<p>My husband applied for a position at a large corporation about two weeks ago.</p>
<p>I believe he applied using the corporate website.</p>
<p>He got an invitation to connect to the corporation’s LinkedIn yesterday.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with this?</p>
<p>Could it be part of the hiring process? If so, what would the angle be?</p>
<p>Or is it just someone’s cockamamied idea of social networking?</p>
<p>Yes, part of the hiring process and nothing nefarious to it.</p>
<p>Why would your H be applying for a job if he were not interested in networking?</p>
<p>He’s not interested in “networking” with the company - he’s interested in interviewing with the company for a specific position.</p>
<p>It’s not clear how connecting to the corporation through LinkedIn adds anything to that process.</p>
<p>It’s likely an auto-invite generated by his application.</p>
<p>He can ignore the invite if he wishes.</p>
<p>I would not connect with any company unless I was employed by them already - if he gets the job then connect then</p>
<p>On the other hand, perhaps they consider it a show of interest if he does connect, or perhaps they want to check his LinkedIn info against his resume, or ??? - It’s a well-established company, so I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t connect.</p>
<p>It is neither a show of interest or a sign of disinterest. But Linkedin is a well accepted networking tool in corporate America, and many companies send an invite to connect to anyone who applies for a job.</p>
<p>And to your point about your H not being interested in “networking”- he may or may not get an interview for the job he applied for. But the best way to make sure that he will be considered for other roles in the company is to… network. Hence the Linkedin invite. I just hired someone who applied to my company two years ago. She was a solid B fit for the role she wanted, but is an A+ fit for the job she just got. She kept herself “alive” for two years by appropriate networking (i.e. not annoying but appropriate).</p>
<p>My son’s employer found him through his LinkedIn profile. Apparently employers can search the data base for potential employees.
I don’t see any problem with accepting the LinkedIn request, because you control your profile on LinkedIn. </p>
<p>My husband has been looking for work for six months, and this is the first time he’s had such an invitation.</p>
<p>Did the person you hired come in for an interview, then keep in touch?</p>
<p>The person we hired did not get an interview- as I said, she was a B candidate for the job she applied for. But she kept in touch and the recruiter assigned to the functional area she was interested in thought of her when the new role opened up, sent her an email via Linkedin to ask if she’d consider this new position.</p>
<p>I would just go ahead and accept the invitation. Primary connections will link him to secondary connections which may facilitate his job search.</p>
<p>In any case, your husband can always quietly “unfriend” them, if he changes his mind. </p>
<p>I wasn’t aware that corporations could connect via LinkedIn. I only thought individuals connected. Is this something new, or just something I’d never heard of before? If the husband got a LinkedIn invitation from an individual at the company where he applied for a job I would definitely accept the invite.</p>
<p>It’s a new world for us older folks. Sree’s guides are good. See the LinkedIn resources here (scroll down to LINKEDIN GUIDES): <a href=“SreeTips Tumblr — @SREE'S SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE - a work in progress”>http://sreetips.■■■■■■■■■■/post/342517218/socmedia</a></p>
<p>My S was applying for a job at a top company and a “would you like to apply via Linkedin” tab popped up. He said it made the process much easier than those dreaded Taleo app sites. His interview was yesterday and one of the HR folks on the panel commented that he really looks like his LInkedin pix. Good or bad…I don’t know, but it was interesting that they had printed out his pix for their file. My take on this is that Linkedin seems like a great place to supplement your resume.</p>