Networking: Does LinkedIn work?
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Posted by Joerg on July 26, 2006, 3:23 pm
Please log in for more thread options Hello Folks, Got an invite to LinkedIn from a friend. He's new to it as well so let me ask those of you who have tried it for a while: Does a service like LinkedIn work for engineering type people, mainly those who are self-employed? I might just jump in and try it out. But last time I joined a more "official" forum the number of spam mails increased quite a bit and I don't want to use Jim's trick of using 200+ email addresses just to weed stuff out. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by PeteS on July 26, 2006, 4:52 pm
Please log in for more thread options Joerg wrote: I'm a member of LinkedIn, and I get virtually no spam, if spam it can be called. In terms of actual 'spam', I get none. Some people are 'premium' members, which means they can search the entire network for specific skills, tasks, jobs, whatever and directly attempt a contact. You can, however, refuse a contact. They don't use those contacts much as they cost money each time. Ordinary members have their own contacts, but to contact beyond there, must be 'introduced' by someone who is in their direct contact group. If you don't want to entertain a contact (and you get the email from LinkedIn clearly marked as such, incidentally, regardless of who, why and how someone is trying to connect), you simply decline. The point in the chain (for instance if it was a friend of a friend of a friend) is not identifed to the requestor. I do find it very useful professionally - a lot of headhunters use the network to find suitable people, but I find they don't overload my inbox. I've had 3 consulting RFQs in the last 2 months, so you may find it particularly useful for that, but as always, YMMV. Just my experience Cheers PeteS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Joerg on July 26, 2006, 5:04 pm
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Hello Pete, >>Got an invite to LinkedIn from a friend. He's new to it as well so let
>>me ask those of you who have tried it for a while: Does a service like >>LinkedIn work for engineering type people, mainly those who are >>self-employed? >> >>I might just jump in and try it out. But last time I joined a more >>"official" forum the number of spam mails increased quite a bit and I >>don't want to use Jim's trick of using 200+ email addresses just to weed >>stuff out. >
> I'm a member of LinkedIn, and I get virtually no spam, if spam it can > be called. In terms of actual 'spam', I get none. > Some people are 'premium' members, which means they can search the > entire network for specific skills, tasks, jobs, whatever and directly > attempt a contact. > Looks very encouraging, thanks. Guess I'll give it a shot then. > You can, however, refuse a contact. They don't use those contacts much
> as they cost money each time. > It's probably the same as with doctors or contractors where referral sites want you to file a request form through them (except that the recipient pays). When that gets to be cumbersome people just google them directly. > Ordinary members have their own contacts, but to contact beyond there,
> must be 'introduced' by someone who is in their direct contact group. > If you don't want to entertain a contact (and you get the email from > LinkedIn clearly marked as such, incidentally, regardless of who, why > and how someone is trying to connect), you simply decline. The point in > the chain (for instance if it was a friend of a friend of a friend) is > not identifed to the requestor. > > I do find it very useful professionally - a lot of headhunters use the > network to find suitable people, but I find they don't overload my > inbox. I've had 3 consulting RFQs in the last 2 months, so you may find > it particularly useful for that, but as always, YMMV. > > Just my experience > If these three RFQ's were serious stuff then that's pretty good for a peer-to-peer site. IEEE tried to set up a network called virtual communities. I don't use it anymore as they totally over-sophisticated it to the point where the user interface is IMHO no longer useful. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Jim Thompson on July 26, 2006, 7:21 pm
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On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:04:49 GMT, Joerg >Hello Pete,
> > >>>Got an invite to LinkedIn from a friend. He's new to it as well so let
>>>me ask those of you who have tried it for a while: Does a service like >>>LinkedIn work for engineering type people, mainly those who are >>>self-employed? >>> >>>I might just jump in and try it out. But last time I joined a more >>>"official" forum the number of spam mails increased quite a bit and I >>>don't want to use Jim's trick of using 200+ email addresses just to weed >>>stuff out. >>
>> I'm a member of LinkedIn, and I get virtually no spam, if spam it can >> be called. In terms of actual 'spam', I get none. >> Some people are 'premium' members, which means they can search the >> entire network for specific skills, tasks, jobs, whatever and directly >> attempt a contact. >> >
[snip]
>Looks very encouraging, thanks. Guess I'll give it a shot then. > > Potentially useful, but who knows. I signed up, creating a new E-mail address for them. If it turns out bad I'll simply delete the address ;-) ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Joerg on July 26, 2006, 8:19 pm
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Hello Jim, >>>I'm a member of LinkedIn, and I get virtually no spam, if spam it can
>>>be called. In terms of actual 'spam', I get none. >>>Some people are 'premium' members, which means they can search the >>>entire network for specific skills, tasks, jobs, whatever and directly >>>attempt a contact. >>> >>Looks very encouraging, thanks. Guess I'll give it a shot then.
>> > Potentially useful, but who knows. I signed up, creating a new E-mail
> address for them. If it turns out bad I'll simply delete the address > ;-) > So far I just don't see it as being an easy way to get in contact with others. You have to loop through all the intermediate contact stages. The search engine, well, whatever I did it found over 200 Peter Smiths and 145 Jim Thompsons :-( OTOH I did see my former boss there because he has an unusual name. Of course it doesn't let me see his email contact but I have that anyway. I'll wait and see if it gets any good leads since I want to slowly migrate away from medical. Can't buy any PLI in the US anymore. Unless you know a nice tropical paradise I could relocate to and where there are no leftists ;-) -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
>
> Got an invite to LinkedIn from a friend. He's new to it as well so let
> me ask those of you who have tried it for a while: Does a service like
> LinkedIn work for engineering type people, mainly those who are
> self-employed?
>
> I might just jump in and try it out. But last time I joined a more
> "official" forum the number of spam mails increased quite a bit and I
> don't want to use Jim's trick of using 200+ email addresses just to weed
> stuff out.
>
> --
> Regards, Joerg
>
> http://www.analogconsultants.com