access to it, it’ll take a few weeks for your public profile to disappear from search engines."

EEVblog · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2018, 02:54:19 am »

Rumor has it that many HR department now will bin an applicant if they don't have a LinkedIn account, because LinkedIn in now their primary tool to evaluate the worth of an applicant.

vk6zgo · « **Reply #11 on:** January 20, 2018, 02:55:35 am »

Another Ham talked me into joining.
It's never been any use to me, although I get a lot of junk emails from it.

I knew my son was on LinkedIn, and thought I could leave messages, etc for him, like Facebook, but all it did was say "Yes he is a member"
Turns out that he hasn't updated for ages, reckons it's a waste of time.

Bud · « **Reply #12 on:** January 20, 2018, 03:59:09 am »

If there is a definition of the worst web site design ever, it is Linked In one.

Bud · « **Reply #13 on:** January 20, 2018, 04:02:35 am »

Quote from: EEVblog on January 20, 2018, 02:54:19 am

Rumor has it that many HR department now will bin an applicant if they don't have a LinkedIn account, because LinkedIn in now their primary tool to evaluate the worth of an applicant.

All that is is an indication of their laziness and wanting to take an easy avenue.

Galenbo · « **Reply #14 on:** January 20, 2018, 02:38:05 pm »

I have a lot of friends on Linkedin, for some strange reason most of them with the title "recruiter"

My resumé is overly technically specific, so totally unaudible for the regular HR droid, and I clearly ask to specify location+budget for "opportunities"
That's a good filter, for me.

mikeselectricstuff · « **Reply #15 on:** January 20, 2018, 03:03:31 pm »

From what I've seen, seems to me it's like Facebook for grown-ups.
If you're actively looking for work then it would seem a no-brainer to not have a profile there, can't see much point otherwise.

NivagSwerdna · « **Reply #16 on:** January 20, 2018, 03:22:44 pm »

As a contractor in the UK I rely on LinkedIn and ensure my profile is always relatively up to date and even post the occasional article however it seems to primarily be a shark infested pool of recruitment agents.

My 2p worth...

Maintain a profile and make it reflect what you know and what you want to do
Limit the number of agents that you connect with since the same jobs will be circulating through multiple agents
Try and connect direct to companies HR/resourcing contacts to cut out the middle man entirely
Ignore requests that don't benefit you... they probably don't care about you but are just trying to harvest your contacts

... and primarily I use it to look people up before meeting/interviewing... and they do likewise.

gertux · « **Reply #17 on:** January 20, 2018, 03:24:04 pm »

I used LinkedIn in the early days to keep in touch with people I worked with and closed my account when the pestering of the recruiting firms became unbearable.
The trouble is that I kept getting legitimate requests from time to time which I couldn't accept nor reject because my account was closed.
So last week I reopened my account and am pondering about how to keep a balance between accepting connections from the good guys while ignoring the clueless recruiters.

Suggestion welcome [emoji6]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Scrts · « **Reply #18 on:** January 20, 2018, 05:46:59 pm »

I have a profile there and get headhunters emails or calls daily..

tszaboo · « **Reply #19 on:** January 20, 2018, 06:16:13 pm »

Yes. Got me a new job 2 years ago. It probably has more job advertisement than anything else. It is well worth the time to register and fill out the data about you. Threat it as a CV, keep it professional, keep a portfolio there of what you did. I also have half of my ex-coworkers there. And I do this despite the fact, that I would never register on facebook or other social media.

Zero999 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 20, 2018, 07:30:57 pm »

Me, I have a LinkedIn profile, but haven't updated it since I created it and can't even remember the password. I still get occasional emails which I ignore.

Quote from: NANDBlog on January 20, 2018, 06:16:13 pm

Yes. Got me a new job 2 years ago. It probably has more job advertisement than anything else. It is well worth the time to register and fill out the data about you. Threat it as a CV, keep it professional, keep a portfolio there of what you did. I also have half of my ex-coworkers there. And I do this despite the fact, that I would never register on facebook or other social media.

The same job you're bored of?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/help-me-i-have-boreout/msg1243705/#msg1243705

Jeroen3 · « **Reply #21 on:** January 20, 2018, 07:46:07 pm »

Quote from: floobydust on January 19, 2018, 10:29:32 pm

Privacy invasions aside, they don't even have an industry category for EE's or R&D, just Civil and MecE's.

This is most frustrating thing about linkedin, or any recruiter basically. They don't understand their market!
Because no matter how you setup the notifications, they will keep emailing you.
I'm an Embedded Software Engineer, which means I do basic electronics, and software for devices.

If I put: "Industrial Automation", I will get job offers and recruiters looking for IoT Security advisors and PLC programmers. I'm not one of those.
If I put: IT or computer -anything, I will get job offers and recruiters looking for Java/C# or web developers. Never.
If I put: "Consumer electronics", I will get job offers and recruiters looking for sales people.
So I just put "semiconductors industry", since those people don't recruit much, and when they do, they search for test engineers or project managers and anyone with an electronics background.

floobydust · « **Reply #22 on:** January 21, 2018, 08:39:31 pm »

Once I had a recruiter phone my present employer, asking for a reference. What a bimbo

Covering that up was... interesting... then I called the recruiting firm's manager and ripped a piece off him

They don't understand the keywords, the abbreviations etc. or difference between IT, software, hardware, embedded systems etc.

LinkedIn is almost as bad- it doesn't know the difference between a profession and an industry.
"Civil Engineering" an industry? That could be anything from manure pumps, roadways, structures, buildings.
EE spans many industries.

Galenbo · « **Reply #23 on:** January 21, 2018, 08:49:05 pm »

My technically detailed resumé includes AC TIG, because I am able to weld aluminum somewhat.

I got an offer to include a Task TIG 4.1 certification programme for management in project resources.
Or something like that.

I should have said yes, F* it up and simply take the cash, instead of trying to explain the droid what AC TIG means.

Simon · « **Reply #24 on:** January 21, 2018, 08:53:15 pm »

Have a profile, don't bother with it though, no need to let my employer know what I do in my own business, all they need to know is the day I'm leaving with minimal notice period...... Seriously I don't see the point, seems like they tried to copy facebook but make it serious and for work so everyone at work is on facebook instead. It seems they suffered the same affliction altium did when creating circuit maker.....


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Author Topic: Any of you using LinkedIn? (Read 4758 times)

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