A co-worker asked me today about a strange link on my LinkedIn profile. I had listed as a former position “Free Lance Web Development (at Self Employed)” to show the years I was home with my children, and the work I did during that time.
LinkedIn requires you put a Company Name with each position you have listed on your profile – so as other folks have done, I set the company name to “Self Employed”.
What seems to have happened is someone, somehow created a company on LinkedIn called “Self Employed” and links it to a web site that I have no affiliation with, nor do I desire to have any affiliation with. I checked a few other connections of mine, and those who have “Self Employed” listed as a company on their profiles are also showing the same strange link.
As a result, I had to delete that listing from my profile altogether to remove my connection that that fake company. Someone figured out how to spam the system. This particular link could hinder you from getting further free-lance work.
If you are a free-lancer, I encourage you to check your LinkedIn profile for any strange linking with Companies that you have no affiliation with.
I continue to be a big fan of LinkedIn. I hope they come up with a better way to authenticate companies that are being created, and prevent this type of linking from occurring in the future. This could have been potentially very damaging.
And thank you D.S. for catching it!
