The Power of LinkedIn: Real or Imagined?

I participated in the first half of a session on the power of LinkedIn for training industry professionals this past Friday. The session was delivered by Tony Karrer of eLearning Technology blog, and Mark Sylvester. Alas, I did not get to stay for the entire hour, but the polls that Mark ran revealed some interesting results. About two-thirds of the audience was using LinkedIn to varying degrees, and the other third was not. This seems to confirm at a high level at least that LI is becoming more relevant for training professionals. Most of the respondents had between 0 and 100 connections, and about 33% (of which I can include myself, but just barely) have between 100 and 500 connections.

I have used LI to link to most professionals I know and have worked for or with, and to find the odd high school classmate. I just recently passed the 100 connection point, and I want to expand further, but I do know a great many people that do not use LI at all still. But even my recent increased utilization of LI has been tempered by other activities. I would like to continue growing my use of LI, but do not have the time at present.

And this gets to a central question about LI: Is filling out a profile on something like LI worth the time and effort yet? What have been the results for individuals? Has LI generated job leads? Have offers been made because Person Y had an LI profile whereas another did not? If Person Y and Person Z both have profiles, can it be assumed that the completeness of one's profile over anothers is a major determining factor? Based on a recent anecdote from a former coworker and engineer, LI is gaining prominence. At this point, there certainly is no downside to having an LI profile, and it allows prospective employers a way to verify your individual credibility and references through recommendations, for example.


There are many unknowns, and I have more research to do.

Social Networks, Networking, and Finding Work

Before my facilitation at my client's worksite yesterday, I was speaking with one of the participants. We were making small talk before commencing, and the discussion turned to networking and landing a job. The participant mention that he had worked for an aerospace firm earlier in his career. This aerospace firm, of which he still has several friend in its employ, has according to his anecdote, begun hiring almost exclusively through LinkedIn. His friends had told him that the company was now more likely to hire individuals with LinkedIn accounts (and one would think individuals making more robust use of that site than others), than those without an account on LI.

I first made my own LI account back in 2007, and proceeded to not pay too much attention to it. That is, until I renewed my search for work very recently. While I haven't landed a job with my LI account yet, I am networking my friends and peers at a decent rate. I only have around 100 connections, but this has allowed me to uncover companies I had never heard of that friends or friends of friends have moved on to. Knowledge of these organizations now opens more possibilities to find work, and requesting recommendations from your connections is not only something you should do, you should do it now.

Does your organization utilize LI? What are its results? Was there a tangible difference in candidate quality between those utilizing LI, and those not using it? What about other social networking sites?