Have you ever dreamed of being a spy? Have you seen all of the James Bond films? Or maybe Austin Powers is more your style.
Did you know that LinkedIn is an amazing tool for corporate espionage? You no longer need a pen camera or wiretaps. All of the information you need is right at your fingertips. And the best part? You don’t have to break any laws to become your own version of 007.
LinkedIn can be used to get an inside look at what is going on internally within a company. This is great for job seekers evaluating a company, a firm looking for suppliers, or for scoping out the competition.
Following a Company
Following a company is like staking out a building. You are able to see who is coming, who is leaving, and what is changing. Let’s say you are an aspiring animator and starting following Pixar. Periodically in your feed, you will get an update with the number of new employees, departures, and those with new titles.
If there are more departures than new employees, that could possibly be a bad sign. Lots of employees with new positions might indicate a culture of promoting from within and growth.
Now let’s say you’ve applied at Pixar, but no matter what you do you can’t get a job. Undaunted, you still dream of working on films like Toy Story 4, but you also realize that it might be time to look for employment elsewhere. How can use use LinkedIn to determine where you should work?
Where Have They Worked?
According to LinkedIn, before working at Pixar, animators worked at Blue Sky Studios, Lucasfilm, Dreamworks, Tippett Studios, and EA. In addition, people who looked at Pixar’s profile looked at these studios plus Sony Pictures Imageworks. Working for one of these companies will help you hone your craft and be more appealing to recruiters at Pixar.
Where Do They Live?
LinkedIn will also show you where employees of Pixar live. It is no surprise that since Pixar is based in Emeryville, CA (in the bay area) that the San Francisco Bay Area is the #1 place for Pixar employees with over 500 calling the city home. Finding a job with Pixar in Germany is not very likely; only 2 Pixar employees live there.
Do you have a outgoing personality? Are you fearless? You should be if you are planning to be a spy. If so, it is time to start digging a little deeper and maybe even talk to people. Start doing some additional research on the current employees at your target company. LinkedIn will show you current employees, people who have recently joined the company, and those who have just left. If someone recently left, where did they go? If they recently joined the company, where did they come from?
Make Contact
Now is the time to actually talk to people. I know that it can be intimidating to reach out to people you don’t know, but it doesn’t have to be. Is anyone at the company a friend of friend? If so, use that connection to either introduce yourself or ask your friend to introduce you.
You can get lots of great information by talking to either a current employee or someone who recently left. When you reach out, see if you can ask some questions via email, during a brief phone conversation, or over coffee if they are located nearby (be sure to offer to pay 
).
These conversations are a great opportunity to find out more about the inner workings of a company. What is a typical day like? What do they enjoy most about their job? Least? What is the typical background of people at the company? Do most people join the company immediately after graduation or do many new hires come with years of experience? Avoid using these conversations to ask for a job. You are just gathering information. If you are professional and ask good questions, they may offer to put in a good word or keep an eye out for available positions, but this should not be the expectations.
LinkedIn offers many other ways spy on companies that I don’t have room to go into detail in this blog post. It can show you statistics about educational degrees, years of experience, and what schools’ graduates the company typical hires.
Have you been a LinkedIn spy? Do you have any tips for other aspiring agents?
