LinkedIn - What is it for?

Having recently embarked on a new career after working for the same organisation for nearly a quarter of a century, over the past 6 months or so I have regularly found myself spending large swathes of my time on LinkedIn. What started off as an almost absentminded conformism by opening an account and accepting - and sending - network requests to people I already knew, suddenly took on an increasing importance with every job transition workshop I attended and every article I read echoing a resounding message to those seeking employment in 2016: "LinkedIn is important, LinkedIn gives you a fantastic opportunity, LinkedIn is a critical tool. If you don't have a great LinkedIn profile, you won't get a job...". While this all sounded a lot different to the last time I had been for a job interview, I decided that - since that had been in 1991 - I would take heed and set to work making sure that my LinkedIn profile was treated with the same diligence and reverence as my CV. Of course, without the benefit of a parallel universe I'll never know what difference it made, but I am delighted to say that I was fortunate enough to be offered - and accepted - the challenge of an exciting new role. 

At this point, LinkedIn took on a different focus for me. The new job involved an international move and, although I had visited frequently and had some local knowledge (gleaned mainly from a wife who had been working there for the past 18 months), it meant working in a region where I had limited friends and few colleagues. No matter, I thought. A perfect opportunity to reap the benefit of the LinkedIn connections I had accepted and the network I had grown; finally payback on the hours spent tweaking education histories, re-writing summary paragraphs (why is it always 87 characters too long?), fettling career milestones and role descriptions, and pedantically choosing groups, businesses and people to follow.

Or could I?

Of the 3 connections I identified in the region that I reached out to for help, only one of them bothered to answer my messages. I wasn't asking them to buy anything. I wasn't asking them to introduce me to anyone in their business, or looking for a job. I wasn't even asking for an introduction to anyone in their network. All I wanted was 15 minutes of their time for a phone call, a coffee (I was even prepared to do all of the travelling), or even just a 4-line reply to answer a couple of basic questions. I have to admit that the single responder was exceptionally generous with both time, and regional knowledge, for which I was - and remain - hugely grateful, but even so... Only one out of three. Not a great ratio.

Despite my limited success rate with my existing regional connections, I have still found the service invaluable since my arrival in a new country. I have been given mutual introductions to people who had met me for coffee and given me generous access to their experience and knowledge. I have been taken 'under wings', 'into hearts', and 'into confidences' as people - almost strangers in some cases - have offered me assistance in a number of areas that have been instrumental in my ability to 'acclimatise' to me new environment so quickly. I have even had a highly-successful professional recruiter in a totally unrelated industry give me free CV advice, and two hours of his one-on-one time - all based on nothing more than a LinkedIn introduction from a mutual connection that I had met in a bar 4000 miles away and with whom he had recently been on a very highly regarded residential Management course. A great example of the power of networks. 

The other interesting thing I have found since arriving in the region is that suddenly I am receiving a raft of new connection requests. Mostly fellow internationals, generally with legitimate enough looking profiles, and frequently recruitment consultants,  financial planners and foreign journalists or politicians, but linked by the common theme of being complete strangers to me, yet inviting me to join their network with nothing more than the standard "I'd like to add you..." message. 

So. Some good points and some bad points. I might have left it there until I saw an article - on LinkedIn, ironically enough - which was about how to settle down into a new job, and in a new country. This sounded like essential reading for me and, since it was written by an ex-LinkedIn employee, it piqued my curiosity even more - maybe I would get some tips on how to use the tool more effectively, or get some pointers on where I was going wrong. Or so I thought... "Send out LinkedIn invitations to everyone you can in the region, and accept every one that comes to you. It doesn't matter if you know them or not - no-one will ever check.". Really??? My mind drifted back to one of my connection invitations...

Actually this invitation was an exception to the rule of new unknown connection requests. Rather than a complete unknown, from looking at their profile it appeared that we shared over 20 mutual connections - a number of them people I have known for decades and consider close friends. I almost clicked <Accept> automatically, but my hand hovered over the mousepad for just a second. I thought about the scaremongering stories I had heard from our security department about false profiles. I though about how much I was beginning to depend upon this great networking tool and how much time I had invested in it. More than that, though, I thought about my one in three hit rate of responses from people already in my so called 'network'. What exactly would I be prepared to do to support someone that I definitely didn't know? So I decided to check him out.

The responses were enlightening. "Never heard of him", "He's not in my network" (I beg to differ), "Nope - don't know him", "Oh yes - I wasn't sure about him but we had so many mutual connections I figured he must be ok.". I couldn't find a single one of my mutual contacts who would vouch for him. Not such a glowing beacon for the power of this particular network. Now, I should point out that I have no reason to believe that the individual is not who they say they are, nor is there anything that stands out in either their request or their profile that suggests nefarious intent. However, I was amazed that someone could have become embedded in quite so many networks and yet no-one seemed to really know who they were. This was the last link in a chain that got me really thinking about how we use LinkedIn... In short, is this really how LinkedIn is supposed to work?

So what is LinkedIn? Is it an online CV? Is it business's social media equivalent of going self-viral? (Is anyone else starting to get bored of people complaining that the new settings restrict them to 30 000 connections?) Is it a 'push' job marketplace for people looking for new employment, or a 'pull' job marketplace for recruitment consultants looking to fill roles? Is it, as some lament, just Facebook by a different name? To be honest, I imagine it is a bit of all of these things to some extent. On the other hand, what does being a member of a someone's network entail? What, if any, responsibilities does it bring? What can you expect of someone who makes a commitment to you (and you to them) to become part of a this hallowed concept we refer to as our 'shared network'? In short, does being in someone's network actually mean anything? 

Like so many things in life, I suppose it depends on your point of view; this commitment, responsibility, call it what you will, means different things to different people. However, to me, LinkedIn has become increasingly valuable and I find my network connections a genuine and precious asset as I try to establish myself in a new business environment, and in a new region - away from the safety net of my safe, regimented past and my home country. With that in mind, I have decided to lay down a marker and make a commitment to those in my network - and request the same from them. 

• If we are linked in a network, then I know who you are and something about you. This doesn't mean I went to your wedding and it doesn't mean I'll bail you out of jail. However, it does mean that I want to know at least a few lines about your background that I have garnered from either talking to you or exchanging messages.  I would not expect to be accepted into your network without reciprocating.
• I may not want to go out for a drink with you every week (nor you with me), but I will always endeavour to return your message, take your call, and go for a coffee with you if I possibly can. I'd be grateful if you do the same. I promise not to take advantage of our relationship by trying to sell you anything, or by stealing your business/connections/partner. The only caveat to this is if I warn you first.
• I will happily vouch for you honestly and positively, if a third party is looking for an introduction or a character reference. I might not know you well enough to claim to trust you with my life, but I will be able to say - "I am connected to them, we connected because ...., we have had none/some/lots of interaction and on the following topics.".
• I will introduce to anyone else within my network if you ask me, providing I can ask them first and they are content. I would ask that you do the same for me. I promise not to get upset if they decline my request. Again, I ask that you do the same.
• New connections are what make the network so valuable. If I don't know you, that doesn't mean I won't accept a connection request. However, it does mean that I will ask you to introduce yourself before I do. Better still, instead of sending a generic "I'd like to add you.." message, take the time to go onto the website, rather than the app, and make the effort to explain in 200 characters (or whatever it is) who you are, and why you'd like to connect. If I am trying to connect with you, I will do the same - even if we've met but it was a long time ago and/or I am not certain you will remember the encounter.
• Finally, I will try to keep my posts, shares and likes on LinkedIn limited to appropriate content for a business forum.  I don't claim to be of a higher moral standing than anyone else, but I also have Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter for when I feel the need...

Hopefully this viewpoint is fairly constant across those I am fortunate enough to be connected to - and I don't wake up tomorrow with 200 fewer connections. I also have to confess that a recent litmus test of my current connections reveals a number of people who don't exactly fit the bill and who I suppose I need to either get to know slightly better, or remove, to remain consistent to these new criteria.

I do have one happy postscript, though. I spent an hour earlier this evening going through some of the connection requests I have received over the past week or so, and replying to those I didn't know, inviting them to give me some additional detail. I received back, very quickly, 3 responses, all of which were cheerful, comprehensive, and seemed almost relieved to be engaged in some form of interaction as part of the networking process. This included a lady from Australia who was very apologetic and confessed that she had probably hit the <Invite Connect> button by mistake while using the App on her mobile when I had come up as a suggested match - presumably because we work in the same industry and have a number of similar key words and phrases in our respective profiles (or whatever other clever algorithm they use). She politely invited me to delete her request, which I duly did.

But then I thought about it some more. Networks are powerful things. And we do work in the same industry, and I do know a bit about her now... You never know when I might be looking for some nugget of information about my industry in Melbourne, or she in Dubai. Also, I don't think I have many other connections in that part of Australia. On second thoughts, I think I might send her this article and invite her to connect...