For me the option to vote with my feet is not realistic. As a contract Business Analyst whenever I go for new roles people look up my profile on LinkedIn. I do the same when I'm recruiting other IT people so it is a necessity to be part of the community.
kiwitrc: I think you find being a member of Linkedin is not compulsory, if you don't like the way it works, vote with your feet (or mouse in this case) I did.
I don't have a problem with how it works other than using your 'expertise' to recommend jobs to people for which they have no experience, no qualifications and no hint in their profiles that such jobs would be appropriate calls into question your alleged 'expertise'..!
It bothers me not much but it ought to bother Linked In a great deal, since they appear to have decided to pursue recruitment as a revenue stream....
kiwitrc: I think you find being a member of Linkedin is not compulsory, if you don't like the way it works, vote with your feet (or mouse in this case) I did.
I don't have a problem with how it works other than using your 'expertise' to recommend jobs to people for which they have no experience, no qualifications and no hint in their profiles that such jobs would be appropriate calls into question your alleged 'expertise'..!
It bothers me not much but it ought to bother Linked In a great deal, since they appear to have decided to pursue recruitment as a revenue stream....
Fair enough, I am self employed, and unemployable I think these days, so no use to me, hence easy to cut the ties.
Jaxson: I hate recruitment companies. It's akin to human trafficking in my view, just trading people with skills they've worked hard to obtain and then claiming they brought something useful to the party as well.
Linked in jobs don't seem to align with NZ's geographical layout very well, with my area being lumped in with areas a long way away, with no ability to filter further down easily. I still think it's seek first in NZ presently, followed by trademe and linked in etc afterwards. Anyone seriously looking for a job will be on seek. Linked in may catch those who aren't actively looking, like passive poaching...
No different from real estate agents. Do nothing but show a few people round a house after doing a short course and collecting coupons from cereal box tops and then claim vast sums of money. You could pay cash for a brand new Subaru Outback for what they want to charge to sell our house.
I would like to offer a slightly different view - I am an I.T. contractor, have been for many years, and most (but not all) of my work comes via agencies, especially from the larger companies who want to hire, as they prefer outsourcing the task or contacting/interviewing/short-listing. So in this case they are a necessity, but after a while you develop relationships with agencies and this can help with new contracts and getting hired quicker. I don't fully subscribe to them being worthless - they have the contacts inside companies that I don't have, and they spend the time doing the follow ups, meetings, contract negotiation that I don't want to have to bother with (and that wouldn't be chargeable time either).
However I do think some charge far too much - they often add an amount (not a percentage) to hourly rates. The worst recent example was a non-IT agency I contracted through (they primarily deal with accounting work) and they added $20/hour, which I think it far too much. Especially since I have not heard from them since leaving 6 months ago.
It wouldn't be so bad if these recruitment agencies actually had people working for them who knew what the hell they were talking about rather than the all too common "must have 15 years of WinRT programming experience" and other such nonsense they put on job advertisements or put a list of requirements a mile long for a job that is little more than taking care of an exchange server and making sure it doesn't go belly up. Recruitment agencies are for managers who want all the perks of being in management but none of the responsibility that comes when they make a bad decision - recruitment agencies allow them to go, "well, it isn't my fault, I went with [insert name here] who are very reputable!" and thus their sins of stupidity are washed away (kind of like making a large purchase from IBM and things go belly up - "no on ever got fired for buying IBM"). Honestly, I hear far too often from people, "oh, there isn't enough talent in NZ!" yet have never put the effort into actually finding talent themselves - always relying on third parties to weed out candidates resulting in people the recruitment agency likes but are entirely useless.
"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"
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