LinkedIn... seriously, LinkedIn?!

First, to my friends who have texted and emailed concerns and encouragement about the current job outlook, thanks, I've stepped away from the panic button. I'll spare the rest of you the details, but suffice it to say, a few years ago, I experienced a tumultuous transition to IT outsourcing, then survived a subsequent acquisition. Talks are that IT could be brought back in house or another outsourcing firm could have an opportunity to win the contract. My company could also end up renegotiating the whole thing, but each scenario leaves things just as uncertain as the next.

So I've had this LinkedIn profile for about a year. I heard of the site in school and left it out there without much information - at least not the kind that say, a recruiter might notice. In light of things, I decided to login and build the profile out a bit. This is awkward. It's like showing up for a job interview and seeing your colleagues in the waiting room. In terms of networking value, it's hard to put trust into LinkedIn as a resource, particularly after reading a couple of incredulous recommendations. Then I noticed that most of the recommendations seemed to be in exchange for a reciprocal recommendation. What's with that? And who cares if recruiters are recommending other recruiters? Shouldn't they be busy reading my profile and not updating theirs?

I feel like I've been preparing for this transition since the moment I got accepted to the graduate program. Then I really questioned whether anyone would ever read those letters on my resume. And here I am at 3:34AM updating my LinkedIn profile. Good lord.