Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How useful are Linkedin contacts?
Some of them I have never met and are managers at companies that I would want to work for, and they sent me the contact requests years ago (that I accepted). Now I see I have quiet a few of these.
Now the question is, should I contact them for jobs? It feels awkward.
When it first started, I would accept a request from anyone who sent one. A couple of years ago, I delinked these people and only connect with people I know. As far as useful, since I have my own company and do consulting work, I've had people find me through LinkedIn. I've also had people who I don't know but were referred by someone I do know contact me with work they need done. So for me it's been well worth it, but as I said, I keep my network exclusive and high quality.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,551 posts, read 81,085,957 times
Reputation: 57729
Most of the contact requests from strangers are people who have something to gain. For example, they are trying to sell you something in a subtle manner, are looking for a job at your company, or are just trying to impress people with their number of contacts. I generally only accept people that belong to one of my "groups" or have a job in the same or related industry, so that at least they have a common interest.
Yea I've been getting a lot of spam from some Corey Park. Someone asks to connect who seems to have no relevant connection to me and they send me a spam message about a vague "opportunity" then I end up disconnecting them. They seem to be spamming Linkedin as they have multiple profiles sending messages. I imagine eventually it is going to degenerate and be like Monster or Careerbuider: a spam source for MLM/insurance, for-profit colleges, staffing agencies and outright scammers.
I had contact requests from a lot of high profile people in my field. Managers at good companies, famous experts in my field. They are more influental than me. And they sent the request, not me. So my question is, would these people help me with jobs, or sending connection requests for them is just some kind of hobby?
Truthfully, I don't think Linkedin is all the useful. Like most connections in life, talk is cheap and everyone proclaims to be more important and experienced than what they usually are. Agreed that Linkedin will probably go the way of "myspace" so to speak by the end of the decade.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
