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Permalink Reply by Kiran Ponnada on May 1, 2008 at 12:56pm

Maureen:

This is a very interesting statistic. Furthermore, if all these people were Sales Engineers, I wonder how and where these people network. You may let us know if these people had their profiles on Dice, Monster, Facebook or any other sites. This will be a good indicator for all of us and help us source for passive candidates. Thanks for the post.

-Kiran

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Permalink Reply by Chuck on May 1, 2008 at 1:14pm

Maureen,

Interesting observation as I have run into similar circumstaces. I am pretty familiar with the Virginia market, and I can definitely echo your sentiments in a few of the remote areas I have recruited for. Covington, VA comes to mind!

I also tend to find it industry specific; mechanical, manufacturing, agricultural, paper sciences, etc (especially the engineers) havent fully embraced the networking aspect (over the internet at least) as much....especially if they are locating their plants/warehouses/factories in rural locations. Yes, this is a generalization but it is something I noticed based on those two factors (location and industry)

I could think of a few reasons why I guess it to be true; but certainly it is a fact in smaller towns people generally already know each other and network thru "word of mouth". They know each factory, mill, or plant in town and who does what at each location. My assumption would also be that if they arent on Linkedin, they probably arent on many of the other networking sites either. I think you will find the active seekers using the job boards with regularity.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on May 1, 2008 at 1:27pm

As someone that used LinkedIn to "find a job" I found that most recruiters didn't even bother to reply to my inquiries...and if they did, they added me their list, but didn't help. As a matter of fact, I just had a recruiter who didn't reply to my inquiry, just send me a note saying "I'm looking for XYZ, if you have someone like that/know anyone who might fit, we can do a split".
I don't think that some people really use the service to 'help' but it's becoming more of a "I have more connections than you do" sort of thing.

I make sure that everyone that I come in contact has a LinkedIn page - even if this is their first job.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Neeble on May 1, 2008 at 2:20pm

Lisa- I second what you said. Some recruiters will add you to their list and when you seek out help or advice you never hear from them. LinkedIn is a great networking tool, though

I wonder how many people touch their LinkedIn weekly (outside recruiters) if they are not actively seeking a position. I have seem some potential candidates resumes online and come across their LinkedIn profiles to find that their contact information isn't correct. Are most business professionals only using LinkedIn for finding the next job.

Interesting post, Maureen!

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Permalink Reply by Joe Brown on May 1, 2008 at 2:11pm

My experience with linkedin is that it's a GREAT place to find recruiters... aside from that, it's hit or miss!

I think the biggest problem with LinkedIn is that too many people are more concerned with building their network than actually USING their network... As if it were some contest to see who can get the most 1st level contacts.

Internet marketing is still in it's infancy in many parts of the country, and within many industries. my guess would be that this is why you have had difficulty finding candidates on LinkedIn.

Best advice i can give you echo's what Lisa said... spread the word, have access to your L.I. profile from you signature line in emails, recommend it to everyint you come in contact with, and push those connections.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on May 1, 2008 at 2:35pm

It's a mistake to assume that everyone is online at the same places. 30% of the country uses job board - there are what, 10, 20 million on LinkedIn?

Candidates have a limited amount of time, and can't join everything, so they tend to cluster where others are clustered. Good to know about sales engineers and linkedin - the question is where are they clustered then.

Chances are if you find one, you'll find the rest. Unless you're looking for accountants. They're not online. Well, most aren't.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Gotkin on May 1, 2008 at 3:09pm

Jim - Actually not only are Accountants online, but in large numbers on both LinkedIn and Facebook. I have found hundreds if not thousands of them in my extended LinkedIn network.

I'm curious if anyone knows the current percentage of LinkedIn users that are recruiters by trade? I saw a number before that said it was actually a relatively small percentage, maybe 5-10%.

Overall though, I do agree that location and profession at the key demographic factors with LinkedIn. Check out the Network Statistics page on your LinkedIn profile to get a sense of what the demographics of your network look like.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on May 1, 2008 at 4:25pm

Accountants have joined? That's an interesting sign - that's the perfect example then - accoutants can be found on linkedin, but not online in large numbers of social networks - or at least they couldn't a year ago. I always thought that was a little weird.

but then - I always thought accountants were a little weird different than salespeople.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on May 1, 2008 at 3:32pm

LinkedIn is growing - It's funny to me that there is a growing mindset that "Great candidates aren't on LinkedIn because if they are, then they're 'Semi-Actively-Passively-Job-Seekers'. Yeah, right. There's nothing wrong with people being opportunistic . . . but due to another one of those worthless perceptions in our industry, now an LI candidate is no longer 'passive'!

The funny thing is that I just made an international placement with a candidate on LI a few days ago. I mean hey, I like LinkedIn. I close deals with candidates on LinkedIn . . . and many other places. It's all relative.

The name of the game is creating immense value for our clients in those areas that most correlate to their performance.

Whether the candidate comes from LI, Spoke, a temp-receptionist, a Referral, the Moon . . . it doesn't matter. It's just a projection of ego for us to think that the job we're doing for our clients is any more or less 'better' because of the candidate source. Either that, or it's just another example of a telephone-name gen firm trying to articulate value of a telephonically-scrubbed name, or a web-research firm that says the candidate came from a '2000-character Boolean string' or an Exec Recruiter that says, "Nobody knows that candidate except for me as he trust no other members of humanity."

Here's an A+ for advertising though - I love this industry. It's never a boring moment :)

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Permalink Reply by Searching for Work on May 1, 2008 at 10:22pm

Hi Maureen. I'm not surprised by your discovery about LinkedIn. Social networking is still really in its infancy. It will take awhile for it to become a "given" among the masses. Five years ago, when I told people that I had a blog, I'd always get the same reaction - "what's a blog"?! It takes time for people to learn about and embrace new technology and concepts, which is why sourcing skills are so important. As they say "it's not as easy as it looks". Finding the right kind of candidate on the net requires knowledge and skill and determination. LinkedIn is just one "location" on the net where you might find people interested in switching careers.

I had to laugh when I read Joe Brown's reply to you. "My experience with linkedin is that it's a GREAT place to find recruiters... aside from that, it's hit or miss!" But, I agree with him! People might create a LinkedIn profile, but I doubt that there are many who are using it as the tool that it was intended to be. Certainly, those interested in finding a candidate will use it because it meets a need that they have. But, I don't think that candidates are getting "their need "met to find a new job or change careers through networking sites like LinkedIn. Not yet, anyway.

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