I went to create a career page. Instead of actually being able to set one up, I was directed to a sales presentation on the various benefits of Recruiter, Posting Jobs and oh there it is, Career Pages. Now with Career Pages, I have two options. I can request a free demo or download a fact sheet. And actually, clicking either of those options just leads me to a form where I can request more information. (Sigh. Really, no fact sheet?) So I do so and patiently wait.
A few days later I get a call from a perky sales representative in Somewhere, California. She is apparently going to “pre-qualify” me for a Careers Page. (Huh?) After answering several inane questions, I finally asked her how they could justify all this sales overhead. How much was a Careers Page now, after all? “$10,000″ she replied. Okay, well that ended the conversation right there.
Or so I thought. Now, it appears, LinkedIn has put me on several sales lists. I get emails about the latest LinkedIn sales options. I even got a call from a sales representative (this time in Chicago) who, after once again several inane questions about my golf game this summer, claimed Careers Pages were nowhere near as costly as $10,000! After hanging up the phone on the guy , I realized LinkedIn probably wasted at least 2 hours of my time. And I never did get a dang fact sheet!
Listen, it’s one thing to monetize your service. I’ve got no problem with that. But LinkedIn has created a sales monster that may be okay for SalesForce.com, but certainly doesn’t work in the world of social media. Shame on you.
Oh, by the way, I never did get a fact sheet. Not that it