
Without LinkedIn account I won't get a job in US? - redcat7
Is it true that in US you have to have linkedIn account to get a job?
Such gossip is circling in Poland among HR people.
======
gumby
I always look someone up by LinkedIn before meeting them. Usually people do
the same for me. It's a good way to see who you know in common (better than
Facebook on a business level) and in general saves a lot of time. Almost
everyone I meet for work has a linkedin profile -- though literally just
yesterday I (independently) met two people without a linkedin profile: one a
quasi-celeb and the other someone simply so specialized in skill and so
appropriately connected that it just didn't add value for him.

Now there are drawbacks to linkedin. For example some people will link to just
anyone. I only link to people whom I actually know well enough personally to
have a good opinion about them.

The linked in interface is terrible. It generates too many messages and
basically just sucks. They know, and it sometimes improves, but there you are.

You will get recruiter and other spam. But then again the whole point of it is
to connect people professionally, so...

~~~
socket0
I like looking people up before a meeting as well, just to get a measure of
how technical they are, what their backgrounds are, etc. But I hate that
LinkedIn tells them I've been looking, at least when I use the free version.
It sounds reasonable to do some prep work before a meeting, but gets decidedly
more creepy when you get e-mail to tell you that someone was checking up on
you.

~~~
jonathankoren
Its a reciprocal setting. If you want to know who looks at you, you have to
show who you are.

Why is it creepy that someone you're having a meeting with looks you up?
Sounds perfectly appropriate to me.

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kasey_junk
No. I've never seen the LinkedIn profile of anyone who I've been involved with
hiring & do not have one myself. It's never been mentioned.

~~~
300bps
I've had a LinkedIn account for over 11 years now. Pretty much the only thing
that it has done for me is caused a few hundred salespeople to look up my
contact information and try to sell me something.

~~~
nklas
Why do you keep it then?

~~~
lloyd-christmas
I get recruiter spam mainly. I keep it just in case I might actually need that
recruiter spam.

~~~
zengr
Agree, I have 500+ recruiter/sales spam
([http://i.imgur.com/W92SuAH.png](http://i.imgur.com/W92SuAH.png)) which I
never check. I still have an account on LI because everyone else is there and
I think I _might_ need it but I have never used for anything useful yet.

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code4tee
Definitely not true. While many people have profiles, most everyone I know
barely uses the site. It's become mostly a wasteland full of spam.

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bovermyer
This is not true.

I've been part of the hiring process repeatedly throughout my career, and
while it's nice to find a candidate's LinkedIn profile, it's far from
necessary.

In terms of hiring front end engineers, I want to see a portfolio. For back
end engineers, I want to see source code - preferably on Github. But LinkedIn?
That's a nice-to-have, nothing more.

~~~
ionised
Wouldn't a back end engineer most likely have been working on proprietary
source code for their time with the previous company?

Or are you talking about code they've written out of work hours? If so, that's
never going to be indicative of the kind of code they can and normally do
write is it?

* To clarify, I'm asking because I'm nearing the end of my third year at my first dev job at an engineering consultancy as an enterprise Java/Spring/Hibernate/Gradle developer and am planning to leave in the next few months but the question of how to demonstrate code to a potential employer is one that worries me.

I cannot show anything I have been working on here as it is wholly proprietary
and my development outside of work is not at all comparative.

~~~
stickfigure
While likelihood is something for debate, it is true that there are plenty of
people who have no public code, or no public code worth looking at. Those
people have made a grave career mistake.

This really isn't any different from hiring an artist. What would you say to
someone who walked in your door and says: "I'm a great painter; look at all
these people I have painted for" but can't/won't show you any examples of
their work? Hiring this way is basically a random chance that you'll like the
work product.

~~~
ionised
What I meant was, I have personal coding projects but I don't have access to
the kind of high-performance hardware and expensive 3rd party software that we
use and that I have most of my experience with at work.

So while I have experience writing some fun little Android apps and
contributing in a small way to some projects here and there outside of my 9-5
working hours, that code is not going to ever be close to what I am actually
capable of or am used to writing.

------
fredkbloggs
No, there is no truth to this whatever.

Having a professional network is enormously helpful but not (as of this
minute) strictly necessary. LinkedIn offers a representation of that network,
not the network itself. It isn't a relationship-creating tool, and whether you
have an account there is not relevant to the hiring process. At the very most,
it might offer you a way to contact someone you've worked with in the past who
might help you get an interview. Just like email or your phone's contact list
or that group of people you drink beer with on Fridays.

------
colinbartlett
Of course this is just anecdotal, but I haven't had a LinkedIn account in 5
years and have had many job offers. I have never heard of this being a
prerequisite or even a contributing factor.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
But sounds like you might be well-connected (friends in the business). That's
huge. A Polish immigrant would be a different deal.

~~~
mhurron
I have almost always got jobs by sending resumes out, I have no social network
to fall back on. I have a job, I will not start a linkedin profile.

Sending resumes will get you jobs, knowing people is not the only way.

~~~
fredkbloggs
> Sending resumes will get you jobs, knowing people is not the only way.

Right now, yes. That was true in 1998, too. In 2001, if you didn't know
someone you were welcome to wait in the unemployment line with everyone else.
You don't need an account on some data-grubber, but I would suggest very
strongly that you invest in some kind of professional network. That doesn't
mean a web site, it means a group of people you've worked with who can vouch
for your skills and would like to work with you again. There will come a time
that you will be nowhere without it.

------
anvildoc
I've never hired or seen anyone hired in the past 5 years at least that did
not have a LinkedIn account. I don't think it's a prerequisite but pretty much
everyone has one. I worked with a U.S. company with an office in Poland all of
the devs there had LinkedIn accounts if that's any indication.

~~~
dagw
Did the content of their LinkedIn account in any way cause or influence their
hiring, or was it just incidental?

Because while almost everybody I know has a LinkedIn account, few people
bother to regularly updated, and no one I know has gotten a job because of it.

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noelsusman
Not true in the slightest. It can be helpful (recruiters seem to peruse
LinkedIn for a living) but I've never had one and I'm doing fine so far.

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theklub
No, this is not true at all. LinkdIn is pretty much a joke at this point.

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BraveNewCurency
Not true.

LI is _slightly_ useful for finding a job (at the expense of getting lots of
recruiter spam). But it won't get you a job, and won't prevent you from
getting a job. If it ever does prevent you from getting a job, trust me, you
didn't want to work at that company anyway. (It's like companies that ask for
your Facebook account and/or password. WTF?)

LI is also useful if you have no other web presence. But if you are a
technology guy, what better way to say it than a custom domain name?

As a hiring manager, I find LinkedIn worse than useless for evaluating
candidates. It's much simpler and easier to read their experience via their
Resume compared the the kinda ugly LI formatting. Trying to glean info from
their "connections" is useless, since many people connect at the drop of a
hat. (i.e. being 2 links away from Bill Gates doesn't tell me anything about
your coding ability.) The "recommendations" are also useless, because it's
just one random internet user you don't trust vouching for another random
internet user that you don't trust. Even the "skills" listing is broken: There
is no "meaning" to +1 a skill, so people +1 skills they THINK their
connections are good at and there's not objectivity to it.

------
mattkrea
I wouldn't believe that. LinkedIn is worse than Facebook these days in its
uselessness.

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deadmik3
It's not a major benefit, but it doesn't hurt. It's just an online resume, and
you'll occasionally get spam from recruiters. I did work at one marketing
agency that would, every week, send out an email to every employee (~40)
saying who needed to get X more connections on linkedin that week. So I guess
some people are crazy about it.

------
eitally
You don't have to have a LinkedIn profile to get a job.

That said, having a LinkedIn account and using it can be beneficial in finding
a job, in several ways that I suspect most technical individual contributors
don't typically use or gain value from.

1) Online rolodex: It's a convenient way to maintain and grow a professional
network, and it's a place where most participants actively endeavor to keep
their contact information & job information current.

2) Groups: LinkedIn groups are the equivalent of G+ Communities or FB Groups,
but with a professional bent. Participating in groups is an excellent way to
get noticed by people you want to notice you.

3) Publishing: LinkedIn added a sort of blogging platform last year that lets
individuals publish longer form posts. These can be used for whatever purpose
you choose: project details, topical thoughts, career learnings, whatever.
They're all then associated with your profile.

4) Projects & documents: Most programmers these days have a Github account or
similar, where a portfolio is pretty easily visible, but if you're not in that
kind of a role it's not always obvious how to present your work. LinkedIn lets
you upload documents & video, and lets you associate projects with your job
history (as well as letting you tag colleagues so they show up in your
projects, too).

5) Recommendations. Endorsements are bollocks, but recommendations can be
helpful, especially from previous or current managers. This is still iffy and
I doubt many recruiters or hiring managers actually read them, but they fall
under the "can't hurt" category, especially since you have to vet and manually
approve any recommendations before they appear on your profile.

6) Job applications & recruiter contact. Say you find a job listing, perhaps
on LinkedIn or perhaps not. The odds are good that the company also listed it
there. The odds seem (in my experience) to be about 50/50 that the job listing
on LinkedIn has the recruiter's name & contact info (LinkedIn profile)
associated with it. This makes it SOOOOOO much easier to proactively go after
jobs that look interesting, and as well to subsequently make direct contact
with interviewers & hiring managers.

Take all this with a shaker of salt, because it may not actually be useful for
you at all, but it has been extremely helpful for me. I've spent quite a bit
of time cultivating my account and working on my profile the past few year and
it's reaped benefits. If you're interested, take a look:
[http://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottally](http://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottally)

~~~
KingMob
Recommendations are actually way more important than you think, so be sure to
solicit them. When a non-technical person looks at a technical person's body
of work, they can't really evaluate the quality of your code, so
recommendations help a lot. It's been very helpful in the past in landing
consulting gigs with small companies.

~~~
eitally
Thanks for the tip!

------
neurotixz
I am in Canada, but I think it can also apply in the US:

I am working in security , which is a small world where I am. I usually take a
look at a LinkedIn profile to know who an applicant knows that I know as well,
that way I can get more insight from people I know and trust if I feel the
need. I had a few people call me as well to confirm a suspicion or get a bit
of insight into someone's personality. Lots of people can sail an interview
but are lacking in person. It saved me a few bad experiences i<m sure, and I
know a few other people that hired anyway and regretted it later.

Hope that helps a little. Obviously it does not apply for international
candidates or people new to the country/region, which is a profile we see
often at the moment.

Also, I decided to change job a few years ago, getting LinkedIn alerts on jobs
helped me target decent recruiters that really know the specific field, and it
landed me 3 interviews and job offers.

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pacquiao882
It's just an easy way for HR to indirectly socioeconomically or racially
profile you. Have a clean cut picture of yourself on any easy to find US-based
social media site to help stay near the top of the pile.

~~~
deadmik3
This seems like a pretty paranoid generalization. In my experience linkedin is
more of a way for recruiters to just mass-email people that fit keywords so
they can keep their numbers up. I don't put much about my socioeconomic status
or race on my linkedin....

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pepijndevos
I see a lot of people complain about recruiter spam on LinkedIn. This never
happens to me. Is this because I'm not in a major tech hub, or does my profile
simply suck?

~~~
briandear
It's keyword based. I live in Avignon and I get dozens of messages per week
from US tech recruiters. It also may have something to do with how many
connections you have (or actually who those connections are.) I am not sure
exactly, but it's possible your profile does not suck, it just may be somewhat
thin in the particular keywords and former job titles upon which they are
searching. Add "lead Ruby engineer" or something similar and let the spam
begin! Through the world Java and iOS in your profile for even more glorious
recruiter contact!

------
solomatov
We hire people via linkedin and always check people profiles there. It's very
useful for this purpose. However, it's not a requirement.

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theGREENsuit
None of the jobs I've had over the last few years have made it mandatory to
have a LinkedIn account. I don't see how that would make sense and why
employers would require you to have it. Do Polish employers require you to
have a GoldenLine account? I have both, just to see if it leads to any solid
opportunities. It hasn't yet.

------
kitcar
Depends on where you want to work / what you want to do - If you are a
software engineer, a strong Github/Stackoverflow presence which demonstrates
your technical competency (and that you can draw attention to early in a cover
letter) would likely help you stand out more than a standard linkedin profile
IMHO.

~~~
dragontamer
Or not. My current job has nothing to do with Github / Stackoverflow presence.

I do know people who have made connections through Github / LinkedIn /
StackOverflow. But I personally don't have an active account on any of those
three.

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abathur
Just a general thank-you to the OP for bringing this up, and for all
participants. I've resisted creating a LinkedIn account on principle(s)
despite the invitations.

I'm sure there's some selection bias from the title, but the comments help
address the nagging fear that I'm shooting myself in the foot.

------
owly
You don't need LinkedIn to find a job any more than you need OkCupid to find a
girlfriend. I don't need pushy recruiters bugging me. If I was looking for a
job, I wouldn't find it on LinkedIn, I'd find it in the real world through
friends, family, former coworkers, meet ups, etc.

------
thrillgore
This is 100% false. LinkedIn will do nothing for you but make you a target for
recruiters who are full of shit.

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salibhai
In Canada, I used to get a lot of recruiters contact me from Monster and
Workopolis, but now I get a lot from LinkedIn. Just a few days ago a manager
at Amazon reached out to me on LinkedIn. So it's definitely helpful, I
wouldn't discount it.

------
larrik
I think it's untrue, but more true for middle management positions.

------
dwarman
Seems the answer is all the above. In my case, I got two major jobs via
LinkedIn. And I've never got one by sending resumes out. Most of my career has
been via personal network.

So, YMMV.

------
RockyMcNuts
If you have a position where part of the job is to be connected to other
people in the industry, then yes. If you didn't have a LinkedIn account it
would suggest you weren't too serious about building and staying in touch with
your network. If it's not a client or industry-facing position then no.
Doesn't hurt if you're looking, especially if you want headhunters to contact
you.

~~~
gkya
So if somehow LinkedIn collapsed the people in the industry would cease to be
interconnected? LinkedIn to me, seems unnecessary and silly. A web page with a
link to a CV and a mailto: link would be enough. A tech/IT person w/o a
website somewhere, that would make me dubious if I was hiring.

~~~
RockyMcNuts
if I was hiring a business development guy and one guy was connected to all
the senior people I wanted to do business with and another guy didn't have a
LinkedIn, I would favor the first one. For some things it's an important
signal, if not a red flag that someone isn't switched on and plugged in.

If someone wanted to be my social media guy and wasn't on social
media/Twitter, that would be a red flag too!

Just like there are jobs where one should probably have a Github or public
portfolio, there are jobs where one should be on LinkedIn. It's a tool one
should know how to use, not the sum of one's identity.

------
PaulHoule
I don't think you need it, but it is useful, particularly if you are doing any
kind of sales.

------
alansmitheebk
Definitely not true.

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MichaelCrawford
[http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/](http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/)

I don't find much value in LinkedIn. I did at first, but then it was overrun
by recruiters.

~~~
josephmx
Having so many recruiters is the value. I get multiple recruiters a week
messaging me on LinkedIn, and it's growing constantly. By the time I'm job
hunting I'll be able to message a lot of recruiters all at once.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
I don't find that recruiter contacts don't result in actual job offers. I do a
lot better when I find my own work.

