Do you have shady pasts?

Not really. Some of those with the same name as me do though

Unpleasant ex

No, that's not the case.

You asserted to begin with that your approach was the best and correct way of doing it, dismissing other peoples advice, when your approach, which may be wide spread in your industry does not relate to many other people, in many other industries.

The OP can decide which is the best approach depending on their industry.

Well that's easy, you can just make your account hidden, either full stop or limit the viewing to people in your direct network.

Sounds shady and frankly foolish to me.

Why put yourself on a business networking site if you do not want to business network?

If someone's resume does not match their LinkedIn profile at my firm we simply will not hire them.

Unfortunately you have to have a LinkedIn profile in my industry as well now to be considered.

In your case you should not bother with LinkedIn as by not wanting to put your current details down you are not aiding your current professional situation in any shape or form for yourself or your employer.

A friend of mine just had his citizenship delayed because he shares the same name as a convict on the run. He has to have several tests conducted.

I use LinkedIn to prospect senior individuals in the media space.

The good thing is that by understanding their role and responsibilities before I reach out I am able to get hold of the correct individual and as a result can use an appropriate message or call so they do not view it as "cold" but useful.

Before LinkedIn it was tough as I spent the large portion of my time speaking to people who were not the right individuals and you would waste each others time.

LinkedIn is a great tool for networking, selling and many other things.

Chinglish is not correct in his assertions.

I was much amused recently when a cradle IT project manager I know came to the end of her contract, after 9 years. Needing another contract, she added herself to LinkedIn. Her entry was, and is, her name only. She was instantly friended by numerous estate agents. I asked her why she hadn't added more to her profile and she explained that she got a contract by networking instead.

LinkedIn is, I think, useful but the profiles I've read are not faintly truthful; they're very much the dating site version of what a person is like. It's networking for people who lack real world connections.

I have heard other people say this too. Perhaps Linked In effectiveness depends on career stage (i.e. more useful for younger less experienced, less networked people, than it is for older, established people).

One odd feature is that people can "endorse" your skills in a technical arena. I get lots of endorsements from people I don't know. Even my test id, a person who doesn't exist, gets lots of endorsements from people he can't know. It's all a bit like winking at someone on hopingtogrope.com.

Agree, the endorsement thing is just pointless. I get endorsed by vague connections who haven't the faintest idea whether I am good at anything, vendors who are trying to suck up, and colleagues ditto. Needless to say, I endorse no-one in return.

I use LI to keep tabs and connections to former colleagues and friends back in Blighty (because you never know), as a an equivalent to facebook for those that I am happy to connect with but don't need to know the minutae of my life, or at least those parts of it I post on FB, and, most recently, connecting with others I work with in a fairly geographically dispersed multinational. (The chances of me ever meeting the bloke in Sydney, Oz, are fairly remote for example.)

It has it's value as a networking and jobseeking tool. I do get connection requests from recruitment consultants and reasonably regular approaches regarding opportunities. Living in the Far East of Canada, probably means I get less of these than say if I lived in Toronto. Or Basildon for that matter.

I suppose I am a decision maker or perceived as one by virtue of what I do in the organisations I've worked for. A direct "Can I talk to you about x product or y consultancy" approach gets no response. A savvy sales person uses the info on LI to frame the right approach in real world by phone or email that at least gets attention. Lazy sales people & lazy recruiters presumably don't prosper. Hopefully.

I've puzzled over the meaning of this for a while. I mean I understand the words, but in that sentence the meaning is unclear.

Do you try to pick up Exec's in Newsagents then?


On this, I'm in total agreement.

Linkedin is great to have a laugh reading profiles of people you have worked with..

I use it mainly for the groups and keeping in touch with news about my industry.

Some of the groups were useful when they started out, but if it was left as an open group you got so many muppets on their it wasn't worth any value any more.