I have to start all these posts with I LOVE LINKEDIN as a database!!! I really really do. This is not intended as a direct attack on Don Breckenridge’s position in his Open Door vs Hide n Seek post. That’d be kind of hard anyhow because he covers quite a few positions there 
. For this post I just want to focus on one Molotov cocktail of a notion and see what kind of argument we get in comments. I am just going to say it and be prepared to defend it. I won’t weaken it by pointing out that it is just my opinion. I believe it could be proven as fact if anyone cared to do it. Here it is… Regardless of networking style it is nothing if there has been no talking/meeting/contact involved. I don’t know what to call it when it consists of people you don’t even know but it ain’t social and it ain’t a network. If all these social networks were made up of Stingy Lurking Networkers they’d certainly be much much smaller but they’d also be one heck of a lot more meaningful. I have and maintain an extremely meaningful social network and I make introductions.Constantly. So far, it has all happened in real time. I have not yet had a single request ever for an actual introduction via LinkedIn and I used to have a couple hundred contacts. I have sent about a dozen InMails and none have been responded to. I am searching every day for one good reason to have people see who I am linked to on LinkedIn. That part of the whole thing feels like some kind of ‘hands across America’ deal where the people in NY are supposed to now be somehow closer to the people in Cali because they held hands for peace or whatever… Phone’s ringin…
My Favorite Topic of the Moment Again…LinkedIn
July 1st, 2008
My bio is on http://www.pinnaclesociety.org
8 comments
Boyd Carter Jul 1, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Dave,
I’ve had almost exactly the opposite interaction with LinkedIn. At the moment, I am in negotiation with a company who found me on LinkedIn and wants me to do some consulting work for them. I’ve had many calls from headhunters asking for my resume and for where I would be willing to work. Perhaps consultant get more interaction than recruiters.
Boyd
shlok Jul 1, 2008 at 10:24 pm
what works for one, doesn’t necessarily works for another.
Dave Staats Jul 2, 2008 at 9:30 am
Boyd: I have no issue with that and I salute it! I reach out all the time to consultants etc. The issue here is how RECRUITERS and HEADHUNTERS use LinkedIn. It is simply irrelevant to you…
And shlok, your comment means nothing relative to the argument that networking must involve communication…
Jeff Radcliff Jul 2, 2008 at 10:22 am
About.com just released their Top 10 List of the best employment websites:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jobbanks.htm
Linkedin made the list!
Dave Staats Jul 2, 2008 at 11:21 am
Jeff, I hope I did not appear make any comments in my post that would make your news relevant either…
Boyd Carter Jul 2, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Dave,
In your initial post, you didn’t constrain the issue to how “RECRUITERS and HEADHUNTERS” use LinkedIn. Failure to do so made the topic relevant to this consultant, hence my comment. From my perspective, there is a lot of communication in the networking I do on LinkedIn, and how recruiters and headhunters communicate is relevant to me.
If I may make an observation regarding your response to the comments above; communication is more than tossing Molotov Cocktail-type comments back to the individuals who post a comment. Such a response tends to close communication, not open it. Jeff ventured into this territory when he observed that LinkedIn made the Top 10 list. A good communicator would have taken this opportunity and responded in a way that encouraged additional communication. Instead, you shut him down.
You may be a great recruiter, but your “superior than thou” attitude would keep me from working with you.
Boyd
Dave Staats Jul 2, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Boyd: I’d normally take something private at this point but it’s still in the ‘fun’ heading for me. As for directing my post,I’ll take a bit of blame. I write for The Fordyce Letter. I had no idea that it was linked to ,and presented as content by,someone else. It’s the equivalent of writing an article for the medical journal on brain surgery and getting comments from “Patient’s Weekly” or something. I see how this happened but it need not be ascribed to my attitude (which ,whether I have it or not, is pointless to deny).
As for Jeff, I think it is pretty well established in cyberspace to expect some kind of comment for a totally off-topic post. I thought that one was pretty tame. I WANTED to shut him down. I invited communication on one question there. His wasn’t it. You chide me for shutting him down when he is the one who answered “cheese” to the question ‘What’s your favorite beer?”
Finally, I have no idea whether I qualify for words like ‘great’. I do feed my family but I also see people twice as good as I am at Pinnacle meetings. I DO know that if I had a gig for you, you’d take it in a heartbeat with no regard for my attitude because we’d both be approaching each other differently.
Bill Martineau Jul 2, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Dave,
Back to topic. The tool is what it is no matter what they call it (a rose by any other name). If you don’t look it as networking social, professional or otherwise that’s no big deal, but I assume you still use it right? Even if it’s just a big phone book with extra, much more beneficial information for people like us to find candidates for our clients?
Of my 218 contacts I’d say 70% are personal contacts that I’ve made through 20+ years in the business and they provide me with value in many recruiting efforts. The other 30% are professional contacts in the recruiting business that significantly expand my reach when clients are willing and interested in looking beyond their regional scope. Do I have anyone that I’ve ever recruited and placed from LinkedIn? No. Do I expect to sometime? Yes, and that’s while I’ll continue to build my network and utilize it for what it provides me