Who here does LinkedIn?

[Common Sense Party]

I keep hearing about this as a professional "networking tool," if that means anything.

Does anyone use it? If so, how is it helpful? Has it led to job opportunities?

Or is it a huge waste of time?

[wtmusic]

1. After relentless needling from one of my clients

I "linked in". It hasn't led to jack.

[nini]

2. I found my last job on there

they have a pretty good job board and if you have worked with lots of people in the past you can get them to write recommendations for you.

I think it's worth it but it may depend on your line of work.

[abbeyco]

3. I use it and really like it

I've heard about job leads, kept in touch with colleagues & industry peers and have done quite a bit of networking on it. I find it's similar to Facebook - how fun/successful it is depends on your commitment to it.

Cheers!

[Common Sense Party]

4. What do you have to do to be "committed" to it?

That is, how have you made it work for you? What are the steps to take?

[Lindsey]

5. I'm on it but I don't use it.. I guess I'm not really committed.

However, a lot of my friends are on it and they love it. Not only is it a good way to communicate with professionals in your industry, it's also a great way to find jobs in a really discreet way.

[abbeyco]

24. I keep my profile up to date

and I add contacts & join industry groups as I find them. I keep in touch with many of my contacts, keeping our networks open & active.

When I have time, I participate in discussion threads where I can provide appropriate commentary & lend my experience. Or I join threads in order to learn something.

Really, I think any social networking is what you, as a participant, make of it.

[2Design]

6. on it - getting things in one place is good for focus -

have not had any job leads yet - need to check on it more ofter (once a week) and do more using of the job boards - the networking is more professional than facebook and you would only link to other people who want to be professional.

[tridim]

7. I found three great job opportunities there this morning.

Fingers crossed.

[Common Sense Party]

8. How do you make it work for you?

Do you already know people at the companies where the opportunities are? Are you introduced somehow?

[tridim]

10. There's a "jobs" section on the site where companies post jobs.

No connections required.

[ChicagoSuz219]

9. I only go on it when I get a message from someone...

...I have friends who seem to like/use it tho'.

[Dappleganger]

11. My husband has a profile.

He joined a group specific to his needs and has had some good hits from it, as well as connecting w/former college classmates who've tried to help as well.

[Dreamer Tatum]

12. No need for scare quotes. Try it out...you might enjoy it.

And there are jobs listed there. Don't be scared.

[Common Sense Party]

16. I didn't include any scare quotes, nor did I mention I'm scared.

You may want to make sure you're not inferring things that are not there.

I signed up a few months ago with LinkedIn, but haven't done much with it, and wasn't sure if it was worth the time to get familiar with it. Thus, I asked people here who know.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. I've been on it for a long time

Nothing has come of it professionally.

[Lisa0825]

14. I got job leads from it, but not a job offer.

I hooked up with some alumni who passed around my resume for me.

It's an easy way to keep in touch with former colleagues/supervisors when phone numbers and emails may change. It's not full of fluff like FB and MySpace, so I feel better about adding business contacts there, whereas I do NOT add them to my FB.

The only actual business I have done there is I had someone contact me from a credit union that offered a special service for companies with employees from overseas who needed help establishing credit. It was a better service than I had found at other credit unions, so we invited them to come do a presentation, and we ended up signing up with them to provide services. So it turned out to be beneficial to my (then) company and I am sure the rep who contacted me probably got a bonus out of it!

edited to add: As an HR person, I also sometimes post there about any hard to fill posiitons that I am working on, and have joined groups for different types of occupations where I can post those jobs when they come up. I have not filled one this way yet, but I can attest that I have real jobs and I share them there.

[NeedleCast]

15. I find it pretty useless

And I'm pretty big into social networking. There seems to be very little in the way of job opportunities unless you have a very large, professional network of friends (I kinda do, and it still wasn't much use in job searching). I think the major job sites (Monster, CareerBuilder, et. al.) are much more beneficial and provide a better use of job searching time.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. everyone I know does it, I haven't yet

[mmonk]

18. I have it but haven't been using it. Guess I should.

[rox63]

19. I'm on LinkedIn

It's handy for keeping in touch with former colleagues for networking purposes. Plus there are groups there that you can join related to various professions. You can be as active or inactive as you want. It's just another networking tool. Not nearly as time-consuming as Facebook.

[supernova]

20. I'm on LinkedIn

It's interesting, but I haven't generated any job leads from it yet. It is a good place to keep a sort of online commercial for yourself and keep your hand in with other people in your industry.

[dembotoz]

21. on it

still trying to figure out how to make it pay off for me.
I see the potential but don't quite know how to get there.

[Canuckistanian]

22. I do It's marginally useful.

I use it to see who's getting hired by whom, what they're working on and whether they're on contract or not.

It's interesting to see former colleagues who are now doing something completely different.

[Richardo]

23. I'm on it.

I figure it's a good way to keep one's contacts centralized, follow them if they move, keep experience/job changes up to date for use in resumes if needed.

A friend of mine who is looking for work is going to sign up so I'll get a sense of its value for job search.