Anybody found jobs by using LinkedIN?

[unnamed]

http://www.linkedin.com/

Anybody found jobs by using LinkedIN?

I got the website from a friends, she loves it. But again she already have a job and she is in health. (clinical trail etc)

[banpeikun]

When I was job searching, I actually looked up several people I'd had informational interviews with. None of them were on linkedin. Additionally, I checked my network of people (35 -> 2000+ -> 237000+) and there was only one actuary/actuarial within two degrees (who was an MBA student getting out of the actuarial profession).

So, in brief, it didn't help me very much. Your results may differ though. I had a lot more success just networking through alums, word of mouth, and the SOA directory.

[unnamed]

When I was job searching, I actually looked up several people I'd had informational interviews with. None of them were on linkedin. Additionally, I checked my network of people (35 -> 2000+ -> 237000+) and there was only one actuary/actuarial within two degrees (who was an MBA student getting out of the actuarial profession).

So, in brief, it didn't help me very much. Your results may differ though. I had a lot more success just networking through alums, word of mouth, and the SOA directory.

Thanks for the heads up

Yeah I figured that it's probably more of a social network website.

[ultrafilter]

LinkedIn use seems to vary by industry. It's very popular with IT folks, and seems to be popular with academics. A quick search over my network turns up 75 people with the word actuary in their profile, so there are at least a few on there.

[campbell]

I've used it to find old high school acquaintances, who are now in tech & academia. Heck, I've even got some of my extended family on there. I've joined an actuarial networking group on there, but there's been pretty much no activity.

So, no, I would think other avenues would be better for finding actuarial jobs. Maybe in time it will be more helpful in the actuarial world, but not right now.

[no driver]

I've used it to find old high school acquaintances, who are now in tech & academia. Heck, I've even got some of my extended family on there. I've joined an actuarial networking group on there, but there's been pretty much no activity.

So, no, I would think other avenues would be better for finding actuarial jobs. Maybe in time it will be more helpful in the actuarial world, but not right now.
But if no actuaries get on there then it won't ever be helpful.

For what it's worth, I've been maintaining and growing my LinkedIn profile for a few months now and in a network of 17->800+->142000+ I've got 114 hits for the word actuary and 256 hits for the word actuarial. Obviously some of these are overlapping but since there's supposedly not a strong actuarial presence on LinkedIn I find this to be a pretty decent result. I also just did a quick search for a few companies that I know of that I might be interested in working at in the future and got back a lot of hits. Even if these folks aren't actuarial, hopefully they can tell me about the company and/or get me in touch with someone actuarial in the future.

I also saw a P&C job posted by Claude on my main page recently, maybe a month ago. While this same job was probably also posted here, it gave me hope that eventually it will become a more useful tool for job searches etc.

For right now, like campbell, I've mostly been using it to get back in touch with folks I went to school with just to see what they're up to these days.

[banpeikun]

But if no actuaries get on there then it won't ever be helpful.

For what it's worth, I've been maintaining and growing my LinkedIn profile for a few months now and in a network of 17->800+->142000+ I've got 114 hits for the word actuary and 256 hits for the word actuarial. Obviously some of these are overlapping but since there's supposedly not a strong actuarial presence on LinkedIn I find this to be a pretty decent result. I also just did a quick search for a few companies that I know of that I might be interested in working at in the future and got back a lot of hits. Even if these folks aren't actuarial, hopefully they can tell me about the company and/or get me in touch with someone actuarial in the future.

I also saw a P&C job posted by Claude on my main page recently, maybe a month ago. While this same job was probably also posted here, it gave me hope that eventually it will become a more useful tool for job searches etc.

For right now, like campbell, I've mostly been using it to get back in touch with folks I went to school with just to see what they're up to these days.How many of those 114+256 hits were 2nd (or 1st) degree? A 3rd degree reference is nearly unusable.

[campbell]

I do encourage people to join. It's easy to set up a profile, and relatively easy to find people. You can use it for more than just career networking... like Facebook for old fogies (ok, not really.)

For it to be useful in the actuarial world, there will need to be a certain critical mass to join. It's far from there yet, but then I joined only a couple months ago, the same as many of the people I'm linked to on there. It takes time to build a network.

[no driver]

How many of those 114+256 hits were 2nd (or 1st) degree? A 3rd degree reference is nearly unusable.
Um, 2. So it goes...

[campbell]

Since we're talking about it, I got on and searched on "actuary". My search results: 455 in "My network", 500 for "actuarial" (because it limits my account to 500 results).

I would say that's a lot of people.

7 of those "Actuarial"s are direct connections, 144 are 2nd links. Not bad.

[LifeAct]

How many of those 114+256 hits were 2nd (or 1st) degree? A 3rd degree reference is nearly unusable.

Send an e-mail. I know somebody who knows somebody who knows you. Can we talk about your company?

[no driver]

Send an e-mail. I know somebody who knows somebody who knows you. Can we talk about your company?
Not only that, but being able to see the person's profile should give you a better idea of who they are and what they do than just seeing their name in the SOA directory. They, in turn, will be able to get an idea of where you are at in your career path from your profile and should have a better idea of what they can or can't do to help you (assuming they are inclined to help at all, which may not be the case).

[LifeAct]

Not only that, but being able to see the person's profile should give you a better idea of who they are and what they do than just seeing their name in the SOA directory. They, in turn, will be able to get an idea of where you are at in your career path from your profile and should have a better idea of what they can or can't do to help you (assuming they are inclined to help at all, which may not be the case).

I was being sarcastic, but upon reading your post I think that I have good advice.

[vjvj]

I was being sarcastic, but upon reading your post I think that I have good advice.

I've not used LinkedIn, but using the old phone networking, I've found that people less connected with you are often among the most helpful.

The fact that they're not connected with you means they're connected to other people you don't know - they greatly expand your network, where those most connected to you tend to know mostly the same people/same companies.

[DW Simpson]

where those most connected to you tend to know mostly the same

...which was a main point in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_(book)

[DoctorNo]

I like it, and use it, but don't really think it would help me if/when I were looking for work.

On the other hand, I have used it when people I've recommended are applying here - passing along their information to my connected coworkers.

On a related note, if you know me, drop me a line on there and we can get linked! :popcorn:

[banpeikun]

...which was a main point in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_(book)fixed the link

[WWSituation]

I came very very very close. I got very far in an interview process for a prestigious company in the actuarial universe. I ultimately chose to go in another direction but the whole thing started with their HR manager cold-emailing me from LinkedIn.

That experience opened my eyes a lot.

[Salzmann]

I hadn't paid much attention to my LinkedIn listing but got an invitation to be added to someone's network (high school boyfriend I'd lost touch with!). I added to my Profile and got a few more Invitations including one guy at my company who turned out to have a treasure trove of fellow employees and former fellow employees among his contacts.

I've now got 13 contacts and 10 outstanding Invitations. Hasn't gotten me a job yet, but I like keeping track of people I used to work with.

[campbell]

Heck, if I was trying to find a job, my contacts on LinkedIn would be more useful for being a Linux sysadmin, which it seems all my former college buddies got into.

It's a nice, more adult way to keep track of acquaintances, compared to Facebook.

[JMO]

Hmmmm. Maybe I should add to my LinkedIn contacts list. ;)

ETA - Doing so won't help anybody get a new job, though. Myself included.