[threeseed]

> Recruiters expect me to have a LinkedIn link on my resume or portfolio

I've never seen this before.

Either way, in every city there is only a finite number of recruitment agencies each of whom will have their own internal CRM of candidates. So just go on their website, find someone who works there and ask to be put on it along with your skills etc

Also just build relationships with recruiters. It's always a smart thing to do if you're planning to have a long term consulting career.

[PeterStuer]

Nearly all recruiters I've known in the tech sector (context: developers, project managers, consultants, business and technical analysts, mid level managers in bespoke development and inhouse verticals) used LinkedIn exclusively for talent scouting (I know Github is a thing but more in software product dev). If you are not on LinkedIn, you are simply not on the radar. So you would not be in their CRM without a LinkedIn profile to begin with. You could try contacting them directly, but the LinkedIn banned me and I do not know why talk would be akward at best.

[tarek_computer]

100% in agreement there and that is exactly why I focused solely on LinkedIn to build my network. Now it all vanished.

[PeterStuer]

You can get your data through a GDPR Data Subject Access Request.

[b800h]

As an employer, I find it suspect if someone doesn't have a LinkedIn profile. Equally (or perhaps more) suspect is a LinkedIn profile which isn't up-to-date, as that can often go hand-in-hand with someone moonlighting.

None of these are things which I'd consider definitive, but as part of a set of factors, certainly bring into consideration.

[sillyfluke]

As a judger of employers, I find it suspect that an employer cannot conceive of the notion of someone not wanting to give a big tech company detailed personal information voluntarily for the BigCo to do whatever the hell they want with it.

If all employers thought the same way this would be akin to junior candidates having to do so at gunpoint, since they would be unsure whether their relatively thin work experience would be enough to balance out being flagged as a potential fraudster, and where the alternative would be not being able to enter the workforce.

[b800h]

> None of these are things which I'd consider definitive, but as part of a set of factors, certainly bring into consideration.

[bitwize]

> I've never seen this before.

You haven't been around the job market all that much then. I've even seen online job application forms that you couldn't submit until you provided a valid StalkedIn URL.

[threeseed]

20+ years contracting across three continents and have hired devs at 2 of the FAANG companies.

Linkedin has always been there but never mandatory to find or land a job.

And I stand by my point that you're better off talking with recruiters directly and building that relationship rather than some meaningless Linkedin connect. 100x more so if you're contracting or consulting.