“LinkedIn – Andreas B. wants you to follow him!”

What’s it all about? You’ve probably noticed that certain profiles on LinkedIn appear with a first name and the first letter of the surname with a dot – in my case this would be “Andreas B.”. In most cases, you can only follow these people, you can’t contact them directly… It’s usually about an offer or people who give the impression that they have the wisdom for themselves. Of course I know that under certain circumstances, but only perhaps, you may find out the real name or even be “rewarded” with a contact when you follow them. Such offers are particularly annoying when they come from LinkedIn itself or from people claiming to be LinkedIn representatives, such as: Andreas, are you still looking for employees? I’m sure you’ve already come across similar examples.

I personally find this behavior disrespectfully dismissive. I want to make contact with a real person, not with someone who is perhaps fake or even so imaginary that they think they are too special to reveal their full first name and surname.

In general – why should I only be allowed to follow someone and not want to contact them directly? Does someone you can’t contact directly consider themselves so important that you can only follow them? I never set myself apart like that, even if it means I sometimes “earn” critical comments. I value direct personal contact and the exchange of opinions, even if we don’t always agree.

Andreas Biel

Managing Partner

HR Unlimited AG is an owner-managed company specializing in interim management based in Glattpark Opfikon, Switzerland, and has been offering such assignments in Switzerland and abroad since2002. HR Unlimited AG is Andreas Biel, Tanja Biel, Balz Schlittler, Marcel Brader, Christian Hobi, Martin Hegglin, Christoph Müller, Andreas Gnepf, Gramoz Lekaj, Guido Hediger, Benjamin Roth, Kadir Kirmizitas, Natalia Minnig, Fabian Feller and a large, qualified pool of personally trusted interim managers.