I receive several invitations every week to join people’s network on LinkedIn. Some are from past colleagues looking to reconnect, some are from a “super-duper sales guy” who is trying to rack up connections to sell on craigslist, but most are from people looking for work.
Which makes a lot of sense, because that’s when people turn to their professional network.
It’s the old adage “it’s who you know, not what you know” when it comes to finding work, and LinkedIn does a fantastic job of connecting you to that network… when you’re looking for work. However, there are some problems with this model:
- Professional information is often spotty. I know of three senior managers that uploaded their professional information and were active on LinkedIn until they found a new job. They didnt update their information afterwards, because, let’s be honest, who has time for that?
- LinkedIn “Recommendations” are a good idea poorly implemented. When job seekers are looking for work, they spend a lot of time building a beautiful profile, and then send “recommendation requests” out to everyone they know. Although similar to a letter of reference, LinkedIn recommendations are used like an online employment bartering system or currency. I have recieved over a dozen “if you recommend me, I’ll recommend you” emails… not very genuine.
- It can be a little too obvious. When I first joined LinkedIn I sent out invitations to many people in my professional network. Several months later one of my invitations was accepted by a senior Vice President of a fortune-1000 company… at 2pm on a Thursday. Sure enough, two weeks later he was actively looking for a job.
LinkedIn does a great job connecting job seekers and people who are hiring, making finding work through your network much more efficient – even if it does sometimes seem a little desparate…
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PS – the invitation above is from my brother who recently graduated with his PHD in biochemistry if anyone’s hiring 
What you say is dead on. I’ve never bothered to get a recommendation because, as you say, it seems a little too contrived. What I do like about LinkedIn however is that it’s a great way to keep in touch with colleagues. I’ve recently got in contact with someone I haven’t seen in 20 years, and you don’t get all the junk that Facebook brings. It’s also a nice, central place to keep your professional information, assuming you don’t mind sharing it with the world.