…I have found Linkedin useful. It’s reconnected me with some former co-workers; I’ve used it to hire contractors and employees; I’ve even researched some competitive start-ups with it. I’m curious–is there anyone here claiming that Linkedin isn’t valuable, did they try to do anything? Did you try to find someone you’d lost touch with? Did you try to find someone that might be helpful to you (contractor or employee or expert)? Or, is it, I signed up and I’ve been waiting for my cookie? Waiting around for more invitations is clearly not that useful, unless someone finds you interesting.And Ted Shelton, Founder and CEO of Personal Bee had this to say:
I have been using Linked In for a long time and feel that I have gotten a lot of value from it. I also feel that, as with any tool, it is the amount of time and effort that I invest in the tool that has determined the value that I have derived. I don’t believe there is any magic bullet to having and making use of a social network — no software tool is going to replace the need to meet people, provide value to those people, develop relationships with those people etc. A tool can make it easier though to keep track (or rediscover) those people and can make it easier to handle routine communications requests. Here are my rules for using Linked In– (1) I never invite anyone to join my network that I don’t have a good real world relationship with. (2) I never agree to join a network of someone else that I don’t have a good real world relationship. (3) I never ask anyone for assistance through Linked In if it isn’t the kind of request that I would respond positively to. As a result, I have hired employees referred through Linked In, I have been reconnected to colleagues from the past, I have done reference checks on people through the people we know in common, and I have been able to refer jobs to people in my extended network, helping my friend who are in my immediate network.Some great points made by Ted and Gordon! (Funny how the comments on a well-trafficked blog like Signal vs Noise can actually exceed the quality of the post itself!) For those who want to become masters at using LinkedIn to recruit great talent, you might want to check out the book Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting, which is co-authored by Bill Vick and Des Walsh. (Des is a smart guy, I know him as a fellow contributor to BusinessBlogConsulting.com). Bottom line: you’ll get out of LinkedIn what you put into it. So all you social butterflies out there, put some effort into LinkedIn! Mark my words: it’ll be worth it. 🙂
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