Okay, so I was #16 (or was it 17?) on el-Dave's Top Ten List, but I bet it did not alter the results...

On October 1, 2008, Dave Mendoza published his weekly Top Ten list, and I was on there... and my life as a recruiter will never be the same.

Prior to that day, my LinkedIn first degree connections hovered around 1200+, thanks to invites trickling in at a rate of five or so a week.

Since that day - I just counted - my connections increased by 270+ connections. A minimum of 250 of those were a result of being on the list, with about 65 invites to connect on October 1.

Now, to some of you, 250 might be a *small* number (to others, more than the connections they currently have).

All I know is this: that 22% bump opened up the door to five additional third degree connections I did not have before; five profiles that fit the minimum requirements my hiring manager is looking for, as well as, and this is big, the desired ones!

After some more cybersleuthing (Shally, is that term copyrighted?) I confirmed their location - (courtesy of facebook, myspace, alumni pages), as well as some personal information that are definitely not relevant - single or married, children, hobbies, and even a couple of household incomes (okay, this one may be relevant.

Then came the online white pages, and now I have their addresses and phone numbers.

I will be calling them next week --
Let's see how this goes...