As I work on the fourth edition of my LinkedIn for Job Seekers DVD I said something that made me think a bit. It had to do with the “who has viewed your profile” section, which will show you nothing unless you upgrade.



For many years I’ve felt that this is another way that LinkedIn gets people to upgrade. We like to know who’s looking at our stuff, and what they think, and what their interest is, and if we are in a job search, IF THEY WILL HIRE US!!



Right?



So some people upgrade just to see who has viewed their profile, hoping for more intelligence to help them know who they can talk to, and why.



“So, I noticed you looked at my LinkedIn profile today. What did you think?”



No, that is kind of tacky, and wierd.



“I saw you viewed my LinkedIn profile today. Can I help you with anything?”



Ugh… that sounds a little too forward…



“Hey, I saw you were on my LinkedIn profile today. I’m sure you would reach out to me with questions – I just wanted to let you know I’m here if you want to talk.”



Too weak… ambigious, no question and no call to action



Dang, this is really hard!!



So what this really comes down to is that someone might be viewing my profile (stalker??)… and now I’m in the weird position of really wanting to know what they want, so the best way to do that is to … stalk them back!



LinkedIn has made a stalker out of me, so that I can stalk my stalkers!



Yikes… this is too much.



Folks, here’s my 2 cents: don’t worry about who has viewed your Profile. Who knows if they even spent more than a nano second on it. They might have read it, but they might have skimmed in 5 or 10 seconds and just moved on because (a) you didn’t have what they were looking for, or (b) you did have what they were looking for, but you made it way too hard to get in touch with you! (there is a lesson in both of those… fix them!)



Furthermore, I’m reminded of a passionate recruiter I met at a conference many years ago who was talking about the technology that allowed you to know if he (the recruiter) had opened your resume. He HATED this technology… not because it gave the job seeker a peek into his world and activities, but because, he said, “it gave a false hope to the job seeker. Just because I opened your resume doesn’t meant that I liked what I saw. I might have spent 2 seconds or 2 minutes on it and decided you weren’t a fit. All you know, though, is that i opened the resume.”



I’ve seen this false hope perpetuated with my contacts and audiences with the Who’d Viewed Your Profile widget. Not to mention that most people aren’t going to be gutsy enough to say “hey, you saw my profile… let’s talk!” It would almost be like flagging down every car that passes in front of your house to say “hey, you went by my house! Can I help you with anything?”



Don’t stalk the stalkers… just make it easier for them to “get” you and to reach out to you.