Has anyone gotten anything good out of LinkedIn?

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I've been contemplating deleting my LinkedIn account, I'm not really interested in the high fees associated with the site as I feel they are aimed more toward agencies etc.

It's been alright to look up a few old contacts and maybe find the odd answer to a burning question, but I just don't find the site to be that valuable.

What are your experiences with LinkedIn? Am I missing out on something good?

 

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I don't find it to be very useful.

 

Not had much luck with it at all - its full of recruitment consultants who as i'm sure your no doubt aware are usually more interested in helping themselves than you.

 

Can you not just downgrade to a free account?

 

I have over 100 contacts on LinkedIn and don't know more than a handful that pay for an account - use the free one it's more than adequate.

As to usefulness - as I said it my stickied thread elsewhere, you get out what you put in. It is a professional networking site and should not be confused with the likes of Facebook etc.

I know someone who's profile was spotted and he now has a top job jetting off round the world to Italy, Germany and the US. He was just approached and had an initial chat suggested and it went from there.

I myself have just been told about a job via a contact and will be sending my CV off today.

If you just join and never update anything, post a comment and don't try to build up useful contacts then it's not for you. If you join groups, post discussion topics and take part then you *may* find it very useful, if not immediately then later on in your career.

It's a bit like why I harp on about the BCS and the networking aspect at meetings - my current job has resulted purely by getting to know someone at meetings who then said there may be a vacancy at his place and he set it up for me to send a CV in. Result, I'm now back working again albeit p/t and not in IT but at least it's work.

Your decision m8 but don't expect LinkedIn (or any other similar site) to do the work for you.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

How do you fill your contact list though? how do you get them initial contacts? my friend is a Business Manager (In recruitment) and she uses the site very very frequently to find people for jobs, it works well enough for her as an agency person. It's just an odd one that I can't get my nut round.

 

I certainly wouldn't pay for it...

I suppose that it's one of those things that 'you get out what you put in'.
For example, if you're looking for work:

1- Complete your profile as best you can, as if it was a CV.
2- Be honest about the fact that you're looking for work (the downside here is that LinkedIn doesn't seem to grasp the concept of unemployment, hence all those people who seem to be working for companies called 'me' or 'none' which is then further confounded by the system insisting on sending you a confirmation email to [email protected])
3- Then just use it as you would a room full of people at a party. Start with adding contacts that you know socially or through work. Then approach their contacts and introduce yourself and ask to connect to them and so on.

Problem is, it just ends up as one of those things where everyone collects connections as if they were pokemons, just to show how well connected they are - but there's rarely any substance to any of it.

Some people really milk it, and I get really fed up with getting updates telling me that someone is planning a business trip, the same someone has updated their blog, they've also started a conversation asking what sort of biro people like best, and they're now using LinkedIn on their iPhone.

It's all very well raising your profile, except when it's the profile of a complete t0sser.

 

I only joined a few weeks back and have logged in twice.
Funny thing - I didn't even know there was a pay account. I'm only interested in the freebie

 

I use it but I don't pay for it, it's ideal as a tool to look up other people tho.
As far as contacts go, I just did a search of the previous companies I worked at and added them from there, the majority of my contacts are either former colleagues from the IT side of things or line managers\directors who I got to know.

I use it to keep current on what my previous colleagues are up to as well, but I don't log in often (but I do update my profile with every new job).

 

I've gotten a few job propasls on linked so I think it's great! It's all about connections... if I am ever looking for a job I can go there and I am sure I'll find something... I know friends who've gotten jobs and inquiries through linked in.

 

Start by joining various Groups and connect to people from there. For example, there is a CF Group on LinkedIn

Be clear though, LinkedIn is not a job site - if you approach it in that way you will probably not get much from it.

Networking is about growing contacts and not from the point of view of yourself, but how you can link other people together too.

For example, this week I knew a contact was looking at setting up an SEO business. Another had experience in SEO so I put the two in touch; not from the viewpoint of getting either work but from a professional view of thinking it may be useful for the two to chat to each other for ideas etc.

 

Not really interested.. nothing that interests me. I think there are far more interesting ways of passing the time than that. however, i suppose it's horses for courses.