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I signed up long ago, way before I started law school, and I've noticed every May (without fail) I get a barrage of emails from LinkedIn about classmates who've added their summer legal internships to their profiles. I think I update mine maybe once a year when I'm bored and add those summer positions / in-school jobs. The same flurry occurred after journal elections with everyone madly updating their LinkedIn profiles.

Does anyone actually care about these as opposed to, say, your resume? Someone educate me on the value of LinkedIn cause I don't get it.

As an old geezer who has spent about a dozen years working as a contractor I find it handy as a way for people I have worked with on past assignments to locate me.

But if your background is K-(insert end degree here) and then onto a single job that you have kept, the value drops dramatically.

If you are going to have a LinkedIn page, you should keep it up to date. You don't know who will be looking at it, especially as you get to hiring season.

Why you would connect with classmates while you are in school is beyond me, though.

One value in linkedin is finding connections. Look up a firm you're interested in, get a list of people working there... you have a list ordered by those you're most closely connected to. Very useful for introductions.

And, of course, when you look at those folks' profiles, they get a notification. And there's a good chance they'll look at your profile in response. At which point it would be nice if it were up to date.

(This is my rationale for planning to spend some time working on linkedin this summer).

My thought is that an updated profile won't hurt and might make it clear that you're on top of things. If that's the first thing an employer sees of you, it'll be nice for them to not be wondering what you did last summer, or whether you're on law review, etc. And employers definitely look at it. Before three interviews that I had for jobs this summer hits from the companies I was interviewing with showed up.

I have over 850 connections. I've actually met, or could recognize, 15% percent of them. Many are strangers with whom I connected because they were connected with someone I was connected with and their profile picture was pretty (I have a significant amount of female connections).

Almost monthly, the same retired judge / arbitrator with whom I've never appeared nor arbitrated before endorses me for a relevant skill, like litigation, arbitration, whatever. I don't know who he is, but he likes to give me accolades, and I accept them.

I send connect request from the "people you may know" list all the time, and 95% of anyone I ask to connect with in this way says ok. People I went to school with, high school, college, law school, local market peers, my friends hairdresser he met in NYC who wants to work in fashion, and her brother in finance - I connect with them all. Why the fuck not?

I don't know what any of it means, except that of I'm googled, I look like I'm up to something. I guess that is the whole point. I have my entire firm profile on it, education history, whatever.

Yeah I don't get it either.

At informational interviews ive had attorneys tell me they looked up my linkedin...its way less gunner than sending ur resume and way more proffesional than having them look ur pic up on facebook although im sure a couple of them tried doing that as well

I think having a LinkedIn can be super helpful. I often seek out my classmates for help if I know they worked for a certain place and I want to work there too. Or if I see they're connected to someone I'd like to get to know I can get an introduction. It's just like networking except through the internet. All of my information is on my profile, so I basically don't have to sell myself. My profile gives people a nice snapshot of my experiences.

Alternatively, it is helpful to connect with people on LinkedIn after meeting them at networking events. It's a quick follow up when there's no need for an email (particularly if you see them regularly at subsequent events and don't want to meet up for coffee anytime soon). I use facebook the same way for personal friends/people I meet. But on a professional level LinkedIn is much better, at least initially.

Your law school classmates added their journals en masse to their LinkedIn profiles? damn... TLS often makes me really happy about the students at my school.

sd5289 wrote:I signed up long ago, way before I started law school, and I've noticed every May (without fail) I get a barrage of emails from LinkedIn about classmates who've added their summer legal internships to their profiles. I think I update mine maybe once a year when I'm bored and add those summer positions / in-school jobs. The same flurry occurred after journal elections with everyone madly updating their LinkedIn profiles.

Does anyone actually care about these as opposed to, say, your resume? Someone educate me on the value of LinkedIn cause I don't get it.

If you have one it should be up to date. Think of it as your resume online. The point of linkedin is to make connections, and make yourself visible to people in your field without sending a resume everywhere.

jbagelboy wrote:Your law school classmates added their journals en masse to their LinkedIn profiles? damn... TLS often makes me really happy about the students at my school.

What's up with the too cool for school attitude? LinkedIn is your online resume. It should be kept up to date. Yeah, there are ways to turn off the broadcast function, but they are a PITA and seem to change all the time. If you aren't interested in your classmates' resumes, don't link in.

Recruiters look for lateral candidates on LinkedIn all the time. I know of at least a half dozen friends who got their second and third jobs just by getting found and contacted through LinkedIn by a recruiter who asked them to interview. Each time, the friend got a pretty sizeable pay bump.

Why wouldn't you want to take five minutes of your time to sign up for a free site that could eventually lead to you getting a better job?