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Ask HN: Does anyone find LinkedIn useful?

3 points by nnd ↗ HN
I have mixed feeling about using LinkedIn.

A few times I was contacted by recruiters from Apple and Google who found my profile, but mostly I just get InMail spam from people trying to sell their consulting services or 3rd party requiters.

I've also had pretty low conversion rate sending inMail to well-targeted people when I was trying to organize a conference?

Personally, I find maintaining a LinkedIn profile to be too much of a hassle with little benefits.

Does anyone have a success story to share?

6 comments

[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 30.2 ms ] thread
andrew-lucker
2500 connections. I don't even try to actively use LinkedIn, but I get some referrals and short-term contracts through the grapevine. Not sure if this is just my network, or if anyone can find use from sheer number of loose connections.
nnd
I’ve been using it for about 5 years now, and barely have 400. Half of these connections are people I never met trying to sell me something.
newphoenix
You should not have mixed feeling about LinkedIn it is a waste of time. 90% of my connection i don't know, but people sending me a connection request i accept for the fun of it.
Powerofmene
I know very few of the people in my connections or they are so distantly removed from what I do that the connection is of no use at least professionally.

I can't honestly say I have even opened LinkedIn in the past year so I would have to say it is of no value to me. Initially, spam overloaded my email and InBox so I never really attempted to use it as it was initially intended because of the spam.

I did meet a few people I otherwise would not have because of searching profiles of people who were speaking at conferences I was attending but otherwise I have not used it to any real benefit.

sky_projektor
I got two small gigs & had about 150 connections, all or most of them people whom I personally knew. But none, I felt did anything useful professionally, apart aniversary wishing at office jobs. Linkedin might be useful someday in the future as 'remote' is picking up, but I do not like spending time there & hence closed my linkedin account & chose a lighter online CV which do not spam me with unwanted group postings. And I also feel that post linkedin I am taking less advise of experts, which in some way is boosting my morale!
vfulco
I don't actively market with it, meaning don't go out of my way to find clients through it. I do post pieces from time to time and people find me from around the world for resume editing, and LinkedIn Profile enhancements although I run a firm in Shanghai, China. Besides their own job seeking efforts, numerous clients who I previously worked with, have been approached by third parties for interesting opportunities.

Vince Fulco, CFA, CAIA vfulco[@]weisisheng.cn