Thetownend.com

Have used this heavily over the last 12 months and invested a fair amount of time ensuring my profile is maintained  - it has effectively become my online CV and, over the last 6 months, have received a steady stream of enquiries for job offerings

A lot of enquiries were from agencies which I have learnt very quickly to take with a pinch of salt (saying they have a job lined up that fits my profile just so they can get you on their books - the job rarely exists) but in the last 3 months I started getting a lot of direct enquiries from companies where clearly the opportunities are there to be filled and i ended up being able to cherry pick the perfect job and have now trimmed back the profile but still get enquiries at least twice month

Just thought I would share this in case anybody else like me has found themselves out of work in the last 12 months and wanted to share their experiences and successes/failures

That is all... discuss

http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljrossiter

Its how I got my last job.

Searching for a job again now, just getting the normal agency fishing contacts at the moment..

I think it's brilliant and becoming ever more important.  I was made redundant at the end of last year and prior to this had always used a combination of roller decks and spreadsheets to keep tab of clients, simply linking into people who invited me to do so.  A rival heard about my redundancy and took a look at linkedin - saw I had a small network of clients and decided that I wasn't worth bothering with.  Bit w*nk if you ask me but that apparently is their policy if they are looking for sales people.  Started contacting old clients and now have around 250 contacts on it.

About 2 weeks later I had an email from an ex-colleague saying that they had heard I was available and I start new job next week.  All a bit anal but it does seem that it is important to use it.

Do you think it would work for any kind of job? or only certain industry's?

If you have industry relevant experience then it will work - so many organisations are using it these days as a starting point to fill positions without having to go through an agency

So the idea JFW is its a bit like Facebook for business.

For example, you build up you profile including work history (basically an online CV). And then you link to relevant people -  which is a bit like having facebook friends, but usually they are ex-colleagues and the like.

Companies can then follow the links and/or search for companies/skill sets etc.

Recruitment agencies can do the same, but as Triseros says - they are quite often fishing rather than having something specific lined up....

Which means that you don't need to let everyone know when you've had a pooh or eaten your tea or are putting your make-up on...  Additionally it doesn't have farmville.
 ;D

Oh, FFS now he tells us. No wonder I didn't get any job offers!

Yep, I am on there and have used it more and more in the past 6 months.

http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/paul-manning/13/251/468

I got approached on there and as a result I got my current job.

Its fab - would highly recommend it!

A lot of people on my course have this. I kind of think they're a tool for having one, but it's slowly dawning on me that, like ironed shirts and pointless ties, it's yet another hoop to jump through if you want to do anything decent

I'm finding it more and more useful, and this from someone who has yet to step into the worl of Facebook and the like.  I've had several approaches now, plus it allowed me to do some really good research on a job opportunity because my potential future manager was listed, as was the team I would manage.  Allowed a good pre interview insight and allow me to control the interview - hence getting an offer, which I ended up turning down as my current employer provided a counter offer.  Good for joining groups dedicated to the job you do, which in turn offers you the opportunity to publicly show people you know your line of work.

Ties are so last year and over rated... some years ago my GM dragged me to one side ad commented on the fact I was not wearing a tie, I simply responded by insisting that if I had to wear a tie then all the women should wear skirts...

Ironed shirts however are the most part of business attire. Nothing quite like a shirt ironed with military precision!

I think the whole charade of having to get dressed up 'smart' is outdated bollocks anyway though. It makes fuck all difference to how well or not I can do the job

I have LinkedIn but never really gave it much attention. Perhaps I should tart up my profile a bit and see what happens...

I will assume your a scruffy bastard then?

It does make fuck all difference to whether you can do some jobs though.

Suits may just be a convention, but some people do judge on appearance. Its also part of business etiquette. You may not like it but c'est la vie, sometimes you just have to conform and play the game.

It's all just left over conventions which evolved to keep the already privileged in better jobs regardless of ability.

Do you have experience in what you speak of dave?

Dave, you'll be delighted to know I'm attending a business meeting tomorrow in Jeans and Trainers. There's hope for us yet!

I'd much rather deal with somebody who had at the very least made an effort to be professional in what they do. If putting on a short and tie is too much for them, then it doesn't set much of a precedent to what you can expect from them in the future does it?

The main thing is that suits put us all on the same playing field as each other, nobody has a better or worse social/personal/whatever outside of work life.

Work is about work, it ain't about fashion.

So why do people spend thousands of pounds on a designer, tailor made suit? If that's pure practicality then I'm a Chocolate Teapot.

Perhaps because they are fashion sheep, or just because they liked it and could afford it. Even without a suit people would would wear the latest and/or most expensive brands.

It's a moot point.

I'm not saying that everybody should wear a suit. Can you not see the hypocrisy in dave's comment?

Not really, he's expressing a personal distaste for suits, and I don't particularly think it affects your ability to do a job either. Quite probably affects people's perception of your ability, but so do a lot of other things that are unrelated.

Ditto. And as I'm about to take the biggest gamble of my professional career by applying for voluntary redundancy, I may need to utilise it a lot more.

The singular of shorts...never come across this before. ;)

If only it had some sort of built in calendar to remind you about upcoming appointments ;)

I work for a large(ish) company but I find it is priceless for contacts and you can quickly find the right person to talk to within minutes, which would have literally taken days to get to via email or the phone.

I can also follow my customers and competitors and see exactly who they are talking to by looking at their contacts.  It is Facebook for work and senior users don’t seem to realise that if they allow their contacts to be viewed by anyone it’s like a bread crumb trail of exactly what organisations and who they are talking to.   I couldn’t put a figure on some of the intel and business I have picked up as a result of just following contacts.

Right so what I do for work these days is mostly coaching and doing kids after school clubs (aside to my leisure centre job)
I'm guessing linked in might not be very good for that sort if thing??

P.S I don't think I ever wrote on FB if I was having a poo??

Fight the good fight!!


Not really at the moment. But I don't see how i'm learning any better because of the clothes I have to wear


I know, this was my point. It's ridiculous.

Wearing a shirt and tie is hardly that much of a chore. Most places don't even enforce a tie policy anymore.

I'm reluctant to join LinkedIn as I'm getting enough headhunters agency coldcallers as it is, but it does look useful. My director actually wins some of our work through it.

Neither does good personal hygiene, but good luck getting (or keeping) a job if you turn up unwashed and stinking

:eek:

What you wear at work has to be aligned with the situation - my bosses point about not wearing a tie would have been difficult to defend if I was a scruffy cunt with an un-ironed shirt. Wearing a smart shirt and trousers was defendable as I would still have looked 'professional'.

It's all about your personal work situation and what ois deemed acceptable... I now work from home about 80% of my time so can wear what I want but the advantage is that if I wake up late I can walk into my office stark bollock naked, log on and still appear professional because nobody else can see me (I hope!)

Please tell me you're not

No, I arrived early for work today so you were lucky...

Interesting debate which raises all sorts of issues!!  Suit and tie are a fashion which has lasted for a very long time...longer than almost any other I can think of, except uniforms for particular professions - and the issues are not much different.  For a long time, for the majority of the population, work was much more about individuals submitting to a corporate culture, regardless of 'who' they were and what their personality/creativity might be.  Definitely still what, for instance, the armed services are about - they don't want rebels, or people who are looking to break the mould, and basic training is about smoothing any ruffles out in this regard.  My wife is a nurse, working in a GP surgery.  The assumption is still made that nurses should wear uniforms, but doctors can wear what they like.....what's that about?  But our work culture is going through major change now, and many more people are looking for and expecting employment which allows them to express themselves much more.  A good thing definitely, but (and I'm a grumpy old man!!) generally society is not moving quite so quickly, and most of us still make judgements about people according to their dress - and those jusdgements are not always wrong!!!

It is usefull for any career type really.  It just basically tells people your work history, allows people to recommend you if they think you are good at your job and puts you out there as a proffesional in your field.

Basically an online CV, can't hurt to give it a go!  Set up an account and I'll recommend you for Wagon Wheels!