My suspect technology pedigree has pretty much spanned
the gamut of ineptness - from muted
snickering by many of my colleagues - to knee-slapping hilarity from members of
my own family. And as many of you who check in with me twice a week (Tuesdays
and Fridays for all you newcomers) know, it’s been pretty well documented in
this space.
Some might even argue that’s it’s been over-reported.
Whatever.
But that doesn’t mean that I’m not (if you’ll pardon the
overhyped buzzword) “engaged” in the tech space. I’ve been on Facebook for
nearly 5 years and LinkedIn just one year less. For those keeping score at
home, I began using Google back in 1998. In full disclosure, I don’t “tweet”
because those of you who know me realize that my ability to communicate
anything in 140 characters or less is rather difficult, if not impossible.
Besides, in our line of work, clients are quite grateful their names aren’t
being broadcasted to hundreds or even thousands of followers all eager to
re-tweet a pending M&A affiliation.
But just for today, let’s revisit LinkedIn.
Currently, some 225 million people now avail themselves
of the service, or to put that figure in perspective, more than 70 percent of
the population of the U.S. is “engaged.”
Far brighter minds than yours truly now consider LinkedIn
the top choice of recruiters and human resources departments due to its
searchable ease of and user-friendly interface. For the first few years I was
an official member of the LinkedIn population, I would perhaps receive two
“invitations” to connect a month. Even less frequent was a request to submit a
recommendation. Perhaps some weighed the benefits of a testimonial from me and
decided to take their chances elsewhere.
In any event, with the help of our marketing department I
polished my resume and information on the site, added a recent photo and
suddenly, the floodgates opened. Over the past several weeks, I have averaged 5
invitations a day, of which I accept perhaps half. Some, in all honesty, I
don’t want to see or hear from going forward and others I’ve simply never heard
of.
But it got me to thinking that CPA firms fortunate enough
to harness the resources of a sizeable HR department, are unquestionably
scouring LinkedIn in their continuous search to locate young talent that will
carry them into the future. Which sort of underscores the importance of keeping
your information current; particularly if you’re job hunting or looking take
your talents elsewhere.
Meanwhile, I received three more invitations to connect
this morning and one recommendation request – except that the would-be
recommendee owes me money that somehow he’s never gotten around to paying.
In truth, my endorsement would probably not make much of
an impression on a future employer.
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