My most recent "Tooling Up" column deals with LinkedIn, and a controversial subject that keeps getting hammered on over and over, but which (oddly) I don't think we've nailed down here on the Forum. I expect that even amongst us moderators, we'll have differences of opinions (Rich Lemert will feel differently than I do, etc). That's because there are two basic philosophies behind using LinkedIn, and everyone seems to be on either one side or the other of this divide.
My article is at http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/11/link-jump-start-your-job-search, in case you haven't read it.
Here's what happened to me recently . . . I had noted a woman's profile (LinkedIn is always suggesting people to link with where you have many mutual connections) who was the head of a career department at a major university with the focus on the kind of work that my firm does. I sent her a nice invite, and I always send a note with it (as you should) with a few comments on why I think we ought to establish a connection. I was completely shocked, rudely so, when she wrote back that she did NOT want a connection, as she "reserves that for people I know in person."
That's one view of LinkedIn, as a kind of business card holder for people you work with all the time. But in my view, that's sure not the approach that works best for the LinkedIn system, especially for job-seekers!
I'm in the camp that you connect with anyone and everyone who shares an area of interest with you, so that you get to be "known" in those circles and future connections come easier and easier when there are many mutual connections between people. It opens the door for me to "see" more profiles on LinkedIn, to find people for job searches that I am doing, and to identify experts in given areas. I can't imagine turning down a LinkedIn invitation from a legitimate contact. (That said, I turn down invitations every day for people who are selling SEO services, or business "mentors" or accountants and insurance salespeople, etc -- anyone who is trying to sell me something, I don't need.)
Recently, I had a LinkedIn invitation to a guy who cut my hair in downtown Phoenix. That's odd, I thought, and I considered tossing it. Then, I thought, why not. And I linked with him. Later, I discovered that the scientists from T-Gen are located right nearby that same barbershop, and got a connection because of our link. Oddly, even my barber was a link between me and someone I should know.
How do YOU feel about the value of LinkedIn? Are you for keeping it close to the vest, or are you for expanding and building your LinkedIn "universe"?
Dave Jensen, Moderator