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Thank you all, this is extremely useful information for myself - to learn how to navigate Linked In to make it work for me.
Personally, I will always accept an invitation from a recruiter - I'm in Ottawa and the recruiters here are usually the people who get me my next contract.
What I find weirder than weird are all the LION people - the Linked In Open Network (is that what the acronym stands for?) - aren't they the folks who want 5000+ connections? They appear always in my list and it's driving me crazy.
Plus, I belong to some tech writer / documentation type discussion groups and for some reason, they seem to be quite a technical bunch. Very interesting!
Great feedback from all!
Elayne
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+esandahl=cdnpay -dot- ca -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+esandahl=cdnpay -dot- ca -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Mark Giffin
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 2:36 PM
To: salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: LinkedIn invitations - accept "unpersonalized" ones ?
Good points Chris, I do see a lot of value in sheer quantity of contacts, and not just on LinkedIn. No argument at all. I try to do that in general and there's no reason not to do it on LinkedIn too.
You say LinkedIn offers video tutorials on how to use it? Can you point me to them? In the LinkedIn help center (not real obvious to find) I saw no links like "Getting Started", so in the search box I typed "get started with linkedin". The first result was "Accessing LinkedIn APIs".
Second was "Contacting a Salesperson for Ads". There appears to be nothing about getting started, video or otherwise, on the LinkedIn site.
Of course googling "get started with linkedin" returns jillions of links to people's opinions about how to get started with LinkedIn. Who are all these experts on LinkedIn, and where do they get their information? Is there some secret manual somewhere?
Mark
On 7/22/14 11:08 AM, Chris Morton wrote:
> Yes, Mark, a subset of the connections will be useless. But as one who
> has worked trade shows and job fairs, what kind of a return do you get
> on all of the printed collateral (e.g., business cards) you
> distribute? In pre-Internet marketing, you were considered at the top
> of your game if you got a 2% return. As I wrote earlier, I'm careful
> about connecting with those who are working professionals within the
> industries I've worked (and would like to work), as well as the
> regions in which I'm interested in working now or in the future. For
> example, I don't cultivate connections in Mid-America (e.g., Iowa), as
> I'm not interested in ever working or living there. (An exception to
> this rule might be an opportunity to connect with Warren Buffett of
> Omaha... you get the drift.) I also avoid the obvious aggressive
> product/service marketers and those running a sole proprietorship
> (e.g., photographer, nail salon owner) who don't meet my criteria and have little or nothing to offer in the way of networking.
>
> To paraphrase another forum member just wrote, "You never know where
> your next assignment is going to come from." It's been my experience
> that this is 100% true, and I've had both short-term contracts and
> multi-year, full-time gigs come to me in the strangest of ways.
>
> If you want to limit your LinkedIn marketing exposure and lose out on
> this most valuable aspect of being a member, by all means do so. But
> if you are actively managing your career and are always on the lookout
> for your next opportunity, then you might want to take a longer look
> at all that LinkedIn can do to help you further your advancement. This
> includes the numerous video tutorials they offer, showing you ways to
> work their system you may not have previously considered. In Harvey
> Mackay's vernacular, it's "How To Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive."
>
>> Chris
>
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Mark Giffin <mgiffin -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:
>
>> I've been thinking about Chris's post below. Especially this part:
>>
>>
>> "The more connections you make, the more your name (brand) appears on
>> the scrolling Updates feed."
>>
>> This fits in with what I perceive LinkedIn to be. Chris also says he
>> sees it as a numbers game, which also makes sense. It's obvious to me
>> that many people are doing this. So it's a form of advertising, which
>> is fine with me. But it also means that connections you make on
>> LinkedIn tend to be pawns to get you advertising and have only short
>> term value. And then you have a big pile of apparently useless
>> connections. I guess you can just continue on and collect many
>> thousands of connections. I have trouble seeing long term value in many of these connections. Is there any?
>>
>> It seems to have characteristics of a "bubble" or of monetary
>> inflation, where something with actual value is at the bottom, but
>> it's covered with mountains of useless stuff.
>>
>> Mark
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