UKC

Hello,

I am considering jumping off my (professional) boat after five years and open a new chapter.
I am not clear yet about what to do next but I ve already started dusting off my CV.

Now, I am trying to figure out if I should register on linkedin.com. I would like to know if it is a must, does it really help? Is it worth giving up so much pers. info on the net (I have a bit of a phobia in that respect).
If not, how would a recruiter/HR manager percieve the fact that I am not registered? (already I would be coming out of the humanitarian sector wich has this image of being cut off from reality...)

Any HR professional around here happy to share their opinion?

Thank you!

Sebastien

In reply to sebastien:

The funny thing about Linkedin is that everyone appears to be remarkably successful....

I'm not a recruiter but I do look after recruitment for the firm I work for and if someone we were interested in wasn't on Linkedin, I wouldn't see this as a bad thing. Rather just a personal choice of that individual not to be on Linkedin.

I'm on there as I work in a very niche area of tax and there's not many of us about, hence why it's quite useful to make recruiters aware of my existence!

In reply to sebastien:

i've been working as an IT contractor for more than 10 years

i'm not on Linkedin

it's against the law to lie on your CV, but not on social networking sites.

if your CV is up to scratch then you'll be fine without it.

Its definitely not a requirement. Its rarely used for business purposes except for poaching between similar companies. No recruiter would trust a recommendation on there as they are generally made by friends, and they shouldnt look upon it negatively that someone didnt have one. It can't hurt to have a profile but make sure its filled out to a good standard as its like a second CV, inconsistancies will be a killer.

In reply to sebastien:

I've just left a role working in small business development - we used LinkedIn quite heavily as a networking tool, predominantly as a method of gathering like-minded people to then have face-to-face events. Now that I'm starting up as a freelancer, I'm going to be using it in similar ways, to find local networks containing potential clients.

In reply to sebastien:

I am a recruiter and Linkedin is usefull but more as a point of quick reference (if you haven't got your up to date cv at hand, or I want my client to have a quick glance at your background etc) and it is good for networking around a profession if you are looking at a career change it can help to 'link in' with established people in your new profession to check out their backgrounds or seek advive around how to get into said profession. Dont reccomend anyone who reccomends you as looks a bit "scratch my back i'll scratch yours" and if you are going to set up an account make it 100% complete and join some relevant groups otherwise its really worthless being on there. It is usefull as a tool but some people (inc recruiters) use it as a massive job hunt/candidate database and that isn't what it is meant for. Good luck!

In reply to sebastien: It is very useful for figuring out if your female customers are good looking or not. Other than that, I have find it utterly useless.

In reply to sebastien:

I've got 4 requests sitting in my linkedin inbox from HR people wanting to link to me on LinkedIn. Not sure what they are offering but, if I connect to them other people I'm connected to (including most of my colleagues) get a news email saying that I'm now connected to so-and-so, HR professional.

In reply to EeeByGum:

lol, I tend to agree, though I am on it.

To the OP: I doubt anyone would care less whether you are on it or not. The world is still trying to work out if Linkedin has any use, other than for checking out the opposite sex

In reply to sebastien:
I'd say 50% of the recruitment agents I speak to suggest I join their network, I'm not on Linkedin and I don't really see the point. I'm not worried about my employer knowing about me job hunting (I told them I intend to leave) but I would rather keep the agents I have to deal with at arms length from myself and each other.

In reply to sebastien: You'd be unlikely to get recruited for a job by posting your CV there. But you could easily get some good introductions to people to widen your net. It can only help your chances, but not directly.

In reply to sebastien:

Not in HR but I see Linkedin as 'Facebook with qualifications', ie completely unnecessary.

In reply to sebastien: I'm on it, but no idea why, never use it except to accept the odd "friend" (!) request, and then I have a nosy to see who they're linked to. No business benefit whatsoever for me.

Thanks a lot for the answers and tips! I gather it's not a priority, wich is fine by me!

Sebastien

In reply to sebastien:

I have found it a very useful networking tool but each to their own.

It is very useful when you get to job hunting. I was given the name of two people who were going to interview me but no information on their job titles. A quick search on LinkedIn showed one to be the head of the division and one to be the HR business partner. From that I deduced there was a strong likelihood it was going to be a very "formal", possibly competency-based interview. It was.