you grownups...

[Dan Schultz]

Ditto!

[Uncle Buck]

FWIW, I've noticed that on Linkedin in particular, it is easy to accidentally leave your settings so it will scan your email adress book and send invitations automatically.

[windshieldbug]

FWIW, I've noticed that on Linkedin in particular, it is easy to accidentally leave your settings so it will scan your email adress book and send invitations automatically.

+1

They get more activity if they just make up stuff...

[bort]

FWIW, I've noticed that on Linkedin in particular, it is easy to accidentally leave your settings so it will scan your email adress book and send invitations automatically.

Yup.

No offense, tuba people, but I prefer to keep my LinkedIn account for business purposes only, and I'm not in the tuba business.

[Lew]

I do use LinkedIn for business contacts, primarily to keep in touch with other faculty. I don't send invitations to "tuba" people, but have accepted some. On the other hand I have never seen LinkedIn send invitations without my asking it to and haven't seen a setting to have it do so. I guess it's a possibility that it has that option, but it should be easy enough to turn off.

[Donn]

On the other hand I have never seen LinkedIn send invitations without my asking it to and haven't seen a setting to have it do so.

I'm pretty sure the band members who've invited me have no idea they've done it.

Facebook is another example of this kind of thing. Depends on the email you sign up with. If it's one that you've used to correspond with a lot of people, they'll present you with a boatload of people whom you "might know." Some of them are friends of friends, but some of them are people who allowed Facebook to sift through their email folders and harvest addresses, and that's how they found out about you. I didn't know that about LinkedIn, it explains a lot.

[opus37]

I have not sent any LinkedIn contact requests, but understand that prospective employers do look at the postings. One thing those prospective employers look for is the number of contacts a person has. They look for over 500 contacts. Thus, these random requests have a purpose. They help someone get a job interview and maybe a job. It may be annoying, but you are helping a friend by accepting those requests. I believe part of being a "grownup" is helping your friends.

[tofu]

जीवन एक हार्न देने के लिए बहुत छोटा है

[Donn]

Vaguely like a hostage situation: if you don't play our little game and "connect" with Alphonse whom you barely know from some context that's professionally irrelevant to you ... Alphonse will never get a job, and probably die alone in some squalid tenement doorway and be eaten by rats. Well ... it doesn't look good for you, Alphonse.

[opus37]

You may be right about an employer being stupid for using Linkedin contacts as a measure for selecting an employee, but the reality is, they look. Someone with less than 500 contacts is considered not trying to get a job, not aggressive and not technically with it. It also lists who is on your list of connections. The employer can scan that list for people they know for follow-up or assessment of status in a field. Great people tend to know great people. Employers are very afraid of hiring a bad employee. It is very hard to get rid of someone once they are hired. That's why temp agencies are so popular. Good employers do very thorough investigations to get the good folks.

I know several people who have gotten job interviews because of Linkedin. I have had employers contact me because of my Linkedin posting. Granted I have special skills that they need help with, but still, Linkedin was a way of connecting. You don't have to play the game, but it does work for a lot of folks.