LinkedIn is a social networking site created from the ground up for professional networking. You can find people you used to work with, link to them if they agree (like Multiply), recommend people, and introduce yourself to people you need to make contact with professionally. And also like Multiply, the site lets you poll your web mail subscriptions for addresses that it already knows about, to make this easier.
I joined a month ago or so, but the account lay somewhat dormant until Sun gave me a business membership trial, and reminded me of it. I'm using it to reconnect with people I've lost touch with, especially those I used as references previously, as I refine my current job search.
A former boss has promised to link up with me (I contacted him in email first), and write me a new reference, and when that happens I'm going to send an "InMail," or introduction mail, to the VP of IT at the company I am currently targeting as my best shot. Hopefully this will break the ice and get my resume noticed.
I'm only giving it 4 stars because, while a lot of people are joining every day, it seems that they are slow to answer their invitations. I've sent out a couple dozen invites in the last two days, and so far two people have connected. I haven't had any rejections, though. So they may just not be reading their emails. That's not LinkedIn's fault directly, but it does mean the site is less effective, as your network growth is really dependent on the participation of others, obviously. Also, I noticed a few people only putting their current jobs on the system, but not their former ones. This makes it harder to figure out which person you actually know, if you're looking for someone with a common name. Still, it's a pretty neat tool. And it'll get better once more people join, I'm sure. If I get hired with its help, of course, I'll give it 5 stars :)
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