Linkedin - All the Agents want to be my buddies

[nottoobad]

I'm a naturally suspicious kinda fellow - but also probably a bit naive - why are lots of agents asking for a link to my profile? My profile is searchable anyway, and I don't seem to be getting any offers of new contracts from them, but they've obviously got something to gain. Is it good practice to accept their advances or not?

Thanks

[DodgyAgent]

I'm a naturally suspicious kinda fellow - but also probably a bit naive - why are lots of agents asking for a link to my profile? My profile is searchable anyway, and I don't seem to be getting any offers of new contracts from them, but they've obviously got something to gain. Is it good practice to accept their advances or not?

Thanks

They are after your links and contacts.

[Ticktock]

If your LinkedIn Profile is searchable, but they want a link to it, what do you think it means?

a) They want to make sure they get you and not someone else with the same name by mistake
b) They are too lazy to search, and just want a clickable link.

What they do with the the info once they find your profile is another matter.

[nottoobad]

I'm inclined to boot them all off! I was also thinking that'll alert them to other agents ...

[DirtyDog]

They either

a) want to have you in their network so that they can easily find you if they have a contract that meets your skills

b) want to look through all your contacts and previous clients so that they can get contacts who might be able to help them in the future

c) a combination of the two

I accept them all, and keep my network private.

[DodgyAgent]

They either

a) want to have you in their network so that they can easily find you if they have a contract that meets your skills

b) want to look through all your contacts and previous clients so that they can get contacts who might be able to help them in the future

c) a combination of the two

I accept them all, and keep my network private.

Let me guess you have a house in Austria with a large cellar?

[Ticktock]

They either

a) want to have you in their network so that they can easily find you if they have a contract that meets your skills

b) want to look through all your contacts and previous clients so that they can get contacts who might be able to help them in the future

c) a combination of the two

I accept them all, and keep my network private.

I have to say, I have had incoming enquiries from agents via LinkedIn, and I have never had past clients complain about being spammed by agents. Apparently this is complete opposite of what everyone else experiences. Even if an agent did find the name of an old client from my page, are they really going to say to them "I looked on Ticktock's LinkedIn profile and saw you so thought I'd coldcall you"?

So despite what everyone may say, my profile is fully open.

[vwdan]

So despite what everyone may say, my profile is fully open.

It seems counter intuitive to do otherwise, to me. Unlike other social sites that I participate in, LinkedIn is meant to be an advert for me - and to fulfill that it needs to be easily searchable and accessible. I don't accept everyone who tries to connect with me, but I general work on the principal of the more the merrier. I want people to have me in their heads and know what I do.

[DodgyAgent]

I have to say, I have had incoming enquiries from agents via LinkedIn, and I have never had past clients complain about being spammed by agents. Apparently this is complete opposite of what everyone else experiences. Even if an agent did find the name of an old client from my page, are they really going to say to them "I looked on Ticktock's LinkedIn profile and saw you so thought I'd coldcall you"?

So despite what everyone may say, my profile is fully open.

Clearly your clients have a lot of patience

[Ticktock]

It seems counter intuitive to do otherwise, to me. Unlike other social sites that I participate in, LinkedIn is meant to be an advert for me - and to fulfill that it needs to be easily searchable and accessible. I don't accept everyone who tries to connect with me, but I general work on the principal of the more the merrier. I want people to have me in their heads and know what I do.

I agree - I don't accept everyone, but if I can see a reason that it may be beneficial at any point in the future then I will. I don't accept every agent, as I get a fair number of completely random invites, but if I've spoken to the agent and think they may be viable then I'll accept them.

If an agent runs a search for a role then I want to be either at the top of the relevancy list (because I'm a direct link), or close to the top (because we're 2nd level links). At very worst, I want to be somewhere in their network, as that will raise my relevancy above the mere "everyone else".