Replace all your Esses with Dollar-signs
June 13, 2016 8:45 AM   Subscribe

Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn: at $26.2 Billion (!) this will be Microsoft's largest acquisition ever. They'll be "issuing new debt" to fund it. Shares appear to have jumped. The shade begins
posted by aspersioncast (117 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I see you're trying to add me to your professional network on LinkedIn. Would you like help with that?
posted by chavenet at 8:48 AM on June 13, 2016 [78 favorites]


Frank Conniff: "Microsoft purchase of Linkedin happened a week ago but nobody knew about it because the announcement was made on Linkedin."
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:48 AM on June 13, 2016 [166 favorites]


... Are there people who actually use Linkedin for its intended purpose and aren't just too lazy to cancel their automated emails?
posted by selfnoise at 8:53 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


all your Xbox Live friends are now LinkedIn contacts!

420BoNERLoRd would like you to check out his resume!
posted by prize bull octorok at 8:55 AM on June 13, 2016 [140 favorites]


I use it to keep track of former co-workers without giving them access to my personal social networks.
posted by tavella at 8:56 AM on June 13, 2016 [31 favorites]


I made an inbox rule sending all my LinkedIn email to the trash. It's dreamy! No more LinkedIn emails. I was getting 3 or 4 a day! That' s just greedy, LinkedIn.
posted by thelonius at 8:56 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Are there people who actually use Linkedin for its intended purpose and aren't just too lazy to cancel their automated emails?

When I was engaged in a job search a little over a year ago, having an up-to-date Linked In profile that matched my resume was important; it was getting looked at. Now that I'm employed and not sending out resumes, not so much.
posted by nubs at 8:57 AM on June 13, 2016 [14 favorites]


2017: "How weird, recruiters haven't been pestering me with job postings at Google or Apple for a while now."
posted by ardgedee at 8:57 AM on June 13, 2016 [17 favorites]


I know quite a few people who swear by LinkedIn in terms of networking and getting job contacts, but man, I am too lazy to do much of anything with my own LinkedIn profile. Which probably explains some of why I am still at this stupid job I don't much like.
posted by Kitteh at 8:58 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


Looks like I'd better stop dawdling on this job hunt.
posted by ckape at 9:02 AM on June 13, 2016


The advice I had was that it was important to have the LI profile and the resume line up, because prospective employers would check to see that they matched. In terms of networking and contacts, it wasn't very valuable to me, but then I didn't use it for that and I'm not sure it means much in my sector anyways.
posted by nubs at 9:02 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


TIL: George "Skip" Battle (which really sounds like a Harry Turtledove character), in addition to being a LinkedIn board member, also:

- was Executive Chairman of the Board at Ask Jeeves and director at PeopleSoft
- is currently a director at OpenTable, Workday, and Netflix
- and is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute

No real point, it just amazes me how directorial boards cross-pollinate.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:04 AM on June 13, 2016 [4 favorites]


Huh. Didn't see that one coming.

FWIW I actually find LinkedIn pretty useful but it's highly focused on my specialist field (software development), and remains a little bit clingy even when it's helping you.
posted by Artw at 9:07 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


well yknow he's probably in a lot of professional networks
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:07 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


No real point, it just amazes me how directorial boards cross-pollinate.

But think of the potential synergies of Linked In, Open Table, and Netflix coming together to create Linktableflix where you can meet business contacts for dinner and a movie!
posted by nubs at 9:08 AM on June 13, 2016 [19 favorites]


The advice I had was that it was important to have the LI profile and the resume line up, because prospective employers would check to see that they matched.

That seems a little unlikely. They're more likely to have you fill our everything again in a third, awful to navigated set of forms, the output from which is as far as you can tell dumped down a chute.
posted by Artw at 9:09 AM on June 13, 2016 [39 favorites]


At this point, I only keep my LinkedIn account as a sort of career Pascal's Wager.

I've never gotten a job through LinkedIn, and I don't know anybody who's gotten a job through LinkedIn, but what if I miss out on a job by not being on LinkedIn?

Also reading invites from clueless recruiters can cheer me up on dreary afternoons.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:10 AM on June 13, 2016 [41 favorites]


Microsoft: Relevancy Through Acquisition!
posted by prepmonkey at 9:10 AM on June 13, 2016


Now your LinkedIn profile will automatically update with the music you're listening to on your Zune. It's gonna be so rad.
posted by signal at 9:12 AM on June 13, 2016 [11 favorites]


I used it successfully during my last job hunt. I paid for the $30 a month tier, which gave me a lot more insight into the jobs I was applying for - number of applications, applications over time, salary range, how I compared to other applicants, etc. It also allowed me to be a featured applicant, putting my resume at the top of the list and gave me much more info about who was viewing my profile. I was able to use it to reach out to people outside of my network for research / introductions. I got quite a few interviews, and ultimately my new job out of LinkedIn. It's a really useful job hunting platform at the premium tiers. I dropped back to regular as soon as I had a job, and now pretty much ignore my LinkedIn, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it again. I'd also be a lot more engaged on it day to day if some of those premium features were available at the free tier. Hopefully that's something Microsoft will take a hard look at.
posted by IanMorr at 9:14 AM on June 13, 2016 [29 favorites]


TIL LinkedIn offers tiers of service
posted by entropicamericana at 9:16 AM on June 13, 2016 [25 favorites]


If a meeting makes you feel like quoting your job it can be fun to make a minor LinkedIn change (or even just look at it really) and get recruiter calls for the rest of the afternoon.

I think that it's maybe supposed to be subtle that they do this, but recruiters really aren't in on subtlety.
posted by Artw at 9:18 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


Skype, now LinkedIn. ToDo: Create awful company for Microsoft to buy.
posted by pashdown at 9:19 AM on June 13, 2016 [10 favorites]


Are there people who actually use Linkedin for its intended purpose and aren't just too lazy to cancel their automated emails?

Well, I'm not sure this is its intended purpose, but I work for a university alumni office, and we do use LI quite a bit to figure out where our alumni are working, so we can design professional events that will meet them where they are. We also use it to connect current students and alumni.
posted by anastasiav at 9:21 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


They're more likely to have you fill our everything again in a third, awful to navigated set of forms

I did my fair share of that, but if you're applying for a job advertised on LinkedIn, it's one click to send your details, other than the cover letter. I don't know if the one click thing was a Premium feature too, but for many of the jobs I applied for I used it to be first or second in the hiring manager's mailbox, which, from experience on the other side, is important. Sorry, 600th person to send a resume. I'm probably not reading it.
posted by IanMorr at 9:22 AM on June 13, 2016


I must say that I am confused by the notion of a university alumni office doing anything besides begging for money.

(My own university alumni office is similarly confused.)
posted by delfin at 9:22 AM on June 13, 2016 [10 favorites]


hat seems a little unlikely. They're more likely to have you fill our everything again in a third, awful to navigated set of forms, the output from which is as far as you can tell dumped down a chute.

I did a few of those, for recruiters, but by and large employers in my sector (non-profit) are still pretty much the traditional cover-letter-and-resume approach group, and I could see in the Linked In stats if my profile was getting viewed by someone from most orgs that I applied to.
posted by nubs at 9:24 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think the relevance of LinkedIn depends heavily on your field. I had it updated when I went applying for jobs last time, but nobody cared even a tiny bit or even checked it out as far as I can tell. I appreciate it in a way, since it tries to split work social networking off personal social networking, but it is obnoxious in the amount of attention it tries to grab (which is counterproductive because you end up ignoring everything, or even blocking it.)
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:26 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is great news

... for the next LinkedIn
posted by zippy at 9:28 AM on June 13, 2016 [4 favorites]


Now that I'm theoretically a free agent, I've been trying to use Linked In and have gotten a few leads that didn't go anywhere, but so far, the only leads that have led to interviews have been through local recruiters and friends. I'm so broke and hopeless at this point, I'm thinking of setting up a little coding stand on the corner and busking for a living.

This acquisition makes a lot of sense, I guess. Microsoft is all about business and LinkedIn is popular with people on the business side of software. It's annoying having another public persona marketing platform we're expected to curate and waste time maintaining, but whatever. I give up.
posted by saulgoodman at 9:28 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I appreciate it in a way, since it tries to split work social networking off personal social networking

The guy who showed me how to use Linked In said that Linked In was the social network for your profession; Facebook for friends and family; and Twitter was for being part of the screaming mob.
posted by nubs at 9:29 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


I deleted my linked in profile after a person I was interviewing for a job (he was being interviewed, I was doing the interviewing) in a completely unsolicited manner brought up all sorts of personal stuff about me that he was able glean from LI profile and connect the dots back to other parts of my online social life, including comments I'd made on twitter, facebook and HERE ON MEFI. I was like, "wtf dude?!?!, I know we all google stalk but this is fucking awkward and creepy and now I don't like you this interview is over now"
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2016 [26 favorites]


I must say that I am confused by the notion of a university alumni office doing anything besides begging for money.

Oh, don't be misled, the end goal of trolling LinkedIn for alumni is still an ask.
posted by pwnguin at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


Twitter is for actual friends, Facebook is for social obligations.
posted by Artw at 9:31 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


surprising twist epilogue: 420BoNERLoRd has 6+ years experience with MAS90 legacy systems and is now your accounting manager
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:31 AM on June 13, 2016 [62 favorites]


I use it to keep track of former co-workers without giving them access to my personal social networks

Sounds like a joke, but this is honestly, truly why I use it. As well as current ones and work contacts. And because ResearchGate is a bigger, naggier trashfire.

Though now, I guess, we can look forward to them merging.
posted by bonehead at 9:34 AM on June 13, 2016 [4 favorites]


> this is fucking awkward
I bet having to pepper spray an applicant is super-weird.
posted by boo_radley at 9:35 AM on June 13, 2016 [12 favorites]


I find it modestly useful for keeping track of where former colleagues land. When I had a question about one place I was applying to, I sent an email to an ex-colleague who I knew was there because of the site.
posted by praemunire at 9:36 AM on June 13, 2016


About a year ago, I finally decided it was time to get out of my job, and started looking at job application advice for the first time in a decade. Every single place I looked said, in big flashing letters, "Update your LinkedIn profile, it's how everything happens now!" So I went and created a profile, which I had previously refused to do. This required sending out invitations to connect with all of my then-coworkers. Having a profile paid zero dividends as far as marketing myself or contacting former coworkers (because I wasn't connected with any former coworkers, natch), and I ended up applying to a bunch of places the old fashioned way. In sum, creating and updating an account had the effect of loudly advertising to everyone I knew and worked with that I was actively job-searching.

As far as I can tell, I succeeded in jumping ship despite LinkedIn, not because of it. Thus it is only fitting that Microsoft bought them for waaaay too much money, five years too late.
posted by Mayor West at 9:38 AM on June 13, 2016 [4 favorites]


I find it modestly useful for keeping track of where former colleagues land.

That aspect just makes it creepy if, say, there's an employer in your history who actively monitors employees when they leave. I heard a credible rumor once about a company that actually sent managers out to follow a former employee to their new workplace to keep tabs on them, on vague suspicions they might be up to no good.
posted by saulgoodman at 9:40 AM on June 13, 2016


I've found LinkedIn to be quite valuable. I organized a local conference and found over 50 high-level people to speak at it through LinkedIn -- most of whom I knew in some way, but didn't have an email address for. That said, I've never gotten a job through it, or even an opportunity that was particularly good.
posted by miyabo at 9:41 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm worried. I'm in the midst of a job search now, and LinkedIn is invaluable.

Here's the thing with LinkedIn; I think it really favors power users, and if you aren't one of those, it's really hard to see its utility. But in my field, people use it all.the.time, and some of our most important professional conversations take place there, off the official channels of professional associations and organizations. I use it actively and so do my peers. And if you really maximize all of its tools, especially in a job search, it's incredibly powerful. I also use it to recruit, to check out job applicants in advance of my interviews with them, and to see what colleagues I know in a given location when I'm getting ready to travel. To me, it's absolutely great. I think there are just some fields where it doesn't rise to that level of importance, and also, some people who don't engage that deeply with it, and thus don't see it as a useful tool.

Microsoft kind of ruins just about everything, so I'm concerned.
posted by Miko at 9:44 AM on June 13, 2016 [6 favorites]


I've been interviewed by Google and Amazon because of my LinkedIn profile. This speaks badly of LinkedIn, as I am not even close to the right profile to work at either company.
posted by signal at 9:45 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


If you're on LinkedIn, the computers will know whether they need to keep you around or not after the Singularity. But if you're not on LinkedIn?

(For a long time, I didn't see that it was a capital-I, and thought it was "linkedln". Couldn't figure out what that might be about. Linked line? Linked natural log?)
posted by clawsoon at 9:46 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


Despite my putting I don't want to leave my current geographical area at the top of my profile, all I've ever gotten as far as potential job contacts have been for jobs far from where I live. I seriously don't think this will improve under Microsoft ownership and is far more likely to get worse.

It's probably time to leave, although I'll miss those emails that tell me people are looking at my profile even though the threshold appears to be set at one. They're great for creating expectation followed by crushing disappointment.
posted by tommasz at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't like LinkedIn, it's cludgey, but when I do social media for my job we have to use it because it has, by far, the biggest following (my company's social media hits go LinkedIn, FB, Twitter in terms of responses).

I mean, it's all just people in the same industry talking to each other/looking for jobs with each other, so it's kind of incestuous anyway.

LinkedIn keeps trying to get me to care about career connecting with people who I know through very NOT-work stuff, which is annoying. I assume Microsoft, being Microsoft, will make it even more so.
posted by emjaybee at 9:47 AM on June 13, 2016


Oh, don't be misled, the end goal of trolling LinkedIn for alumni is still an ask.

At our school that is not true. For us, the biggest use of LI is to feature alumni success stories and try to connect current students with alumni mentors. But I recognize that we are not the norm.
posted by anastasiav at 9:50 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


clawsoon: I didn't see that it was a capital-I, and thought it was "linkedln". Couldn't figure out what that might be about. Linked line? Linked natural log?

In unix, the command to create file links is "ln"...

ln - make links between files
Synopsis
ln [OPTION]... [-T] TARGET LINK_NAME (1st form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET (2nd form)
ln [OPTION]... TARGET... DIRECTORY (3rd form)
ln [OPTION]... -t DIRECTORY TARGET... (4th form)

In the 1st form, create a link to TARGET with the name LINK_NAME.
[etc.]

posted by RedOrGreen at 9:51 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


LinkedIn keeps trying to get me to care about career connecting with people who I know through very NOT-work stuff, which is annoying. I assume Microsoft, being Microsoft, will make it even more so.

I see this too, and I really don't understand why they do it. It feels like injecting noise into the system.

I also never understood why all of my students from the lab I TA'd/adjuncted wanted to connect. Just to pad their contacts?
posted by Mitrovarr at 9:54 AM on June 13, 2016


anastasiav: For us, the biggest use of LI is to feature alumni success stories and try to connect current students with alumni mentors.

Those both sound like asks to me...? Not money, but stories and time, both of which will benefit the university.
posted by clawsoon at 9:54 AM on June 13, 2016


also: mathowie was unavailable for comment.
posted by boo_radley at 10:01 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm guessing this means that Microsoft's other work-focused social networking service, Yammer, is not long for this world.
posted by Jahaza at 10:03 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is just a sneaky attempt for them to finally win the New Yorker caption contest.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:04 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


My only interactions on LinkedIn goes like this:

Dear Recruiter,

I appreciate you offering the opportunity to apply for your entry level positions on a three month contract. Unfortunately, given my 18 years’ experience in the field and my permanent full time management position with full benefits, I will need to decline. However, if the bottom ever falls out I will contact you posthaste.

Kindest Regards,
Remo
posted by remo at 10:04 AM on June 13, 2016 [8 favorites]


In unix, the command to create file links is "ln"...

Linkedln is....wait for it

...

a symbolic link

well I laughed
posted by Annika Cicada at 10:08 AM on June 13, 2016 [10 favorites]


Jahaza: I'm guessing this means that Microsoft's other work-focused social networking service, Yammer, is not long for this world.

Based on dusty (pre-buyout) memories, I thought Yammer was basically "private IM." A lot of my colleagues use AIM or other chat services because we are in multiple offices/buildings -- and I would love to see a unified IM service enabled within our AD domain so we don't have to track down AIM usernames, Gmail handles, etc., etc.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:27 AM on June 13, 2016


in Hyrule, LinkedIn is the social network where all the Links get together to catch up and try to figure out what chronological order they're in
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:28 AM on June 13, 2016 [12 favorites]


So all snark side, what's the value to Microsoft's customers here?

I think of their customers as mostly being large organizations, while LinkedIn is for one of two different groups:
1. HR staff at those giant organizations looking for new talent, or
2. Individuals trying to get out of one giant org. and/or into another.

...And I can't see the second group getting a lot out of this purchase. Wait -- does this mean that people are once again just grist in Microsoft's great mill? *sigh*
posted by wenestvedt at 10:31 AM on June 13, 2016


Based on dusty (pre-buyout) memories, I thought Yammer was basically "private IM."

Yammer is more like "private Facebook", at least in the way my company is using it. People can post a status, and other people can "like" it, share it, comment on it, etc. My company uses the groups more than just open posting, but YMMV. I can see them trying to bolt together Yammer and LinkedIn into some hideous Frankenstein monster of a work-oriented social network, sort of the same way they've done with Lync and Skype.
posted by briank at 10:34 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


So all snark side, what's the value to Microsoft's customers here?

"Medium powered by Microsoft Office"

(oh, sorry, I forgot the 'all snark aside' part)
posted by bl1nk at 10:38 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have 3 times as many contacts on LinkedIn as on Facebook.
I know who maybe 25% of them are.
posted by signal at 10:39 AM on June 13, 2016


Yammer is now basically a feature of Office365 for enterprises. I am in the market for groupware now and not one consultant has mentioned Yammer even for a second, even while every last one has some iteration of Basecamp and also most some unholy pairing of Slack + [whatever].
posted by MattD at 10:40 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I could see this transforming into a kind of Google+ (or even CRM-ish thing) for Office365 customers, though at the same time I have trouble imagining LinkedIn ever disappearing as its own entity.

On preview, this would fit in very well with "private Facebook."

TIL LinkedIn offers tiers of service

As someone who interviewed at LinkedIn through a cold call via LinkedIn (they ghosted me after), I feel confident in explaining that LinkedIn's entire development philosophy is to copy features from more-popular sites. Posting on your wall? Arrived after Facebook became popular. Skill tagging? Stack Overflow. "Tiers of service" is what they copied from dating sites.
posted by rhizome at 10:41 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


9 Things Microsoft Could Do With LinkedIn by Paul Ford
posted by jeremias at 10:42 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


I've gotten the occasional LinkedIn invite in my email and I ignored them. It's weird, when I first got online, I downloaded every gizmo and doodad and joined every network/group/cargo cult possible. It seemed like the thing to do. Now it just seems like there's too many 'presences' I'm supposed to have that don't really seem worth the aggravation.
posted by jonmc at 10:46 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Not only because I'm the world's worst networker, but the only LinkedIn traffic I get is random recruiter friend requests and evidence that people I went to high school with gave LinkedIn access to their Facebook friend list.
posted by rhizome at 10:48 AM on June 13, 2016


I'm guessing this means that Microsoft's other work-focused social networking service, Yammer, is not long for this world.

My company uses Yammer. I've always suspected it's primary use is highlighting which employees have enough free time to post on Yammer. Given the number of recent layoffs and dramatic decline in post volume I'm beginning to believe my theory is correct.

To your point, though, that won't happen until LinkedIn allows companies to firewall outsiders the way Yammer does.
posted by tommasz at 10:53 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


I've found footage contacts and indie camera operators through LinkedIn, as well as gotten job offers. I ignore the emails. The world of freelancers is not the same as the world of those who work for some company.
posted by Ideefixe at 10:55 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


... Are there people who actually use Linkedin for its intended purpose and aren't just too lazy to cancel their automated emails?

TIL no one at Metafilter works a regular office job, and when presented with a tool that has more users than there are people in the USA will behave as if some alien artifact fell out of the sky
posted by danny the boy at 10:56 AM on June 13, 2016 [17 favorites]


all your Xbox Live friends are now LinkedIn contacts!

prize bull octorok: 420BoNERLoRd would like you to check out his resume!

His won't be as good as Eugene Mirman's profile/resume, as mentioned somewhere in his Vegan on His Way to the Complain Store routine.
Experience

CEO at Eugene Mirman Industries which is exactly the same as the Senior VP of Pee Pee at Verizon
Eugene Mirman Industries
January 1908 – Present (108 years 6 months)

I oversee everything from how much smiling is considered normal to R&D and cool ways to walk around the office.
(Did you realize no one checks these things?)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:58 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Every time I logged into linkedin for the last 2 years, it tried to get me to connect to my old boss, who was 50% of why I left that job. I finally found a way to block him on the site, which was gratifying, so there's that.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:02 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


... Are there people who actually use Linkedin for its intended purpose and aren't just too lazy to cancel their automated emails?

I definitely use it to keep in touch with former coworkers, congratulate them on new jobs, etc. I would guess I spend about 10 minutes a week on this kind of follow up, and it seems well worth it to me.

I also was contacted for some decent job leads (including one where I ended up in the final three for a pretty good position) through LinkedIn, and I don't get much in the way of pointless recruitment spam.

I think a lot of its usefulness really does come down to what industry you are in, and how you want to manage your professional network.
posted by antimony at 11:03 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


I've been cleaning up my LinkedIn profile and poking around there more lately, because I'm at this stage where I'm less than thrilled with my job and open to new opportunities, but not quite ready to do a full-bore job hunt. Unfortunately for me, I think recruiter emails are reserved for the programmer/developer side of the tech world, not the marketing/content and digital strategy side that I inhabit.

But thanks for this thread, because I just checked my profile and there were a handful of Happy Birthday messages from contacts that I needed to respond to. It feels fake but I'm trying to put on a happy "hey look at me, networking with people and maintaining connections, isn't this great?" face.

And yes, having a LinkedIn account was super useful for me when a freelance author I work with for asked to add me on Facebook. Like, he couldn't find me (because I don't use my full name and keep my profile as hidden from searches as Facebook allows) and still asked to connect. "Oh sorry, that you couldn't find me is by design; I keep my Facebook pretty limited to family and close friends. But let's connect on LinkedIn!" is a very handy response to have in one's pocket.

What I really need is a good professional headshot, though. And for people to stop endorsing me for social media management because although that is part of my job, it's only like 25% and it's the part I hate most and want to get out of.
posted by misskaz at 11:06 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I've gotten most of my jobs through contacts on LinkedIn. It's handy to be able to keep track of all the people you've worked with so that you can email them to get the inside scoop on a place before you apply.

Also in today's market, your job can always disappear tomorrow (ask me how I know) so you need to have everything together ahead of time for your next job search.
posted by octothorpe at 11:10 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Oh! Also! If people don't know this, you can turn off the setting that posts a newsfeed update every time you update your profile. In case you're updating yours on the sly, as many of us are.
posted by misskaz at 11:14 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Gotta love those mergers/buyouts where the affected employees find out about it while listening to the stock market report in their cars, and then the "Hey, don't you work for _________?" text messages from their friends who heard the same news report. Then when you get to work, you're herded into a conference room for some bullshit speech from the CEO and/or some upper management guy who drew the short straw about how the company is headed in an "exciting new direction...", and then everyone spends the rest of the day updating their resumes.

Dear LinkedIn employees:

You're now owned by the company that makes Windows 10.

Let that one sink in for a while.
posted by prepmonkey at 11:17 AM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


A guy I rented an apartment from harassed me for years to add him to LinkedIn. Uh, no, our association has concluded.
posted by thelonius at 11:17 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


MeFi's own @Pinboard:
Evidence mounts that the LinkedIn acquisition was a series of misclicks by an increasingly panicked Microsoft exec trying to downgrade
posted by tonycpsu at 11:19 AM on June 13, 2016 [28 favorites]


Artw: "Twitter is for actual friends, Facebook is for social obligations."

Maybe that's an age thing? Almost no one I know personally who has a Twitter account actually ever tweets anything. I use Twitter pretty much as a news feed.
posted by octothorpe at 11:23 AM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


I haven't had a resume for my last three jobs--just my linked in profile.

I deleted my linked in profile after a person I was interviewing for a job (he was being interviewed, I was doing the interviewing) in a completely unsolicited manner brought up all sorts of personal stuff about me that he was able glean from LI profile and connect the dots back to other parts of my online social life, including comments I'd made on twitter, facebook and HERE ON MEFI.

No doubt that dude crossed the creepster line, but that is kind of how it is supposed to work.

I expect candidates to check my profile, just as I check theirs. I think it's disrespectful (on both sides of the table) if you don't prepare for an interview. We should both be looking for the right fit. I am not irritated by people who look at professional information that I made public. I was very irritated by the applicant who didn't bother to do 45 seconds of basic research about our company, our product, or me--then proceed to spend 10 minutes of a 30 minute phone interview explaining a process that was invented by my former company.
posted by danny the boy at 11:24 AM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I look forward to the email in one year's time asking me to congratulate LinkedIn on the anniversary of its acquisition.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:25 AM on June 13, 2016 [11 favorites]


I find LinkedIn to be a bit non-intuitive to use but quite valuable in my line of work. It's great to for finding out more about people I might be working with, and it's great for facilitating introductions to new folks from people in my network who might know them. I've used it successfully to get multiple interviews and a job.

But you need to be careful about settings; don't publish changes to network if you're working on sprucing it up for your job search, and set it to private if you're linkedin-stalking people and don't want them to know it. And don't post anything! One of my colleagues (very professional attorney-type) just posted a meme to their LinkedIn of Helen Thomas' picture subtitled THIS MAKES ME MOIST, which I assume was a mistake or a hack but still looks real real bad.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:25 AM on June 13, 2016


I was very irritated by the applicant who didn't bother to do 45 seconds of basic research about our company, our product, or me--then proceed to spend 10 minutes of a 30 minute phone interview explaining a process that was invented by my former company.

I always think it's a little creepy to do more than perfunctory research on your interviewer. That research could serve no purpose except to help you manipulate them. Whereas researching the company obviously makes sense (but should be reserved for a serious professional level where it actually matters, not for basic jobs.)
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:48 AM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Sounds like yet another non-winning move in one of the worst designed and generally most poorly played games ever produced: Super Microsoft Bros, Quest for Relevance.
posted by jamjam at 12:06 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Check out John Doe's new skill

John Doe added a new skill: 5 Stars on "Happy" in Just Dance 2016

Would you like to endorse John Doe as a dancer?
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 12:08 PM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


jamjam, that makes them perfect for each other as an end boss in "LinkedIn: Somehow we IPOed"
posted by rhizome at 12:11 PM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


Maybe that's an age thing? Almost no one I know personally who has a Twitter account actually ever tweets anything. I use Twitter pretty much as a news feed.

This is just like LinkedIn. I think we need to get beyond thinking of people who use a particular tool as a monolithic community that uses it in only one way. I am an active Twitter user. In my subfield, there are a couple Twitter chats a week where we talk about emerging issues - well worth it. We live-tweet conferences. We share links to innovative stuff. Because people with my specialty are usually the only one of their kind in their institution, or they're in a small group, it's super valuable to be able to instantly connect with people who do the oddball thing you do across the country in hundreds of different places. So I use Twitter almost exxclusively for professionally related discussion. At the same time, I totally use hashtags to get restaurant recommendations, solve travel problems, etc.

There are a lot of ways to use Twitter, not just one. It's a really flexible tool. Just like LinkedIn, it's a good idea to realize that you might not be interested in using all of its functionalities or connecting with all of its subgroups, but that doesn't mean nobody is.
posted by Miko at 12:18 PM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


linkedin is suprsingly usefull to track down people people you met at a bar and only know occupation and country of origin if you are in a non facebook location (China).
[not stalking]
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 12:21 PM on June 13, 2016


regedit32.exe would like to connect with you on LinkedIn [Accept]
posted by sidereal at 12:23 PM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


For the longest time I thought LinkedIn was "Linked-L-N," like "Linked LiNe," or maybe "Linked Natural Logarithm." Upon learning the truth, once again I felt inexplicably let down by reality.
posted by xigxag at 12:35 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


While LinkedIn is a great referential network, and a way to keep in touch with former colleagues and folks you meet at conferences etc, it is seriously creepy in its scrapes. Where and how is it pulling up connections to shove in your face that make you go hmmm did you just scrape my twitter?

Wendell.

And, interestingly, I've gotten 3 of my last 4 projects via twitter.
posted by infini at 12:43 PM on June 13, 2016


Microsoft has decided to spend $26 billion dollars on a huge bag of dog shit and set it on fire.
posted by humanfont at 12:44 PM on June 13, 2016 [3 favorites]


Next step: waking up to forced upgrades to LinkedIn 10.
posted by Chutzler at 12:47 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


I don't know a lot about LinkedIn so I assumed there wasn't much cash flow there, but after looking they made almost $3B last year mostly from ad sales and premium memberships which surprised me. That's decent even for MS but with MS revenue at almost $100B last year the acquisition price seems crazy. They mention trying to keep people on Outlook and PowerPoint (how is PP related to LinkedIn?) but I don't see how that's worth the cost. Unless they require a MS email or office client to use LinkedIn, which wouldn't surprise me in the least, I can't imagine huge numbers of people moving their email just for this. And that doesn't even get to the need to then turn a profit on Outlook which can't be very much for simple free accounts.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 12:53 PM on June 13, 2016


...it is seriously creepy in its scrapes.

A couple years ago I got a LinkedIn friend request from a b-list actress whose biggest recent credit was a small part on Glee.

It took me a while to figure out why LinkedIn thought we had a connection, but I eventually realized I had exchanged emails with her husband almost ten years ago. LinkedIn hooked onto that and didn't let go.

I friended her anyway, she seems like a nice lady.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:00 PM on June 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


@Pinboard is on a roll with this acquisition and the WWDC first-day streaming. I'm holding my sides with laughter.
posted by sidereal at 1:29 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


LinkedIn makes a lot of money and has made a handful of people rich enough they can hope they don't have to find a project for a while. And one will run for governor of California.

LinkedIn helped me to get my footing in a very competitive job market here in England because I knew how to network before I got there. There are so many groups that have 2 members and then you have groups that just grind out dollars with job ads. I wonder if that grey market will disappear in the merger, because it's obviously something LinkedIn is not wont to stop as it encourages precisely the kind of aspiration they want from their users, a medium that erases the need for newspapers and magazines, but still essentially requires recruiters to do the bulk of the buying. Small ads make a big difference.

Recruiters do not have it easy with LinkedIn. It's pay to play for most young idiots and old schlubs. The guys who really have a laugh on LinkedIn are the recruiter-to-recruiters, who scout for existing consultants to poach to the highest bidder. Companies are paying anywhere up to £50,000 in fees for high-billing consultants especially in technical fields. Unfortunately, most recruiters just skim the surface with a carpet bomb approach that leaves most wishing it would stop.

Indeed is looking for a way to monetise on this also. While it is good it does not reach the same group, though I wish it would try to.
posted by parmanparman at 2:11 PM on June 13, 2016 [1 favorite]


Hot take from my friend who works at Microsoft: "Satya bought it so LinkedIn would stop spamming him."
posted by gusandrews at 2:29 PM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


Doesn't LinkedIn also own Lynda.com? I don't know what their plans were for it but I was already worried before Microsoft came on this scene...
posted by CMcG at 2:53 PM on June 13, 2016


Sounds like a joke, but this is honestly, truly why I use it.

Oh, definitely no joke. It's useful to keep track of former workmates in case I need a reference, need a particular skill set, whatever. But I don't particularly want them seeing my personal social network, so linkedin provides a useful function there.
posted by tavella at 3:01 PM on June 13, 2016 [5 favorites]


I changed my name (real life name) a while back. There are some other guys with my old name on LinkedIn who do pretty much the same tech ad crap as I do and everyone else does, same age, country, etc. I've looked at their profiles and seen people I used to know who've linked with them.
posted by Coda Tronca at 3:26 PM on June 13, 2016


Doesn't LinkedIn also own Lynda.com? I don't know what their plans were for it but I was already worried before Microsoft came on this scene...

Yes, they do. I think at some point at least, classes on MS products were among their most popular.
posted by cell divide at 3:34 PM on June 13, 2016


Boy nothing's the same since Ballmer left. Thoooose were tha daaaaayyys . . .

Who's got March 25th 2018 on the MS Blackberry Faceplant pool? Okay me then.
posted by petebest at 5:28 PM on June 13, 2016


During the height of gamergate, as I had to start shedding online profiles everywhere, LinkedIn was the first to go. It was made for stalkers. Facebook was number two. But despite never crossing the streams, someone was able to use LI to find a bunch of other places where I hung out, including metafilter. (Mefi was one of the last places where I finally gave up and started using an old backup account.) I've never gone back to fb or li, but I couldn't live without the blue, it's been part of my life for the better part of two decades now.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:28 AM on June 14, 2016 [3 favorites]


420BoNERLoRd would like you to check out his resume!

420BoNERLoRd has endorsed you for the skills [no-scopes] [420] [Agile Methodologies]

I use it to keep track of former co-workers without giving them access to my personal social networks.

Same here. I also got my current job via a recruiter on LI. I get why people disparage it but I've always found that it has its uses.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:28 AM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


The only person who's ever pinged me to join their LinkedIn network was the owner of a restaurant that I frequent. Apparently putting my email down on their check-in book was enough for me to be a Valuable Professional Resource.

I am blissfully ignorant towards the value of such things. I have been in my current white-collar job for fifteen years and had an entertaining conversation with a new boss recently -- we were discussing goal-setting and she said "My goal is to make sure you have something new each year to put on your resume." I replied "I agree on that, though it's not like I'm actually UPDATING my resume until it's needed."

"You're not?" "I haven't updated my resume in fifteen years. I work HERE."

She was absolutely flabbergasted that all of her reports weren't actively pinging industry contacts to see what job opportunities were out there. I was absolutely flabbergasted -- and more than a little paranoid -- that she seemed to consider "look for someone other than us who would hire you" as not just a positive but nearly a requirement. "Are you suggesting that this job is going away?" "NO, but..."
posted by delfin at 6:53 AM on June 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


Jobs are 3-5 year things now, if that, so it makes sense not to assume you're going to be there in 10 years time like its the 70s or something.
posted by Artw at 6:58 AM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


I can't imagine having a job for fifteen years, I've never been anywhere for more than seven and that was just because they were paying for grad school. And then they laid me off just as I was graduating; go figure.

I've actually been laid-off from one company twice. Worked there three years, got cut right when the bottom fell out in 2008; got hired back 15 months later and then canned again after 3.5 years when the bank cut their revolving payroll credit. They were hiring again for my position last year but I'm not quite that dumb. The manager that laid me off the first time is now scrum-master for my current team at the new company that we both work at now. No hard feeling, it's all just a game.

I've been at my current place for 2.5 years now but it looks like they're spinning my project off into it's own independent company so I'll probably effectively have a new job within six months. If that happens I'll ride that until it either gets bought out or crashes and burns and then on to the next gig.
posted by octothorpe at 7:08 AM on June 14, 2016


In fairness, my current job and title have evolved quite a bit over the years, it's not running the same treadmill on the same tasks over and over. But it's still the same general goal and responsibility and department. I've gone through seven or eight bosses at various levels over that time.

As long as the checks keep clearing and the work stays interesting, or at least steady, I'm not sure what my impetus to leave would be. Starting over on seniority, vacation time, learning the tools of the trade, familiarity with the product, enjoying "last one in, first on the layoff queue" status? Sign ME up!
posted by delfin at 7:29 AM on June 14, 2016 [2 favorites]


the new blue screen of death
posted by numaner at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


As long as the checks keep clearing and the work stays interesting, or at least steady, I'm not sure what my impetus to leave would be. Starting over on seniority, vacation time, learning the tools of the trade, familiarity with the product, enjoying "last one in, first on the layoff queue" status? Sign ME up!

I hear you. At the same time, I was in my last position for 10 years, the work was interesting and challenging, I had no plans to leave, and I got shown the door when there was a need for restructuring. So, I wouldn't say that you should be looking all the time, but I guess my learning to share from that is it is worth having a resume on hand that is relatively recent and up-to-date.
posted by nubs at 9:04 AM on June 14, 2016 [1 favorite]


The risk is that if you get too comfortable with your current job and let your skills stagnate, you might not be seen as very hireable when your company decides shut down your office just to prove to the shareholders that they're serious about "containing costs". I've know too many people who got blindsided by crap like that.
posted by octothorpe at 9:14 AM on June 14, 2016


Oh, agreed on both counts. I don't want to end up applying somewhere and be like "I am an expert at running an Acme WidgetMaster 3000." "Wow, we haven't used the 3000 model in ten years." "Neither has Acme, that's why I'm job-hunting."
posted by delfin at 10:10 AM on June 14, 2016


octothorpe: "I can't imagine having a job for fifteen years, I've never been anywhere for more than seven and that was just because they were paying for grad school. "

I'm the rare outlier - I got hired right out of college, and hae been here 21 years. About 15 years on the ops side, 6 on the IT. Never worked anywhere else as an adult.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:13 PM on June 14, 2016


420BoNERLoRd would like you to check out his resume!

420BoNERLoRd used to beat me consistently in Gears of War. Now I get to beat him back...in business!
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:55 PM on June 15, 2016


420BoNERLoRd was just hired as our Director of Human Resources.
posted by double block and bleed at 8:49 PM on June 17, 2016 [3 favorites]


420BoNERLoRd Has endorsed you for "LOL Butts!".
posted by Artw at 9:07 PM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


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