LinkedIn's True Identity

Harry Joiner wrote an article back in May in which he explained his reasoning for not forwarding an InMail from a competing recruiter to a candidate in his LinkedIn network. "LinkedIn is a glorified database -- not a community," Harry wrote.

I'll see your comment and raise you one, Harry.

Having spent a couple years working for the second largest job board on the Internet back in the late '90s, I can say this with complete confidence: LinkedIn is not exactly the innocent professional networking tool it claims to be. It did not inadvertently become this rich prospecting tool for recruiters, LinkedIn was DESIGNED to be a job board/recruiting database from the beginning!

LinkedIn allows professionals to post a profile that is virtually identical to their resume (but better, because it contains their picture) without having to worry about their company's Human Resources department finding out about it. Grown adults expand their networks with the same enthusiasm and desire for popularity as teenagers do by adding friends to their MySpace page. But this is no mere MySpace for adults, despite what they would like you to believe. MySpace makes their money the same way Google does: selling advertisements. LinkedIn, however, makes money by selling InMail's, which are direct emails to their members and the only way to get in contact with someone who is not a part of your network.

As far as I'm concerned having a LinkedIn profile is no different than putting your resume on Monster or CareerBuilder, so don't feign shock when a recruiter like myself reaches out to you to discuss a job opportunity.

Comments

[Susan]

The three newest job sites in the About.com Top Ten Job Site list are -

www.linkedin.com (professional networking)
www.indeed.com (aggregated job listings)
www.realmatch.com (matches you to the perfect job)

Good luck to all those searching for jobs.

[Rita Ashley]

You say this as if it were a bad thing. While recruiters certainly benefit from the database LinkedIn provides, so do HR departments and other hiring authorities and candidates.

And while LinkedIn facilitates employment connections, also provides access for business and social contacts. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. No one is insulted when contacted about a job and they know how to "just say no."
LinkedIn has nothing to apologize for being used as a free job search tool.
In fact, there is a cottage industry targeted at job seekers to help them take advantage of using linkedin. I wrote a free white paper to help optimize LinkedIn for job seekers: http://www.jobsearchdebugged.com/blog/index.php?page_id=171

The Job Coach
www.jobsearchdebugged.com

[a+ training]

You say this as if it were a bad thing. While recruiters certainly benefit from the database LinkedIn provides, so do HR departments and other hiring authorities and candidates.