Link Me In, Hook Me Up

Well I haven’t set up a Twitter account yet but I do have a long standing LinkedIn profile so I will web log about that instead.

LinkedIn is a strange beast and while it can be useful it has always appeared in the past to be something that people turn to when their job is under threat. Each time I have resigned, been made redundant or been desperate to leave my job I have updated my profile, made more connections, looked for people I may know, used its functions, etc. Then when placed elsewhere, I let it lie idle until I need it again. From many other people I have talked to this is what they have thought and how they behaved as well so I know it wasn’t just me.

Interestingly, I’ve never actually been successful in using it to get any jobs or job leads though, so I’m not sure why I kept going back to it. I suppose it does feel grown up and like just by using it you’re networking, taking care of your career, etc, and it is a Good Thing to do with low maintenance.

However, since coming to City I have used it rather more often and my pattern of use has changed. Now I do try to keep up with professional developments, watch conversations, link with people and so on. I go in about every three weeks and see if others have joined and try and scan the groups I am involved in to see what’s going on. I have recommended some people (especially the recruiter who got me in for my first temp role at City) and try and keep it current.

I’m starting to build LinkedIn into my general approach to social media and use it as a grown up Facebook. I would recommend that people join it, link up with those they know, search for new connections on a regular basis and keep it current because you never know when it will become useful. When I want to remember the names and positions of people I worked with at different places in the past, LinkedIn is where I go. If I want to see where they have gone, I use it. If I want to lurk and see how other institutions are dealing with the information issues of the day, back I go.

It may not have been a great help when job hunting in the past, but when did Noah build the Ark? Before the rain. Before.