Linked In

And the silence was absolutely deafening.

No replies in a week. There's your answer, Mate.

I never saw this posting of Chris' until today, and I check in multiple times each day. Not sure how that happened.

Linked in has helped me find former coworkers from time to time. One recently found me to ask for a reference.

My sister-in-law is a journalist for a trade publication - she regularly posts articles and industry announcements to Linked-in. That's how I keep abreast of the fish-farming business. If you aggressively grew your list of linked in associates and posted regular comments/statements about your business you could keep yourself, and your business, top of mind. You get out of it what you put into it.

Thanks for the reply Norman. To be honest, I have never had one tip or lead from LinkedIn, and I am working on engaging more often. Connecting with former clients and associates doesn't seem to produce anything worth speaking of, except on the mutual respect and friendship levels.

I can say that, without hesitation, I've done well on FB by answering questions factually when it comes to zoning, construction situations and more but LinkedIn really doesn't seem to provide much more than contact mining if you pay the premium fee.

It's great that you can follow the fish farm because of your personal link to it, but do you really think that Engineers and Surveyors who constantly post completed projects and graphics are getting any ROI?

"..do you really think that Engineers and Surveyors who constantly post completed projects and graphics are getting any ROI?"

The payback may be small but so is the investment. I wouldn't pay for it unless you want to go heavily into broad spectrum marketing. Which I very much doubt.

Investment - once in a while you make a few link up requests to a former coworker or somebody you met with and post a link to an article of interest or some pictures of some new equipment, etc.

Payback - you get one or two extra calls per year to discuss a possible project. The caller doesn't mention Linked in, but thought of you because of it.

First some context…

I currently work for a 50 +- person woman owned firm that has traditionally been in the transportation construction side of the engineering market (PM/CM, Inspections, CPM Scheduling, etc.). About a year and a half ago they bought another small firm to acquire design and survey staff. I came onboard a year ago to grow survey and expand into SUE and other geospatial markets. We are just about to finalize the acquisition of another small firm in the same space (less survey) that will add about half a dozen more designers. I recently hired a director of surveys so I can transition into a new roll overseeing the management and growth of the both civil design & survey side of the house.

So the ways I use LinkedIn:

1. It’s a pretty good place to post job ads for position at the PM and higher level.

2. It lets me get some quick background info on potential clients. I had a teams meeting last week with a few managers from AECOM regarding expanding our role beyond inspections on a large urban rail tunneling DB project that’s just kicking off. I was able to look at the other invitees and go into the meeting with an idea of their educational and professional backgrounds to help facilitate the discussions.

3. It lets me follow events at a number of professional association chapters in one place.

4. It lets me keep up with contacts who are switching jobs. If I worked on water/sewer contracts with a manger I had a good relationship with at, say STV, I want to know if he takes a position running the regional water group at Hazen and Sawyer

5. About posting projects. We are primarily a subcontractor to larger firms on public sector projects. If we get on a team for a large multi-year rail project with one large engineering firm I want to post something so that other firms know that I can deliver services in that market on that scale. And since a lot of the scoring on IDIQ public sector contracts is project and resume based, I want potential teaming partners to see the kind of resume I can bring to an RFP response.

6. Personally, as I’ve transitioned out of traditional surveying and operational roles over the last half a dozen years to more of an overall corporate leadership and business development space, I find value in a lot of the more general business management related content.

That said, if I worked at a 40 person design firm that was concentrated in one or two counties and primarily worked for half a dozen repeat land development clients, I’d probably have very little use for LinkedIn.

I'm on the far, far other side of the business from guys like James Fleming. One-man show, mostly public agency and attorney clients, most jobs (though not all!) too small for the bigger fish to bother with. I've had a LinkedIn account for many years, but I've never used it for anything real, and wouldn't miss it if it disappeared.

I see it as a legit tool, just not one that has a place in my toolbox.

I've had a profile for a while but barely maintain it.

LinkedIn is how I get head hunters to bother me. (Joke)

I mainly use it to see who I am talking to. Say someone I never worked with before calls me or such, I might look them up to see who they are and their experience in the industry. Actually useful? Not sure.

I get head hunters emailing me all of the time and have for years. I put my resume on the predecessor to what is now Career Builder.com 25 years ago and ended up working with a great recruiter to get a position that I really wanted. I don't mind getting emails to my personal account because I am the one that published it all of those years ago, I just delete them and move on.

What I find disturbing is when I get an email to my company email address which is not published, trying to get me to make a move. In my mind, that is a violation of professional ethics in the use of my companies email network to attempt to attract me to another firm.