Foxhound5366
Honorary Master
Disclaimer after writing: sorry if this reads like an advertorial for LinkedIn, but it's actually just me sharing something with you that I feel passionate about because it's definitely changed my life for the better. I'd honestly been pretty sceptical about LinkedIn myself, just seeing it like 'Facebook for business people', but lo and behold it finally came through for me.
Ok so I exaggerated a little in the title, LinkedIn didn't get me the new job I'm going into in a month, but I did see the job offered as a timeline update from a General Manager who I happened to have on my contacts. He was asking for any of his contacts to propose people suitable for the position, and I was inspired to do something crazy: I sent him a personal message and proposed myself.
I think it worked because it was so unexpected.
The rest of the story is awesome but not the point of this post.
There's are some valuable lessons I've been thinking a lot about since, which I'm sharing here because I sincerely hope that it will benefit some MyBB members one day:
1: You never know when somebody useful on your LinkedIn profile may post something interesting. Add everybody, and accept all requests. It's what I've been doing for a while, and on Facebook I do just the opposite: I religiously cull my friends list, just to share things only with people I care about.
2: If you've got remarkable skills you may get head-hunted on LinkedIn (I hear stories about this happening but never to me), but for the rest of us 'normal folk' you just have to remember that Step 1 isn't going to be of any value unless you actually go on there and skim through the posts every so often. You'll see thousands of mildly-inspirational posts from so-called 'business leaders', and then ... just maybe if you get lucky ... there will be the one open door that you can walk through that will change your life.
3: The nice part about being a LinkedIn contact with somebody is that you've got a direct line to them ... people change jobs and get promoted, so your social network there should strengthen over time. Case in point: back when I added the guy who posted this job, he was the GM for a different (smaller) company.
4: (And this is the important part) More than just adding random people on LinkedIn, you should ensure that you build relationships with the people before you add them (like any other social network). Do something memorable (I had), so that when they one day get a random message from you many years later, they'll recall who you are and that door will swing open a bit further.
Hey, use it, don't use it... it's just an actual life experience from yours truly Good luck guys, here's to hoping you find what you're passionate about!
Ok so I exaggerated a little in the title, LinkedIn didn't get me the new job I'm going into in a month, but I did see the job offered as a timeline update from a General Manager who I happened to have on my contacts. He was asking for any of his contacts to propose people suitable for the position, and I was inspired to do something crazy: I sent him a personal message and proposed myself.
I think it worked because it was so unexpected.
The rest of the story is awesome but not the point of this post.There's are some valuable lessons I've been thinking a lot about since, which I'm sharing here because I sincerely hope that it will benefit some MyBB members one day:
1: You never know when somebody useful on your LinkedIn profile may post something interesting. Add everybody, and accept all requests. It's what I've been doing for a while, and on Facebook I do just the opposite: I religiously cull my friends list, just to share things only with people I care about.
2: If you've got remarkable skills you may get head-hunted on LinkedIn (I hear stories about this happening but never to me), but for the rest of us 'normal folk' you just have to remember that Step 1 isn't going to be of any value unless you actually go on there and skim through the posts every so often. You'll see thousands of mildly-inspirational posts from so-called 'business leaders', and then ... just maybe if you get lucky ... there will be the one open door that you can walk through that will change your life.
3: The nice part about being a LinkedIn contact with somebody is that you've got a direct line to them ... people change jobs and get promoted, so your social network there should strengthen over time. Case in point: back when I added the guy who posted this job, he was the GM for a different (smaller) company.
4: (And this is the important part) More than just adding random people on LinkedIn, you should ensure that you build relationships with the people before you add them (like any other social network). Do something memorable (I had), so that when they one day get a random message from you many years later, they'll recall who you are and that door will swing open a bit further.
Hey, use it, don't use it... it's just an actual life experience from yours truly
Good luck guys, here's to hoping you find what you're passionate about!
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This thread is now apparently "Who got the best job offer on LinkedIn?"
Heard bad things about employment there tho.
