Mini Ditka wrote:
What is the point of the site to begin with? You put your name and your professional accomplishments out there for people to look up in a database. I don't know that being on the site gets you any closer to landing another job, but it does put information out there for people who google your name.
Over the years, most of the industries have outsourced their recruiting. At least in my industry, this has resulted in a glut of "sourcers", especially ones hired from India. LinkedIn became popular the same way other online recruiting tools became popular. They undercut the costs of the competition. So, LinkedIn has become a cheaper method of sourcing new employees than Monster was before it. As you said, you can google the names, which is free to do. In my industry, the recruiters get a significant cut for finding talent, especially through contracting. Their margins can be ridiculous.
The funny part of it is that LinkedIn tries to sell the concept of social networking. It is total bullshit. Every day I get called based on a LinkedIn lookup and it always follows the same script. First, they ask what I have been doing. Obviously they didn't take the three minutes required to read through my profile or they have no clue what they are doing. Next, they ask where I want to work and if traveling 100% is an option. Finally, salary requirements. These calls waste about 20 minutes of my time, but I do them because on my side, I still have to keep up relationships with these people just in case something bad were to happen with my current job. I don't take much pleasure telling a recruiter that the salary they are trying to get is absurdly low, no one likes to be away from home every week and that if they would have taken the five minutes required to look at my background, they would have realized I don't fit the profile they are trying to recruit for. This is where LinkedIn is missing a golden opportunity. Educating recruiters instead of just giving them access to data. But what do I know.
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The Original Spanky wrote:
I don't like white rappers.