I got yet another invitation for LinkedIn this morning. In case you don't know, this is a professional networking site that's supposed to help mostly grown-ups keep in touch with professional contacts and make new ones. Every few weeks, someone asks me to join, whether it's a PR person, source, colleague, college classmate or friend.
Now typically, I just hit delete. I hate stuff like this, which feels something like a chain letter. I'm leery of the kind of information I'd have to give up if I joined, which would then be available to pretty much anyone (at least in a seven-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon kind of way). Also, I have to confess that I'm afraid of signing up and not having any or many links. Then I'd have to either be a LinkedIn Loser, standing alone in the corner at the high-school dance, or resort to my own cheery chain-mail solicitation to everyone in my inbox: "Invitation to connect!"
So what's different this time? Well, I won't name any names, but this particular invitation comes from one of the country's preeminent CSOs, someone for whom I have a lot of respect, and who maintains that he has been using LinkedIn to "establish and maintain contact with friends and members of the global information protection community." If this is true, then this network contains people who are sources or potential sources that could help me do my job. So maybe this means it's time to get with the program and just sign up for the darn thing, if for no other reason than to avoid the quandary the next time.
Want to help me decide what to do? Cast your vote about whether I'm likely to find a CSO community at LinkedIn and should take him up on the offer.
-Sarah Scalet
Although I understand the concerns with privacy, etc Belonging to LinkedIN and managing your profile is the only way to be available, and yet control how you are seen on LinkedIN. I too was wary, but once I used the LinkedIN tools to see those in my e-mail lists who are already LinkedIN members, it was easy to build a quick network.
I am not one of those folks who is trying to build a mega network. I just want to leverage my contacts. My direct contacts (a modest 104 members) give me access to over 405,000 people who know someone I know. If I needed to do a job search, the number of recruiters just within my network is amazing.
A truely great tool to help you get things done through others. Although I am involved with other groups (Ex:SPOKE) LinkedIN is the clear leader in tools and usability. I'd suggest to anyone to "jump in"
Very good question indeed. As the President of SecurityRecruiter.com, an executive search firm specilized in security recruiting, approximately 1.5 years ago, I chose to make LinkedIn a part of my world. I can't prove it but I have very likely built the largest network of security professionals in North America on Linked in with over 2800 direct connections and growing.
Presently, I am working on a retained CISO search for one of the top banks in the country. There are over 500 CISO, Information Security Officer and Information Security Director titles in my LinkedIn network. Somebody in my network is likely to be the next CISO of my banking client.
One of the most valuable features of LinkedIn in my opinion is the Endorsement or Recommendation feature. I've been very fortunate to have received numerous recommendations from some of the top security professionals in the country.
What does this mean? It means that I now have to live up to each endorsement every day and I love the challenge. Security professionals contact me daily based on my recruiting expertise and based on the endorsements their peers have offered.
Does LinkedIn work? It depends on how you intend to use it. It works for me and I take the responsibility of caring for my network properly very seriously. LinkedIn is 100% a business tool for me and not a social network at all.
Jeff Snyder
www.securityrecruiter.com