by Jesse Connell
As social and professional networks become easier and easier to maintain and grow, I would submit that the connection or relationship between the individuals in those networks lessens. Meaning you are probably not as close to the 200 people you have in your LinkedIn network as you are with an otherwise organically developed and maintained network.
Which leads me to the question of what it means to have someone in your professional network. I ran into an interesting notion in which having someone in your professional network very nearly equated to considering that person as an active/considered candidate. Example would be: search firm calls / pitches / screens / submits a candidate for Company A. Candidate had not heard of or from Company A. Company A doesn't accept the submittal from the search firm because the person is in their professional network (worked with in the past).
What's missing here? The candidate has no knowledge of their candidacy and haven't actually indicated interest. A strong recruiter can get a prospect interested in an opportunity that they otherwise might not have looked at or considered. So in this case Company A counted a chicken before it was hatched and assumed ownership of that relationship in the context of a position that was never discussed.
So my question: is just "knowing" someone, or having them in your network enough to assume exclusive rights to their candidacy at your organization? I am interested in thoughts on this because I can imagine the notion of introductions and ownership (if you will) becoming really muddy as online networking grows.
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