It happens a lot, people I haven’t heard from in a long time, people I barely know from a past job try to connect with me on LinkedIn.  I know exactly what is going on — they’re out of work.

It’s sad.  I don’t like seeing people out of work, freaking out about where their next position is going to come from.  You don’t want to see anybody in that position.

Understanding how terrible it is, it perplexes me why people ignore social media and specifically LinkedIn until it’s too late.  Scurrying around to make connections and asking for referrals after you’ve been layed-off is too late.   Relationships and connections online are just like those offline, they have to be nurtured.  Trying to connect at the last minute doesn’t work.

I’m hiring for a new sales person and I am amazed at how inactive in social media most of the candidates are.   None, I mean none to date have any semblance of an online presence.   It blows me away.  Social media and social networking, in some form are here to stay.   Being engaged and having a presence will be pre-requisites to finding a job.   Until then, leveraging social media and being proactive are a great way to differentiate ones self, as it appears so few people are taking advantage of it’s benefits.

I get them more often than I would like.  The email from an old colleague requesting I join their network.  They’re looking for work or about to be laid-off.   I accept their request, but think isn’t it a bit late for this?

You can’t build a network when you need it.  You need to build it when you don’t.  It’s like credit.  If you don’t have it before you need it, you’ll never get it.

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