Do You Keep LinkedIn Up To Date?
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So here is a weird question, and really just curiosity, but how many of you keep your LinkedIn Profile up to date? And by that I don't mean "do you keep updating it?" What I mean is - Do you keep current data in there?
For me, for the past decade, I had to leave off my current job (making me look unemployed) because I was not in a position to be publicly tied to my current employer. This, I feel, is probably common but that is what I am wondering. Now that I am at Change I am able to actually have an updated profile that tells who I really am and really have been.
I can see LinkedIn being far more useful when it is actually able to reflect current data
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@scottalanmiller said:
I had to leave off my current job (making me look unemployed) because I was not in a position to be publicly tied to my current employer. This, I feel, is probably common
What do you mean, not in a position? Why? I wouldn't think that's common at all.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
What do you mean, not in a position? Why? I wouldn't think that's common at all.
Lots of larger companies do not like people posting or having an online presence that represents them, at least not without PR screening things first. But even those that are okay with it, a lot of people, I think, are wary of connecting themselves to an employer "just in case".
For example, when I was at one employer a vendor decided to try to get me fired. I had said or done nothing wrong, but the vendor was trying to say that I was representing the employer inappropriately. The employer didn't have to dig into anything too deeply, they looked, saw that I made no claims to employment and never mentioned them and told the vendor get the F out of the HR office. I might have been okay regardless, but it was the lack of connection to the employer that gave me total assurance of protection. That's an extreme example, but I see a lot of IT people being very cautious around how much detail they give out about themselves.
Whether it is by requirement (one job wouldn't allow you to even have a public job title!), by relative necessity, practicality or precaution it seems like lots of IT people would be keeping things separate enough that having your current job listed on any social media might be a bit much.
To demonstrate, look at Spiceworks profiles. I would put that as less casual than LinkedIn and more professional yet the ratio of "admits where they work" to "hides where they work" is surprising in the "hides" direction.
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My guess is that the smaller the business, the more cautious people are about having their names tied to corporate identities both because smaller businesses are less rational and because you could easily become the sole voice for a small business. Rather than if you worked at Exxon Mobile and commented on liking a Mac desktop no one would ever think that you were the spokesperson for the world's third largest company not that Exxon Mobile was endorsing the opinion. And Exxon Mobile would never hunt you down for making them "look bad to Microsoft" or something like that.
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I prefer to post anonymously on forums, You don't have to be so careful about what you say and you don't have to worry about what you say being misinterpreted by someone. I'd rather not be on LinkedIn at all but it seems to be a necessary evil if you ever want to consider moving jobs.
But you've always been fairly open on Spiceworks about who you are and who you work for, haven't you? What was the job that you had to keep secret on LinkedIn? I see from your profile that you've had a number of different jobs that ran concurrently. How did that work? Were you simply consulting for more than one firm?
I'm being nosey here, sorry!
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I only update LinkedIn if I'm looking for a new job. Otherwise, it's a state secret
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I update mine when I get a certification or switch positions, but other than that I don't really use it much.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
But you've always been fairly open on Spiceworks about who you are and who you work for, haven't you?
No, my full time financial positions were always a complete secret. Banks do not like having anything associated with them, good or bad.
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I deleted my LinkedIn a few years ago...
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I see from your profile that you've had a number of different jobs that ran concurrently. How did that work? Were you simply consulting for more than one firm?
It's complicated. Each situation is a bit unique, but mostly I just work a lot.
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@garak0410 said:
I deleted my LinkedIn a few years ago...
I absolutely hate LinkedIn, it is almost exclusively just a spam generator. It's horrible. I've never gotten a job from there, I'm not sure I know of anyone who has. Although my interviews with Red Hat, LinkedIn, Amazon and Facebook all partially came out of it.
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Only when job hunting
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@Nic said:
Only when job hunting
This, I only update when absolutely necessary.... I generally get one or two emails a month that I consider spam from people who found me on LinkedIn.
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@coliver said:
I generally get one or two emails a month that I consider spam from people who found me on LinkedIn.
Oh gosh, I get close to ten per day. Two to three on the weekends. And mine has so little of my info on it and only recently had the last ten years of work!!
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I keep mine pretty up-to-date, although I was just thinking yesterday I need to update it now that I've moved back to NY...
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@thanksaj said:
I keep mine pretty up-to-date, although I was just thinking yesterday I need to update it now that I've moved back to NY...
Keeping your location up to date on there is probably important. I just updated mine to Spain, let's see if it cuts down on the crap coming through.
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No I don't and that's something I should correct.
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I try to keep up with it. Though I am in a very different position than say SAM. I want people to associate me with NTG/GroveSocial. My Name is my brand and NTG/GroveSocial are VERY VERY much a part of that full branding.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
I keep mine pretty up-to-date, although I was just thinking yesterday I need to update it now that I've moved back to NY...
Keeping your location up to date on there is probably important. I just updated mine to Spain, let's see if it cuts down on the crap coming through.
Mine is now updated.
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Mine isn't
