I've been impressed with the new additions LinkedIn has released recently. One of them is the new dashboard when you login that tells you things going on in your network.
It has been interesting to me noting who of my connections are actively adding people to their networks. As I have been passively watching, the number of people who seem to be grooming their connections is going up.
To me, this is yet another sign that the marketplace is responding to the tighter job market. Many of the talented people that have been cocooning* over the last few years are actively out there, seeing who they know (and who knows the people they know) and pinging the waters to see what thenew boundaries are.
If you're not actively grooming your network, you should be. No matter if you are looking for your next move, or looking to hire a superstar, your network is growing around you. This is not the time to be eating alone!
* "holding tight" at a job you may not want, because the market isn't right for you to move.
