LinkedIn: 100M Nameless Profiles

If you are a job seeker, you probably have not noticed. If you are a staffing or recruiting professional, you have definitely noticed. These days, when you go to the people search in LinkedIn, you are treated to endless pages of nameless, thereby useless, links to profiles. If you are a job seeker, your first thought may be, well how is that going to help me. Guess what, it won't. People use LinkedIn to network, find a job, promote a company, or to satisfy some bizarre internal narcissistic psychological need to belong to something, or something like that. Hmmm, that reminds me of Me, Myself, and Irene, very funny movie. It's a condition you have undoubtedly noticed a lot with people on FB.


You probably are asking yourself why you should join LinkedIn and you are maybe even wondering if companies and recruiters are paying to see the names, your name. I'm sure some are, but remember, America is a really big place. There are 10's of millions of employers and 100's of thousands of recruiters. The folks paying to belong to LinkedIn are a very tiny percentage of this. It's like one of those pie charts you see that is all one color except for a little teeny weenie slice that almost just looks like a line. If you are also wondering why they hide the names, it is to try and get people to pay for one of its services.

I have looked objectively from a recruiter's standpoint and with buyer's eyes, like I was being forced to admire some new gadget in Williams Sonoma’s magazine that the Mrs. is showing me, and I do not see the value with the three options available to employers. They suggest a plan for around $50/month which gives a person a whopping 10 inMails (direct emails to anyone in LinkedIn and which LinkedIn says gets "response rates are as high as 60%", and the ability to see the FIRST names of your 3rd degree and group connections. You know, those people you don't know but want to know. There are some other features, but I'm seeing no benefits.

This isn't a LinkedIn bash session. I sincerely cannot think of one thing I care less about, okay, maybe the royal wedding. Companies can do whatever they want and you can do whatever you want, and that's a good thing. Oh no, she's got me even talking like Martha. The point of this is to answer the questions you may be wondering about, should you sign up for LinkedIn and will it have an impact on your job search. My thought is maybe and unlikely.

But what about LinkedIn for networking? It's a networking site, smart guy. If you can sort through the nameless profiles, or if you have an interest to connect with people you knew at the frat house or people you worked with at past employers, have at it. Personally, when I leave a company, it's adios amigos. I am not going to be in a position whereby I need to seek out someone from a past employer to find a new job. They do offer suggestions to grow your network, with actual names this time, but as I peruse through a few pages of their suggestions, the people are about as familiar to me as if I started reading the white pages. WAIT, I almost forgot. You do get your own personal profile link, but let me share a little tidbit. Do not include your LinkedIn profile URL on your resume, or use it in place of a resume. Somewhere in the dictionary under faux pas you will see this topic addressed.

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