stuexeter

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker of the forum and a UKC married to a USC and we are currently living in the UK. We have applied for a marriage based visa and so far received approval of our petition so obviously my thoughts are drawn to looking for jobs.

How have people got on with Linkedin for finding jobs before or after moving? I have no job history in the states and all my qualifications are from the UK.

Did anyone bother paying for Linkedin or did you manage to find something as a free member? If you managed to find employment before moving how did interviews etc take place?

Thanks for looking

Stuart

GeoffM

I didn't pay for the LinkedIn premium services but did find someone to writer a letter of interest for the visa just using the free stuff. I didn't get, nor was I really looking, for a job from it.

Giantaxe

I've never actively looked for a job through linkedin but I do get companies contacting me asking whether I'm interested. But absent a US work history, I wonder whether there would be interest in you that way.

christmasoompa

My husband has no US work history either, but is headhunted on a weekly basis from US recruiters via Linked In. He does have fairly specialist skills though, so i suspect it's rather dependent on exactly what the OP does.

Pulaski

LinkedIn is fine, and although I have occasionally received unsolicited approaches from recruiters and potential employers, I have never considered it to be a job finding tool.

Although I moved to the US before LinkedIn existed, you will certainly face the same issue (and perhaps moreso because of the state of the economy) that unless you are "here" employers will almost certainly have zero interest in you. You will likely have to come over at some point for interviews, because if I hadn't taken that initiative I'd likely still be in London.

Registering a mailbox with a "street address" (i.e. does not say "PO Box" in the address) and registering a "local" VoIP phone number would be a possible way to give yourself a cloak of being a US resident, because speaking from experience as a recruiting manager, applications from distant states are given little attention, and ones from overseas none at all.

Bluegrass Lass

My husband has been approached more times than we can count, in the last couple of months because of LinkedIn. He used LinkedIn to find a job in Seattle (which he eventually got), even though we are 2500miles away in the midwest. I don't know how successful you would be applying from overseas though. Overall, I think it's one of many tools you can use to find a job.

rpjs

I think it depends on industry. Certainly working in IT I get solicitations via Linked In every week or so.

md95065

Sure, so do I, and they are almost without exception complete rubbish.

I would never use Linkedin to look for a job.

What I would do if I were in the OP's situation would be to join Linkedin and attempt to reconnect with anyone that I might know (from university, or from work or even just socially) who was now living and/or working in the US.

ian-mstm

I deleted my LinkedIn account. Complete waste of time, IMHO.

Ian

christmasoompa

My husbands past two jobs have come from being headhunted via Linked In, and if we had any interest in living in Texas or California (the two main hubs for his industry in the US), there would have been several jobs that could have tempted him.

Different strokes for different folks I guess, it's been a great career tool for him.

Hotscot

And..FWIW...

The job situation is very, very tough in trying to get into an area with little experience.

However, if you're looking for a job in which you do have experience and can demonstrate to a potential employer that you can hit the ground running and contribute almost immediately then your chances are much higher.
Tip, if you get any interviews prepare a 30, 60, 90 day business plan in advance.

Ozzidoc

It's the preferred tool within San Diego's Biotech industry.

celticgrid

Linkedin by itself is useless. However, it should definitely be part of an overall strategy. At the very least you should have a record on there for people to go look at. Specifically, it should match, or elaborate upon, the detail in your resume. Everyone is different, naturally, but when I am recruiting I will, as part of my sanity check on what looks like a viable candidate, have a look on Linkedin - you would (maybe) be amazed at how often, and by how much, the resume and Linkedin differ.

Good luck.

Wibblypig

My husband got both his jobs via LinkedIn, both offering sponsorship for work visas (H1B). So to us it was far from useless. We have never paid for it.

Good luck with the job hunting

taffie77

Certainly in my area, most recruiters are using LinkedIn. They both advertise roles, as well as looking for people with likely skills. Not only can you connect with individuals, but there are specific groups that you can join too that are relevant to your industry. All very good for building contacts and also keeping current with the industry in the location you are looking at moving to.