August 22, 2012 / in LinkedIn / by Mic Johnson
If you have a LinkedIn account and spend any time in it, you’ve seen it.
You’ve clicked on it.
You’ve looked at the list of people.
You’ve maybe even (gasp!) pulled up their LinkedIn profile and looked around.
Yes, LinkedIn has tapped into the inner voyeur in all of us with their “WHO’S VIEWED YOUR PROFILE?” link. They even put it in ALL CAPS to entice you.
We all want to know who is checking us out and then we start to come up with all kinds of reasons in our heads as to why they looked at our profile.
Unfortunately LinkedIn doesn’t tell us that.
Sometimes you just talked to someone and then noticed they looked at your profile. Sometimes you are meeting with someone and you noticed they looked at your profile before you met (which you should do it before meeting with anyone, by the way).
And sometimes you have no earthly idea why someone from Australia is checking you out (Yes, an Aussie looked at my LinkedIn profile recently.)
So what do you do with that information?
Let me start by saying there is no “LinkedIn Law” that says you must do this or you must do that.
But if you want my advice, I suggest you do (drumroll…) NOTHING.
You check it out periodically and file it away in the “Huh, nice to know” category.
I’m sure some diehard salespeople out there would say “Contact the person and say, ‘Hey, I noticed you were looking at my profile. Is there something I can help you with?”
I’m not saying that’s the worst idea in the world, but I personally subscribe to the notion that if someone is looking at my profile and wants to get in touch with me, they will. Maybe they saw something on my profile that piqued their interest. Maybe they are just killing time at work. Maybe someone said “Hey, you should check out Mic Johnson’s profile. He should TOTALLY be nominated as one of the Sexiest Men Alive.”
I never really know their motivation. And, to be honest, that’s ok.
Let’s just all keep being professional voyeurs and don’t sweat it that people are checking you out on LinkedIn.
What you should really be sweating about is whether your profile is complete and represents who you are personally and professionally. Because your profile IS showing up in search results. And people ARE looking at you. Do YOU like what they see?
But that’s a blog post for another day….
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I just assume all my profile viewers are there because of that sexiest man alive thing.
LOL Phil. Yes I do too. I just didn’t want to call attention to it in the article too much. :)
Hi Mic –
I enjoy reading your articles. I got a chuckle out of this one cause you’re right. I check that from time-to-time just out of curiosity. Sometimes I can tell who it is; most of the time I can’t, especially if it is Anonymous LinkedIn person. But that’s okay. Something about me or my updates has caught their attention. When they are ready, they’ll contact me.
Have a great day!
Hi Julie:
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
And you’re right….something caught their attention so that’s a good start!
Thanks again.
During my job search this was very important. I always wanted to know what hiring managers for the positions I had applied for were looking. I did my best to connect with them because they had showed an interest in me. Now I do it so I can connect with folks in my industry. I figure if they looked, they might want to connect.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment, Lucinda. I appreciate it very much. Your example makes a lot of sense….and I hope you landed in a position that you are enjoying. Thanks again for reading and commenting! – Mic
I did!
Excellent! So glad to hear it! Congratulations!
I PM’d someone that had viewed my profile and it eventually led to an interview for a job that I’m in today! So I being forward and reaching out actually can work!
Thanks for reading…and sharing, Andrea! And congratulations on the job! That’s a good example of a time when it might make sense for sure…my belief is that, generally, if people want to get in touch with you, they will. My focus is coming primarily from the “wanting to do business with you” vs the “looking for a job” angle. Either way, I’m thrilled it worked out for you! Thanks again for reading and commenting!
Mic