Chemists: What Has LinkedIn Done For You Lately?

Developing a network of contacts is often cited as career advice to chemists. Sometimes, LinkedIn is suggested as a good service for doing so.

A recent post describing why one user quit LinkedIn altogether got me thinking about how useful this service is in practice. An older D-F post talked about some problems with LinkedIn forums - specifically, the limitations of investing time and effort on closed discussion forums with a limited audience.

Given the currently underperforming chemistry job market, and the often-cited connection between LinkedIn and finding a job, it seems reasonable to ask chemists - what has LinkedIn done for you lately?

What better way to ask than with that other social media site, Twitter. Responses have so far been mixed. Here's a sample:

@rapodaca Some of the comp chem groups have quite active discussions— Jan Jensen (@janhjensen) January 7, 2013

@rapodaca As an entry level scientist, it's awesome. I can see how it can get annoying, if you're so great the recruiters are after you. :)— onesleepynerd (@onesleepynerd) January 7, 2013

@rapodaca I like LinkedIn, but it lacks a Reddit-like mod structure. The discussion groups are for crap.— Chemjobber (@Chemjobber) January 7, 2013

@rapodaca Activity prompted by a connection's recent activity feed started a chain of events which led to me getting a job. Whoop!— Michelle McKinney (@skuldintape) January 7, 2013

@rapodaca @chemjobber Do...

Source: Depth-First - March 2, 2013 Category: Chemists Authors: Richard Apodaca Source Type: blogs