Sunday, January 4, 2009

Linkedin Contact "Work Around" Thwarts LinkedIn Police

I have run across LinkedIn profiles that contain either an email address or contact information listed within the body, title or summary section of the profile. Technically, placing an email address or contact information in these areas is a violation of the terms of service for LinkedIn. I know the LinkedIn Police can't effectively patrol 20 million members but I think every so often they do a search looking for the @ symbol or the word "dot" to find offenders.  I personally know three people that have had their profiles "yanked" by LinkedIn, only to be restored later after much pleading and promises to revise the profile and remove the contact information. 

This begs the question...If I am in transition, how can I make it easier for a recruiter to contact me on LinkedIn without having to go through a connection or use a LinkedIn "inmail" (a paid subscriber feature often used by recruiters) ?

Because LinkedIn allows you to list up to 3 URL's in the website section, a solution might be to add one called "my resume".  

You can create an online resume with a free service called emurse (www.emurse.com).  Emurse is an anagram for the word resume. 

When you sign up for emurse, you will be asked your full name and there is a check box that indicates - yes, I would like to display my resume on the internet at http://www.firstnamelastname.emurse.com - When you create your resume, you don't have to provide your complete address or phone number, you can elect to put in a few basics as well as an email address (I would suggest using a new special one you can get for free such as hotmail or yahoo that is specifically for this purpose and not part of your mainstream email).  You can find out more about emurse here . 

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