JibberJobber + LinkedIn

I was thinking about the years-old argument of JibberJobber vs. LinkedIn.  “How is JibberJobber different than LinkedIn?”  Or, “I’m using LinkedIn already, I don’t need to use JibberJobber.”

One reason I wrote I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??? was because I heard this argument 7+ years ago when we started JibberJobber.  My response then was that JibberJobber is a great complement to LinkedIn.  People still couldn’t get past the “I’m using LinkedIn as a networking tool, I don’t want to duplicate efforts.”   I found that being the author of the book on LinkedIn allowed me to have a conversation as a LinkedIn expert, not a LinkedIn competitor.  It was motivating factor in writing the book.

Today I hear the same question, although less frequently.  The answer is still the same: JibberJobber is a great complement to LinkedIn.

A short generalization is this:

Use LinkedIn to find and be found by people.  Perhaps you can communicate with them (messaging through Groups, direct messaging, commenting on their stuff, etc.).  Some of the stuff you do will be visible to others (which means, don’t expect much privacy).

Use JibberJobber to organize your job search and track/manage relationships with people.  JibberJobber is like a private Salesforce.com, Goldmine, Act!, Highrise, or other CRM (customer relationship management software), with a focus on relationships and contacts and not on sales. What you do in JibberJobber is private (unless you want to share certain things with certain people).

For example, you want to network into a company to pursue and opportunity you heard about.  Use LinkedIn to do research on the company, who works there, how you can network into them.

Then COMMUNICATE with someone.  Whether you reach out through a Group message, or you find their number or email, or you go to their office and ask for a meeting with someone, or you go all guerrilla marketing on them and send them the Dave Perry Coffee Cup… you need to talk to someone and start that relationship.

Now, can you go back into LinkedIn and make private notes on who you talked to, what their cell number is (not listed on their LinkedIn Profile but you have a business card or email signature), what you talked about, when to follow-up, etc?

NO.  You can’t.  LinkedIn’s new “Contacts” feature starts to go there, but there are inherent dangers (read LinkedIn Contacts vs. LinkedIn Policy: Now This Issue Can’t Be Ignored).

This is where JibberJobber comes in.  You will put your new contact’s information into JibberJobber and make a “Log Entry” with details you don’t want to forget for a future conversation.  You can associate your contact record to the target company, which means as you meet more people and apply to more jobs at that company, you can easily track your activities for that company.

As you add companies, jobs and contacts to JibberJobber, and associate them to one another, and write Log Entries and create Action Items, you have a central hub to store all of this critical career management information.

You can’t tell me that sales professionals will ONLY use LinkedIn.  I guarantee you they are using LinkedIn to find prospects, research them, and hopefully find contact information.  But once they get on the phone or in person, and as they network into target companies, they are using a CRM to keep track of the progress with the relationship and their networking.

As a job seeker, if you only use LinkedIn, you are missing a critical component in your career management toolbox.

Most of the JibberJobber features are free.  There are a handful of things you can upgrade for. Our maximum upgrade is $9.95 or less per month (you get discounts if you buy in bulk).  Free is pretty inexpensive for a tool that empowers you so much.

Competitors?  No.

Complementary tools? Yes.