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I landed my current job thru LinkedIn. It's a great place to market yourself and has the eyes of recruiters (for better or worse)
Thanks OP! Honestly my LinkedIn wasn’t even updated. I must have had key words in my profile that the recruiter was specifically looking for. I am in Tech Strategy. My advice would be to add the highlights of your career and use lots of key words! From my experience you don’t need to have the most complete profile in order to be noticed.
Cons are many will automatically write you off for not having one . Just do it - it’s not hard
OP - recruiters look for candidates on Linkedin. It's also how I got this job. Otherwise, if you're exiting consulting you're reducing your chance of being found, foregoing easier access for professional networking.
Not having a LinkedIn is suspect
Suspect in what way? A few recruiters I talked to said that they always look up people’s linkedins, but it felt like it was more of a case of a bad one ruling you out than a good one ruling you in.
How are you at BCG and not understand what LinkedIn is for
I know what it’s for, the question is the potential costs/benefits of not having one.
Not having a LinkedIn is fine if your 60+ years old....
If you’re younger than you are a dinosaur that’s scared of how the modern world operates
Get a LinkedIn
Genuinely curious as to why you seem so against it? It’s a good networking platform especially for exits. We’re in a fast paced environment where people just want to quickly look you up and skim credentials, etc. then you can explain your story after the initial contact. I have had multiple offers via LinkedIn - way easier than cold applying. There are options to turn on your status to “actively applying” and premium helps with your placement in views. Almost every recruiter I know uses LinkedIn so I suggest getting with the times even if you personally think it’s unnecessary.
Just put down everything. That way you have everything and can show everyone.
I’ve found multiple jobs through LinkedIn, but that’s not the primary reason I have it. Being a consultant, it is important for me to establish my credibility- and that’s what LIn helps me to. When my client looks me up (and they do), they’re assured that I know my stuff and I am indeed the right person for the job. It gives them confidence, and therefore it makes my interactions with them better.
When you have multiple stories to tell, some better than other depending upon the audience, put the common minimum on LIn and tell the rest in-person. That’s way better than people feeling you have no public story and you’re simply telling them what fits - and deceiving them
Not sure there’s any pros to not having a linkedin in this industry. Maybe the pro is you aren’t tempted with amazing exit opportunities?
Make one. End of story.
Sincerely a concerned fish.
Genuinely curious, why are you so concerned? It sometimes feels like LinkedIn is a bit of a religion, because everyone’s reinforcing the importance of joining as if not doing so is like condemning your soul to hell.
I get the trade-offs and this thread has been helpful. I may even make one because of it. But I’m genuinely confused as to why people seem to think that the world stops spinning without a profile?
On FishBowl and not Linkedin. Curious decision
I browse my clients’ profile before starting any engagement. They do that too. It builds credibility.
If I look for someone on Linkedlin and don’t find them, they are lazy or suspect in my mind.
^ A2 this is exactly my sitch, thank you. I guess I’m just trying to work out when is the time I’d be ready.
...some timeline. It also feels like it’s yet another online time commitment, and that the notifications could be mostly noise. However, I also worry that I’m missing out, especially if I need to exit soon (although again, I do feel like, once I have something to apply to/anopportunity to sell myself, I can do a far better job without a profile than with).
You’re going to miss all the inbound reach outs but otherwise I agree with the positives you mention.
I’m sure you tell your story better than a LinkedIn profile, but you won’t reach as many people doing it on an ad hoc basis. Think of it as a way to generate more opportunities for you to tell the story behind your profile.
OP, I don’t understand your logic. You can only be undercut if the recruiter really cares for your LinkedIn profile. And if they do, not having a profile at all wouldn’t do any better to you
It’s ridiculous not to have a LinkedIn profile in our industry. It’s not just for job hunting - staffers at our firm look at it, I look at anyone’s I’m bringing on. Not having one is lazy
TBH it sounds like you don’t have a clear understanding of how networking works, and how necessary it is to what we do. I understand not being confident about the skills you bring to the table. But part of dealing with that is working through discovering and clearly communicating what body of skills you have, who you are as a professional and where you want to go. If you don’t know those things, take some time to figure it out. Learn from people more experienced than you how to craft a public persona. And you asked for advice here - that’s a good start, but pushing back against the overwhelming number of professionals telling you that a LinkedIn profile is both helpful and necessary isn’t your best option.
If you need help creating a profile, you should feel free to send me a DM. I do things like this for people all the time, because it is so helpful for their career. If not me, talk to someone you trust
I don’t have anything except for education and job titles with dates on mine. No details. And I get 2-3 headhunter outreaches through LinkedIn every single week. You are only hurting yourself by not getting those looks.
I second this. I see it as LinkedIn is the highest level view, then my 1 page resume says more and then after that you have to talk to me to learn even more
You don't have to maintain it constantly or read the news feed or anything like that. I get lots of headhunters reaching out to me via LinkedIn and I think it's great if you're passively open to opportunities. Some of these were great leads too, I just wasn't ready to jump ship or move to a different city. I think the ROI is pretty good and don't really see any downside to it.
It’s great for remembering birthdays
But seriously, LinkedIn is great for getting jobs. It opens so many doors
View it as an “and,” not an “or.” LinkedIn will give you the opportunity to tell your story yourself to more people. Just by virtue of being at BCG, headhunters and other recruiters will be interested in speaking with you, then from there it is up to you.
Thanks D1 and C1. This is reassuring and helpful!
For those that don't work for BCG we need a linkedin to help get attention.
You work for BCG no one is "writing you off" 🙄.
Just don’t add a profile picture, and don’t be super detailed in the descriptions. Just add the start and end date if that company, and your title. No maintenance and you can have peace of mind when it comes to privacy
I mean, if your profile is mediocre, fine. But if you have good experience and top name companies (ae. BCG) I’m pretty confident that not having a picture wont be a deal breaker