Post business school, I have found myself using Linkedin more than ever. Navigating through any large corporation, before I have any meeting with someone internally or externally, I always look at Linkedin profiles. It has become an informal resume that I use to shape the way my conversation is going to go. People inevitably feel a sense of respect when you know something about them, and also, it helps bringing up points of familiarity (or people for that matter). Clearly the company has been doing well (apparently people pay for premium services) because rumors of an IPO in the near future continue. My headhunter friend Anthony Sandrik (oops, I think I am supposed to call him recruiter but he does not care) swears by it, and says he spends more time on the site than anywhere else. I guess the days of calling up phone directories of investment firms to find recruits are over.
The one thing I wish is that there is a way to validate if someone worked somewhere or did something. For example, next to every job, a check mark could appear for validation. Its so hard to differentiate between what is true and what is exaggerated. Further, I would love to see people beyond traditional business jobs fill information in more frequently. In the ideal world, before I go to a lawyer or a doctor, I could look up their credentials. Also, is there any way to integrate Yelp with Linkedin and link people who work at certain places or establishments? The potential is limitless if Linkedin opened its platform (ala Facebook connect).
Also, we should establish some Linkedin etiquette. Only add someone if you have met them at least three times for periods of 30 min or more. Theoretically people are going to notice you are their connection to this person and ask for an intro/opinion. Nothing is more annoying than the person who has met you once or never met you yet adds you as a friend right away. Limit the other places you work to at the same time unless you really have more than one job. If you work at a venture firm and are a board member, dont list it as two positions. It is one position and the board positions should be included in the description of your venture job. Activities should be listed as activities not jobs (they have a space for that). Unless you spend 9 to 5 at job A and 6 to midnight at job B that both pay a salary or wage, you do not have two jobs.
Feel free to add me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/sergekass
Only if I know you of course......
1 comment:
I leverage LinkedIn a lot as well and find it an invaluable resource. Unfortunately the etiquette aroudn digital interaction cannot evolve fast enough to keep up with the evolution of the social media platforms. When I first started using LinkedIn I would only add people if I knew them well and felt that I could vouch for them. I even tried to politely explain this to people who tried to link to me who I had just met at a conference, but this mostly just offended them. I since have changed my view of my LinkedIn connections from being group of people I trust, something like the set of my good professional contacts, to being a group of people I know, which is more like an upgraded rolodex or address book. Because most people seem to use their LinkedIn profiles in a similar way, any time I want a LinkedIn contact of mine to connect me to one of heir contacts I send them an email - not through LinkedIn - to ask them if they know the other person well enough to introduce me.
Regarding third-party LinkedIn application integration, LinkedIn has taken some cautious steps down this path (the Twitter integration was particularly bold), but they have been intentionally slow as they view the trim, professional appearance of the site as one of their core assets, much like the Google home page. For this reason I don't think you will ever see LinkedIn open its platform like Facebook.
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