For just under the past two years I have been in College, so I can get a better Career. People say that LinkedIn is a great tool for finding employment. How do it work, I do have connections on there, and have seen where they have jobs listed but what I am missing?
How complete does LinkedIn say your profile is? 100% completion helps a bunch. Good descriptions of what you've done, if available, are helpful.
The big way that LinkedIn helps me is that recruiters are constantly trolling the network looking for people that match the skillset for jobs they are trying to fill. I've been contacted by something like 5 or 6 recruiters in the past year.
The "jobs you may be interested in" tool is also very useful, as long as your profile is filled in. In that section, each job listing has a little button that allows you to tell LinkedIn that the job isn't relevant to you. If you use that a bit to "teach" the LinkedIn tool, it will give you some very targeted results. I still get some things that I'm not qualified for, but it is way better than trolling CareerBuilder or Monster.
Really, its a lot about who you know, that lands you a job. Get people to give you recommendations on your profile. Then, get other people who may have clout at firms you seek employment with to drop a resume onto the HR desk...they can then say "Hey HR guy, check out his profile, past employers/colleagues think hes the shiznit".
BOOM!!! $75k/year base, plus stock options and an expense account!
...well, maybe not all that...LinkedIn wont "get" you a new job, but it helps grease the transition. Use it to help utilize your contacts to increase the potential for getting your resume a second look or interview.
EDIT...FWIW Ive had a lot of luck with Indeed.com - they have an apple/android app that is quite helpful, and doesnt spam your inbox to HELL and back like Career builder or monster etc...
4cylndrfury wrote: BOOM!!! $75k/year base, plus stock options and an expense account!
If that the average just-out-of-college salary, times have changed since I graduated!
I just wish I could get LinkedIn to stop sending me e-mails ( spam really ) I've never contacted them, never let them know that I'm interested in what they have... don't want or need anything they're pushing ...
I've tried to block their incoming e-mails ( g-mail fail ) I've tried bouncing their e-mails back at them ... they just changed the e-mail to one that can't be responded to so I get a failure to deliver message ... arrrhhh JUST GO AWAY ...
thank you < rant over >
I get more spam from Linkedin than even the porn guys. I'd never go there for anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wbjones wrote: I just wish I could get LinkedIn to stop sending me e-mails ( spam really ) I've never contacted them, never let them know that I'm interested in what they have... don't want or need anything they're pushing ... I've tried to block their incoming e-mails ( g-mail fail ) I've tried bouncing their e-mails back at them ... they just changed the e-mail to one that can't be responded to so I get a failure to deliver message ... arrrhhh JUST GO AWAY ... thank you < rant over >
That would be your connections / friends / co-workers / casual acquaintances sending you invites. LinkedIn doesn't automatically spam you, you have to ask or leave the notifications at the default setting.
What's funny is that I'm a longtime LinkedIn user and I don't get any e-mails from them. Maybe it has to do with my settings or something.
I have found LinkedIn to be very useful for maintaining contacts, finding a contact at a particular company, etc. It's also helpful when interviewing perspective employees.
I get one email a week from them, updates to what my contacts have done.
Heaven forbid we look through the settings and adjust them for our own preferences........let's just blast them for sucking!
Uh, I'm not on Linkedin so I don't have any settings that will allow me to adjust it to my preferences.
And yes, they do suck!
z31maniac wrote: Heaven forbid we look through the settings and adjust them for our own preferences........let's just blast them for sucking!
That's crazy talk.
Here's an example of one time when LinkedIn totally saved my butt. Remember that piece Charles Espenlaub did for us a while back about catching on fire? Since he wasn't planning on bursting into flames, we didn't have a camera crew ready.
Charles found a photo of the fire online, and I was able to find the photographer's name. It wasn't anyone I recognized, but through LinkedIn I found out that he was a friend of a friend. Long story short, I had the high-rez version of that photo within the hour. If I remember correctly, he was a corner worker who happened to grab the photo. (The fire wasn't near his station.)
The best job to find is the one that isn't actively advertised. Join groups that are pertinent to what you want to do and where people in the field hang out. Spend some time searching in your geography, specialty, whatever. Try to connect with people that seem to be a good fit and ask if they know of anything available. Just be polite and do it without being pushy or sounding desparate. I am planning to find a summer intern to do some work, but we've tossed around the idea of hiring someone for real. There's no job posting, but if someone came to me and said, "are you looking, here's what I can do" then suddenly they would have an interview with no competition. That's pretty good odds.
David S. Wallens wrote: I have found LinkedIn to be very useful for maintaining contacts, finding a contact at a particular company, etc. It's also helpful when interviewing perspective employees.
What kind? 
Thank you for all the helpful suggestions. I am currently buffing out my linkedIn profile. I will be looking into Indeed more,... probably tomorrow. As of this morning/right after I made the original post I went to be registered with the Dayton Bar Association (this only took a few months to get this appointment.
For background and useless information (to some people) I just graduated College with my Associates Degree in Paralegal studies. Needless to say I am still building connections and looking to get my foot in the door at decent firm around the Dayton area.
Local car clubs like SCCA? Figure out if there are racing attorneys. You have two connections already (cars and profession). Even if they don't need someone, maybe they know someone who does. Again, the easiest job to land is the unlisted one where you don't have any competition.
Zomby Woof wrote:David S. Wallens wrote: I have found LinkedIn to be very useful for maintaining contacts, finding a contact at a particular company, etc. It's also helpful when interviewing perspective employees.What kind?
Der. Trust me, it's been a week.
BradLTL wrote:wbjones wrote: I just wish I could get LinkedIn to stop sending me e-mails ( spam really ) I've never contacted them, never let them know that I'm interested in what they have... don't want or need anything they're pushing ... I've tried to block their incoming e-mails ( g-mail fail ) I've tried bouncing their e-mails back at them ... they just changed the e-mail to one that can't be responded to so I get a failure to deliver message ... arrrhhh JUST GO AWAY ... thank you < rant over >That would be your connections / friends / co-workers / casual acquaintances sending you invites. LinkedIn doesn't automatically spam you, you have to ask or leave the notifications at the default setting.
no it's spam ... maybe not from LinkedIn itself ... but the links that are listed are people I've never heard of
z31maniac wrote: I get one email a week from them, updates to what my contacts have done. Heaven forbid we look through the settings and adjust them for our own preferences........let's just blast them for sucking!
I really have no idea what you're even talking about ... the settings/preferences ???? I use e-mail for JUST that ... e-mail to and from people I wish to inner-act with ... the crap I'm getting from/through LinkedIn is coming from sources I've never ever contacted .... so yeah in my Luddite world they are the suckage
carguy123 wrote: Uh, I'm not on Linkedin so I don't have any settings that will allow me to adjust it to my preferences. And yes, they do suck!
what he said....
I use LinkedIn, and have had generally good experiences with it.
In my business I've had luck using it to find someone I know who works in a particular industry or business I might need to know more about.
I haven't used it for job hunting, but I can say that I have had head hunters contact me from my LinkedIn profile info from my prior professional experience, so clearly it can't hurt to have it out there.
I have found I've been able to help friends who are looking though, since I work with clients in a variety of industries/professions, I've had other friends who are looking to get into some company contact me and say "hey, I see you're connected to so and so at XYZ Corp., I'm trying to get a job there..." and I can try to put one and one together. Without LinkedIn that job hunter would have no idea I know so and so at XYZ Corp.
Doing a LinkedIn company search will show people who are 1 or 2 degrees of seperation away from you who might already work where you're trying to get a job. It can be helpful that way. I think there's more value in actively searching and using it then just having a profile and hoping somebody finds you.
BradLTL wrote:wbjones wrote: I just wish I could get LinkedIn to stop sending me e-mails ( spam really ) I've never contacted them, never let them know that I'm interested in what they have... don't want or need anything they're pushing ... I've tried to block their incoming e-mails ( g-mail fail ) I've tried bouncing their e-mails back at them ... they just changed the e-mail to one that can't be responded to so I get a failure to deliver message ... arrrhhh JUST GO AWAY ... thank you < rant over >That would be your connections / friends / co-workers / casual acquaintances sending you invites. LinkedIn doesn't automatically spam you, you have to ask or leave the notifications at the default setting.
No, it's not. When I got the e-mail, I sent a note to the "source"- who had no idea how I got the e-mail. I was on their personal contacts list, and somehow that got mixed into linkedln, as it has for FB, too. If you get them from someone who isn't doing their settings right, that's a very non-professional thing to let happen.
Thankfully, they somehow are getting blocked now, so I don't get "friend" requests that often or "contact" requests, either.
Many people I know who had that happen dropped Linked.
it appears that the "source" IS LinkedIn... at least that's the FROM line on the e-mail ..
alfadriver said: Many people I know who had that happen dropped Linked.
and I've NEVER had ANY dealings with LikedIn other than having to put up with the e-mails coming to me under their heading 
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