Any of you choosing not to be on LinkedIn?

Purpleskies

If so, has it come up in a job interview?

I'm a private person and I loathe the transparency of spraying your past and professional life over a digital medium for everyone to see, including snoopy exes and people I generally don't care to share any of my business with.

All my other profiles, like Facebook, are locked down for only friends to see.

I know I may need to bite the bullet and get a LinkedIn, but in the meantime, have you any tips for me for dealing with this question, where I don't sound like I'm anti-technology or that I have something to hide?

BabySlam

Absolutely agree with you. A handful of friends means more to me than being a pseudo-celebrity with my life "out there".

strandroad

FWIW you can lock down LinkedIn as well... only showing your full profile to your connections.

pow wow

mhge wrote: »

FWIW you can lock down LinkedIn as well... only showing your full profile to your connections.

This is how I have my profile set on LinkedIn. Non-connections can see I exist and the headline I give myself, and the amount of connections I have. The settings are a bit tricky with people who are connections of existing connections but not directly connected to me.

I think if you're at an established level in your career there's an expectation you would be on there in some form, and a bit of surprise when you're not, particularly if you're jobhunting. In some ways it adds weight to what you have on your CV, and if you're in the kind of job where networking plays a big part (mine's like that) there'd be even more focus on how many connections you might have in your field on LinkedIn (i.e. if you're pitching yourself as a regional sales manager for example and you have 4 connections it doesn't add up). Mine is pretty generic, last two jobs and professional certifications - my whole career history isn't there as there's no need, nor is there a poetic piece on each job and why I was so awesome at it.

If you feel you'd rather not have one then don't. I don't think it's a dealbreaker in of itself, but if it comes upthe rationale you give behind why you don't have one may take the discussion in another direction. Setting up a minimalist profile and connecting with colleagues in your field could only help your job search. It's your call.

StonyIron

I don't have one because it was used to stalk and harass me.

I won't ever be going on it again either.

evey3624

Sorry I have to say if you are job hunting you need to bite the bullet and create a an account!! As said previously you can have just the basics on it much easier to deal with this then trying to go into a explanation about not wanting people to be able to know your business.

Just my opinion and to be fair it is not like facebook, its only your work details.

FobleAsNuck

got two of my best jobs by being headhunted via linked in. wouldn't happen otherwise as I wasn't actively looking to change position

skallywag

LinkedIn profiles can be useful, but unless you are looking to be actively headhunted then I do not see how not having one is going to go against you. I would never ask an interview candidate as to why they do not have a profile, everything that I need to know is on the CV in front of me.

StonyIron

I basically has a guy who disliked a very non-controversial twitter post. I got into a Twitter spat with him. He found me on LinkedIn and started emailing my work address (which he guessed).

I didn't reply and that was followed by phone calls via our receptionist and a ton of abusive voicemails.

This guy wasn't even in Ireland so I couldn't do anything via the Gardai.

Then for weeks I was getting "Mr Stalker has viewed your LinkedIn". They don't provide any way of blocking it, so I closed my account permanently.

Tigger99

Just so you know, you can block people on LinkedIn in. I had to have someone blocked a few months ago.

Purpleskies

Hey thanks for the good replies, food for thought definitely

CatFromHue

I've never been in an interview and asked if I'm on LinkedIn or not so maybe you're over thinking it.

I do have a profile on it which is just my name and no other details. I only have this so I can look at the jobs section on the site.