LinkedIn Vs. Facebook Decorum?

?LinkedIn is a wonderful professional networking site – a great place to keep track of former colleagues, stay abreast of industry/company news, and expand your network of industry contacts.  As an executive search consultant, LinkedIn is a valuable supplement to the core of our business:  old-fashioned, telephone networking and direct recruiting.  It also provides recruiting and hiring managers another window into how prospective candidates present themselves in a professional – albeit virtual - setting.

And that is what prompted me to dust off my soap box and post this message of caution.  LinkedIn is NOT Facebook.  It is not the place for politics, religion, family/personal news, math puzzles, or pop-psychology quotes.  By now, I think we’ve all been sufficiently scolded about “oversharing” anywhere on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as we know employers and recruiters vet candidates using all publicly available information.  However, LinkedIn calls for an even higher level of decorum and professionalism.  Inappropriate, inflammatory, and/or sophomoric LinkedIn behavior may very well be the difference between your getting tapped for a promotion/external opportunity or not. 

Perhaps the best test for posting on LinkedIn:  would you be comfortable with a log of your LinkedIn activity being distributed to your current organization’s leadership team?  Even more to the heart of the matter:  what impression does your LinkedIn footprint make on a prospective hiring manager or executive recruiter?  Like it or not, one's LinkedIn presence can be as critical as one's resume, experience, references, and interview performance in the hiring process.  So, please, please, please – treat it as such - and save the casual banter and personal stories for other social media sites like Facebook.  It would be a shame for a tool designed to promote your professional advancement to ultimately derail it.

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? Steve McGovern and Executive Search Insights, 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steve McGovern and Executive Search Insights with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.?

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