All these networking sites…

I wonder, after looking at Nature network, Facebook, BioMedExperts and Linkedin, if all these networking sites really work? Do people find new “connections”? Do they get a job easier? Or is it just more of a “virtual friendship thingy”? You know, like having 10 pairs of pants in the closet although you only really use four of them. Two are too small, one pair is falling apart and three of them are actually too big nowadays!?! But would you throw them away? No, “you never know” and it feels safer to have them there. Like you feel that you have a lot of clothes, albeit never use them. Like having a bunch of ‘connections’ although you wouldn’t tell many of them your inner thoughts.

When I started using Facebook (later than others, earlier than some) I was struck by the whole “should I add X as a friend?” dilemma. Should I accept anyone who asked for being my friend? (The more friends you have, the more popular you are.) Or should I only accept people who I really know and care about? (Hello, you only have maximum 15 friends?) I ended up somewhere in between. I accepted old high school people, who asked me. And then got surprised when they didn’t say a word, even after 10 months. Why add me then?!, I thought.

I have kept the number of “fun party pictures of me being very drunk” to a minimum. (Mostly this is easy since I tend not to turn up on party photos.) And the few party photos you can see me at, I’m not [that] drunk at (nor good looking). So, I think Facebook is fairly safe for “people at companies that I would like to work at” but I view FB as a social interaction, not primarily a “networking in order to get a job”.

Linkedin is a bit different. More professional (less funny applications) and just data and almost like having a CV posted with some more freedom to add and take some stuff out. I did get an email a few months back from a head hunter who found me on Linkedin… but it didn’t lead anywhere but at the time it got me happy since that was the first time a headhunter had let me know that I had an interesting and good CV. It also gave me some new thoughts on what I should present on Linkedin and what to write as “goals” and “achievements”.

BioMedExperts leads me to think “wow, I have few papers” and “wow, I have a paper with BigWig who has published 145 papers”. I don’t really know what to do with it, but now I am there so it seems like I can just see what happens in the future. I know that you are suppose to be able to write emails and interact with other people in your field, but I am so terribly shy sometimes so that won’t happen…. At least not until February when my first author paper from my post doc is supposed to be published (as if it would lead to a major difference?). Then I might get a bit better profile than now… you know, all those different bars that show how much of an expert you are in different fields?!

And then it’s Nature Network. I like NN a lot. I mostly like the idea of reading people’s blogs and the forums where you can find different articles and new science etc. sometimes I fall into the whole “I want to live in London/Boston so I could meet all these people”. Sometimes I’m just envious that some of them write really eloquent blog posts. And sometimes I’m just happy that I can write some small comments back and have a break in my experiments during the day. I am not sure that I dare use it as a “Hi, I saw your profile on NN and was wondering if you might have an idea about this that I am working on since I am working on an closely related research” (But my, I have been tempted big time. And maybe even asking “can I come by next time I am in town and have a coffee?”.)

Where am I going with all this?! Well, mainly it feels like a bit of a strange thing, this with all these networks… (one of the reasons I haven’t jumped into Second Life or twitter or something similar.) I am friends/contacts/connection to a number of people on each place. They aren’t the same, although the different circles overlap and I am a bit curious to see what kind of Venn diagram I would get out of it. Especially since NN and BiomedExp are mainly scientists; Linkedin has a bit wider net and Facebook the widest one, for me at least. I still wonder if the connections on Linkedin will help in the future – “hey, I saw that you know X – who’s a good friend of mine – and I am looking for a job in your sector. Would you be willing to meet up with me?!”

I guess I should remember what happened earlier this year when I did exactly this to a good friend of mine. He is older, more established, than I am in a sector adjacent to me. I looked through his connections, found three interesting names (working at places where I kind of wanted to work). Ponied up and emailed my friend, asking if he would mind talking to his friends about best way to approach the job market in their companies. Slam dunk. Not only was he happy to talk to his friends, he was happy to help me by giving them my CV and telling them how wonderful I am… and then I contacted them and got more info from them about “how to approach their bosses/HR”.

Well, I didn’t get a job [yet] in their companies. It was more the fact that they couldn’t hire people than that I wasn’t interesting to them (not to mention the fact that I was on the other side of the planet and didn’t have a fixed date when I was coming back…). At least that is what they told me, and considering that they emailed me suggestions and other people to contact about jobs, I believe them.

Which leads me to my final paragraph. I know/knew my friend very well so I didn’t have that much of a problem asking him, but how close do you have to be in order to ask? I have heard, so many times that I would be a millionaire if I’ve gotten a cent for each time, “just call them up and ask for 5 minutes of their time”. I don’t know about you, but for me that is soooo scary and also a bit pushy. I am currently looking at some companies where I think I would like to work and am therefore trying to understand how on earth I will get my foot in the door. To be fair, all the people that I have met/interviewed with/talked on the telephone after meeting them have given me very good feedback and letting me know that I am an interesting person who they want to keep an eye out for. But how do I get there? (To the personal meeting.) Especially since all the companies keep their employer list securely hidden behind the doors of HR and if there is one thing I don’t believe it’s the “Application letter to pass through HR” and I can’t really call the switch board and say “let me talk to the person in charge of X”, can I?!

And I know some of the names since I have done the search on Linkedin and found a few names of people working at some companies here in the city where I would like to work. The only question I guess, is how much guts to I have?! Or would it be very strange and pushy and rather not an interesting person at all who called/emailed?!

With that question and ponderings I leave to go out and make the best of an ELISA on my bench…..