Linked Out: 97% of Asian CEO's don't have a linked-in profile

Is linked-in really for the underlings, not the bosses?

According to a release, new research by CTPartners Executive Search Inc. shows that 93 percent of CEOs from the world’s largest companies choose not to post their profiles on LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network that claims over 160 million members globally. In Asia, the number of CEOs not on LinkedIn is 97 percent.

LinkedIn claims its members include executives from all 2011 Fortune 500 companies, but it apparently has yet to convince a vast majority of chief executives to post a professional profile. The CEOs who do post their profiles on LinkedIn indicate that they are more interested in expertise requests, business deals, reference requests and getting back in touch, rather than in job inquiries or career opportunities.

Interestingly, all the CEOs on LinkedIn are male and they were not predominantly from the technology sector. In Asia for instance, the CEOs on LinkedIn represent companies in the financial services, automotive and oil and gas sectors. Neither does company size matter, as CEOs who are on LinkedIn hail from both the largest and smallest Global 500 companies.

“There are very few senior executives in Asia Pacific who will consider using open online professional networks. LinkedIn can be a useful source of candidates for other recruiters who focus on entry level or middle management candidates. In our business of identifying the very top executives for multi-billion dollar companies however, whether it is the CEO, CFO, CIO or business unit director, our teams at CTPartners tend to rely on personal networks and access to the top echelons of local conglomerates, multinationals and government bodies instead. It is particularly hard to gain access to CEOs in Asia Pacific, where relationships are key,” said Kathryn Yap, Managing Partner of CTPartners in Singapore, who has over 15 years of search experience in Asia Pacific.

“LinkedIn is not commonly used in China. Instead it is China’s alternative to Twitter, Sina Weibo, which is increasingly popular with local senior executives in China - especially those from the real estate and high-tech industries. Some high-profile CEOs have turned to Weibo as a channel to promote their companies or industry views. Others, such as senior real estate industry executives, have been known to voice their views on government policies on Weibo. You can also observe some senior executives who try to draw the market’s attention by raising topics that can be considered controversial,” says Train Luo, Managing Partner of CTPartners in China. Train has more than 15 years of executive search experience.

CTPartners is a premier executive search firm listed on the NYSE Alternext US LLC. with its Asia Pacific offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. By selecting 469 companies from three regions on Fortune's 2012 Global 500 list (178 from Asia Pacific, 160 from Europe and 131 from the US), the executive search firm found that only seven percent of CEOs are on LinkedIn. CEOs in Europe are slightly more open to posting their profiles in LinkedIn (12%) compared to the US (7%) and Asia (3%).

Asia
· 5 out of 178 Asia Pacific based CEOs (3%) are on LinkedIn.
· In terms of industries, they represent the financial services (x2), oil & gas (x2) and automotive (x1) sectors.
· In terms of countries, CEOs that can be found on LinkedIn hail from India (x2), Australia (x1), China (x1) and Japan (x1).