I created my LinkIn account in 2012. By then I had been a developer for 15 years in Atlanta and knew all of the local recruiters and had met some in person. For the next 8 years, LinkedIn really didn’t serve a purpose. When I looked for a job in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, I just reached out to my network and interviews and offers fell into my lap. Admittedly they were just regular old enterprise dev jobs in Atlanta.
But in 2020, things changed. AWS reached out to me about a remote position in the consulting department (ProServe full time with the standard four year package) and after that my last two jobs have been based on either targeted outreach on LinkedIn where I was an industry expert in a niche of AWS that most people don’t have (2023) or an internal recruiter reaching out to me on LinkedIn 2024.
Saying linked in is good for jobs is like saying tinder is good for dating, or facebook is good for socialising. It sure can be, but the quality and substance of what youre after does need to factor in, and so does the time you spent there over higher value time sinks. For me, tinder does not serve my needs, and neither does linked in. Both offer poor signal to noise and terrible time economy.
They don't have to do that. Apparently there are services which link any known email address, mobile phone etc. to your LinkedIn account through a browser addon even when you didn't hand these over to LinkedIn.
I know because my mom was called several times on her mobile phone (which has a number not in any phone book) by a very aggressive and disrespectful recruiter looking for me while I even was not looking for a job. (her first initial and mine are the same).
Only when I threatened him to report him and his company to LinkedIn and the authorities, and blocking him on LinkedIn the calls stopped.
Ultimately, if you're not looking for work, there's zero value in LinkedIn. Realistically, most people choose or need to look for a new job eventually and in that scenario, LinkedIn is by far the most effective platform to increase your odds on finding a new job.
Tons of courses and posts say that LinkedIn is their most effective Lead gen model.
I'm yet to make it work for me, but it seems like it works for them.
Networking is wildly better, but you know what makes it easier? Having a Rolodex of people I’ve worked with that shows where they’re currently at.
My last two jobs have also come from LinkedIn. Exactly how am i supposed to find remote jobs?
And I have been working for 30 years…