Is LinkedIn Necessary?

I have 43.5 years of successful RN experience without LinkedIn....., I also felt it too intrusive

Nope!

Got my highest paying private duty job through LinkedIn, so yea. :)

You can control how much or how little you put on most job sites. I don't think you have to be on any of them if you network well on your own.

I haven't seen much benefit for our profession. My husband uses it on a regular basis and swears by it.

I was told it was a pretty big deal for nursing. One of my classes in school required us to set up an account. There had been feedback that past graduates got jobs specifically through LinkedIn. I think it's a good idea, but I think you'll be fine without it too.

I think it depends on your area. If new grads are competing heavily for jobs and people are searching for jobs for 3,6,12 months then yes. LinkedIn is about networking and networking is a big piece of finding jobs.

I have a LinkedIn account from my previous career, but my area is desperate for nurses so I doubt that I'll be using it to find a job when it's time.

If you want something for recruiters to find, I have found that having an updated resume on Monster and/or Careerbuilder to be very effective. I get calls and emails weekly from recruiters as a result of my resume being on there (to the point where I've considered taking it down, as I am not currently looking for a new job).

But I'm not on LinkedIn.

No..I was hounded by unverified "agencies", no legitimate hospitals. I know many people that have achieved professional growth via LinkedIn, but (and this may offend some but I will say it anyway) they have professional careers and not shift work.

I mean I am all for being able to put myself out there for potential recruiters, employers, and whatnot; I do really like the idea of that... I'm just more concerned with the fact that all of this information will be out in the open in the world wide web for anyone to see. From my understanding you have the option to control what non-users can see but that doesn't stop regular users from seeing what you've shared. I think my information should be available to my potential employer and... that's it. Does that make sense??

And again it's really just a matter of privacy. I had an incident where someone had harassed on every social media account I had before deleting a majority of them and this occurred over a number of years. They have since stopped but to think they could easily find me, much more find and harass other people in my life due to association, is just really scary. It's a huge part of the reason why I'm so adamant about keeping my information (especially things like work, school, location) private.

I've considered putting my resume on websites like Indeed or Monster, etc. (like klone had stated) but I'm just not sure about LinkedIn.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback!

Here's the thing, OP, you say you want to be "out there" for recruiters or employers but are uncomfortable sharing anything "personal" on the Internet. The two don't really go together.