<p>I deleted my LinkedIn profile. It bothers me that anyone can look up my entire employment history online. Also, I sometimes can't have a current employer find out where I'm moving onto. I realize that there are many privacy settings available, but won't hiding my name prevent people I actually know from finding me?</p>
<p>Will it hurt me career-wise in the long run to not use LinkedIn?</p>
<p>It’s not as commonplace as facebook yet to where it would hurt you to not have it. It’s not necessary, but helpful to have.</p>
<p>Just edit your privacy or limit the amount of information you have on it.</p>
<p>I like it. I got tired of stalking on Facebook so I started stalking on Linkedin.</p>
<p>I’ll never be Facebook 2.0 or Facebook for ‘grown-ups’ but it wouldn’t hurt for you to keep an account open for the networking features, and so on. If you’re uncomfortable with the privacy settings, change them.</p>
<p>As a tool to find a job as a student, its not that great. </p>
<p>linkedin is best to keep track of old school mates, co-workers, teachers…etc after you’ve moved on. see what theyre up to, how their career is going, where theyve moved,…etc. and then you can always reach out, when your looking for a job or need a reference. Chances are old email addresses and other contact info is not being used anymore, so linkedin is also, in a way, a storage for current contact info. </p>
<p>For example, you need a reference from a teacher for graduate school, they no longer teach at where you took your undergrad, just contact them thru linkedin…</p>