Is anyone else a little freaked out by how much LinkedIn can tell you about a company?
I have been a fan of LinkedIn, both as a smart business model and as a service I use on a regular basis in my consulting practice. The down economy seems to have done wonders for LinkedIn's customer acquisition rates–if i get a LinkedIn invite from someone who just joined the community, I can be sure they are about to leave their current job. According to LinkedIn, who just hit 50 million users last week, the last 5 million users signed up in just two months, and the last million took only 12 days. The snowball of viral marketing is unstoppable !
LinkedIn and many other pundits have pointed out the tremendous advantage that this networked database of resumes and relationships offers to job seekers and recruiters–but what hasn't been talked about as much is what it means for researchers and analysts. Did you know that you can search by company and see estimated number of employees, most recent hires, where those hires came from, where people who left the company have gone, average employee age,typical job titles, and breakout by region?
2 major implications:
1. FOR COMPANIES: Know that what has previously been "top secret" information is now available for free online. The horse is out of the barn, and it would be nearly impossible to get your employees to stop using what has become an important career tool. However, you should probably adjust your corporate approach to assume that your competitors know a lot about your hiring strategy.
2. FOR LINKEDIN: It looks to me like your value proposition is changing. You seem to be providing the greatest value now to researchers, and might want to consider adjusting your plans (product roadmap, pricing etc) to maximize your return.
Oh, and for all of you out there who aren't LinkedIn with me yet–please connect!
