A Boston Technical Recruiters Blog

How many connections do you have on Facebook? Oh like 400… How many do you have on MySpace? Another 500… How about LinkedIn? Huh? What’s that?

LinkedIn is the most important networking tool every college student must have. Why? Because on no other social network will you encounter the number of professionals and hiring managers who are open to having conversations and networking with you.

Myspace has long been seen as the popular network and while networking for job opportunities is possible, you don’t always want your employer to see your profile. In fact, you most defiantly do not what that to happen. How about Facebook? Same story. It’s too personal, too college oriented. Networking and keeping in touch with college friends is nice, but where will that get you after graduation?

LinkedIn is a professional career fair with experts willing and ready to answer any question you may have, recruiters trying to access your college networks, and managers looking out for fresh talent.

You will not find a better pale to search for internships during school. Every single Fortune 500 company is represented on LinkedIn. So why do so few college student know about LinkedIn? Perhaps, because LinkedIn originated as a tightly knit professional network with little concern for the younger people.

Check your Facebook profile, but build your LinkedIn page, you will not regret it!

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Following the recent Blackberry blackout, I was amazed at the potential security implications that this blackout illustrated. Even a 3 hour glitch in email communications produced some outraged responses from users around the world. A web service that has an uptime of some 99.9999% get hammered for a tiny outage as addicted users frantically pace back and forth screaming obscenities at RIM’s apparent incompetence.

Recruiters tend to use blackberries more than is probably good for them. I have found in over two years that I don’t need one as my phone is enough. If someone has something urgent to say they can call me or wait till morning. It really is unreasonable to wake up in the middle of the night to email someone or to do it form the ski slopes. Having an actual conversation is more effective recruiting technique then email, especially in urgent situations. There is less room for misunderstandings and more can be said verbally then in writing.

I don’t have a blackberry, and I’m not planning on getting one anytime soon. However, I think it is disturbing that this one company can create such chaos with a tiny outage. If something more significant than a botched software update were to happen to the server rooms at RIM, it is conceivable that the national security of the US could be compromised. This is intolerable.

We have become so used to technology that many people would simply shut down if their “Crackberry” went out of services. It’s pretty ludicrous how much people depend on this sophisticated yet nascent technology. Users should hold the horrific thought of losing their tool at any time and should always have a backup ready. Having a backup will ensure that if something happens to RIM, nothing happens to our business.

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