5 ms·

Never apply through LinkedIn. It is so low-friction that the vast majority of applicants are nowhere near qualified, and hiring managers quickly learn to ignore

Never apply through LinkedIn. It is so low-friction that the vast majority of applicants are nowhere near qualified, and hiring managers quickly learn to ignore anything that came in from LinkedIn.

HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
OTOH, if you are job hunting, be sure to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date.
- kerpotgh 4y ago
  [dead]
- pkdpic 4y ago
  Thats helpful (but rare) to hear. Does anyone have any concrete anecdotes reinforcing the importance of keeping linkedin looking fresh? Also what matters? Artful descriptions of past positions? Activity on timeline? Upvotes on skills? Links to projects?
  - koube 4y ago
    I used to keep my linkedin fresh just to see what feelers I get. I also funnel all recruiter emails into a folder. (It's a good ego boost sometimes, not gonna lie.) Last time I was looking for a job roughly four years ago, I just opened my email recruiter folder and started responding. Responded to four emails, (three faangs plus linkedin), and now I'm at a faang. Now, there's no way to know for sure that keeping linkedin fresh actually helps. Also it was a special time where I had just finished an online masters in CS and I was really on a roll so I was taking a bunch of MOOCs afterwards as well. IMO keeping my linkedin updated with a degree in CS and mooc certificates helped. Normal day to day stuff I wouldn't update linkedin for.
  - topkai22 4y ago
    When I was reviewing resumes I would generally also look at an interesting candidate’s LinkedIn as it often provided more detail than the resume itself. For me, I was mostly looking for more detail on a candidate’s experience. Links to projects were good. I didn’t consciously look at anything else, but I’ll admit that I probably regarded more complete profiles better. I would also check out candidate’s personal sites. Decent content (even not up to date) was generally a big bonus.
  - Aromasin 4y ago
    Despite the criticism from other people in this thread, pretty much every role I've received is through LinkedIn. I probably get 4 or 5 recruiters reach out a week regarding one role or another, of which 1 of those is worth my time. That increased over time as I've built my network of recruiters in my field. In terms of prior experience, I simply state what I achieved at each role in a bullet list. Nothing fancy. My university education is a list of all the modules I took. Forget the "social media gamifying" side of it. Likes and posts don't matter if your goal is just getting offers. Keeping the profile current, and have your skills section up to date as recruiters use that to filter applicants. Block any recruiters that send you insultingly low-ball offers. Connect with those that provide value.
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    The headhunter spam helps to keep aware of who's hiring in the region, then when you will something that might seem interesting apply directly. Although some of them are also good, and might help you to at least skip directly to the interview on site.
  - notfromhere 4y ago
    My last 4 roles came out of recruiters on LinkedIn reaching out. Having detailed job descriptions with rich detail as to what you did and a good number of connections in the industry you’re looking in is what drives the algo
  - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
    I got my current job in mid-2021 after a "cold" reachout from a recruiter who just happened to have a position that was perfect for me. I wasn't looking, but was open to suggestion. My profile at that time probably hadn't been touched in about 5-6 years. After talking with her I cleaned it up a bit, but it's nothing more than a basic resume and a list of past positions going back about 10 years. IME, all they care about is that you provide enough context that they can compare against the openings they have. The "extra" skills, projects, etc., can come out when you have a pre-interview discussion. I've been in industry 30 years and every position except my first has been through a recruiter. They're good at this (some of them anyway): make them do the hard work.
- flangola7 4y ago
  Isn't LinkedIn basically social media? I will have no part in that.
  - whateveracct 4y ago
    You can basically port your resume to it and do nothing else and it can get you the occasional lead on a job. 3/4 of my last jobs were from LinkedIn recruiter outreach. One of the recruiter I told I wasn't ready, and then months later I pinged them and got right into the interview process and eventually got a new job.
    - musha68k 4y ago
      I never let anyone else do the company vetting for me, not even for preselection. I also want to have the leverage of negotiating with my future employer / stakeholder directly, recruiter cut including. So from my POV and with all the spam that comes with it, a LinkedIn is not only useless but a major nuisance.
      - whateveracct 4y ago
        Every recruiter who I connected with via LinkedIn was a salaried employee of the company fwiw. Going around them wouldn't have given me more leverage.
        musha68k 4y ago
        Maybe that changed over the years, I only remember professional recruiters. But even so, this still mostly amounts to noise as to me the majority of companies are just not interesting to work for at all. I usually target 3 to 5 (max) interesting companies / openings which I thoroughly research on beforehand myself. That approach has never failed me so far, keeps me interested and motivated to go through interviewing plus an upper hand during negotiations. YMMV of course, that's just the approach that has consistently worked for me.
        4y ago
- musha68k 4y ago
  Counterpoint: I've been working in this industry for ~20 years by now and have deleted my LinkedIn around the halfway point. Turned out it was even more useless than that Facebook account I had axed around the same time (sadly had to go back there for access to the marketplace recently). TL;DR don't bother with all that recruiter spam and general engagement tactics for yet another data hoarding, privacy violating "social network". If you are doing a good job and keep investing in yourself there will always be good jobs in this industry. Build Trust and Carry On
vineyardmike 4y ago
I’ve actually found LI to be good for leads for generic companies as an alternative “resume drop” - any time the company paid to distribute the job you know they’re actively recruiting for it.
maleldil 4y ago
What should one do instead?
- ebiester 4y ago
  Find someone in the company that’s a second order connection and ask for a warm intro. Most companies still have a recruitment bonus for internal employees and after a short conversation most will tell you they’ll tell the internal hiring manager to look at your resume. The higher up on the career ladder you are, the better this works and more important it is if you’re not getting in via recruiter.

Never apply through LinkedIn. It is so low-friction that the vast majority of applicants are nowhere near qualified, and hiring managers quickly learn to ignore anything that came in from LinkedIn.

HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago

OTOH, if you are job hunting, be sure to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date.

kerpotgh 4y ago
[dead]
pkdpic 4y ago
Thats helpful (but rare) to hear. Does anyone have any concrete anecdotes reinforcing the importance of keeping linkedin looking fresh? Also what matters? Artful descriptions of past positions? Activity on timeline? Upvotes on skills? Links to projects?
- koube 4y ago
  I used to keep my linkedin fresh just to see what feelers I get. I also funnel all recruiter emails into a folder. (It's a good ego boost sometimes, not gonna lie.) Last time I was looking for a job roughly four years ago, I just opened my email recruiter folder and started responding. Responded to four emails, (three faangs plus linkedin), and now I'm at a faang. Now, there's no way to know for sure that keeping linkedin fresh actually helps. Also it was a special time where I had just finished an online masters in CS and I was really on a roll so I was taking a bunch of MOOCs afterwards as well. IMO keeping my linkedin updated with a degree in CS and mooc certificates helped. Normal day to day stuff I wouldn't update linkedin for.
- topkai22 4y ago
  When I was reviewing resumes I would generally also look at an interesting candidate’s LinkedIn as it often provided more detail than the resume itself. For me, I was mostly looking for more detail on a candidate’s experience. Links to projects were good. I didn’t consciously look at anything else, but I’ll admit that I probably regarded more complete profiles better. I would also check out candidate’s personal sites. Decent content (even not up to date) was generally a big bonus.
- Aromasin 4y ago
  Despite the criticism from other people in this thread, pretty much every role I've received is through LinkedIn. I probably get 4 or 5 recruiters reach out a week regarding one role or another, of which 1 of those is worth my time. That increased over time as I've built my network of recruiters in my field. In terms of prior experience, I simply state what I achieved at each role in a bullet list. Nothing fancy. My university education is a list of all the modules I took. Forget the "social media gamifying" side of it. Likes and posts don't matter if your goal is just getting offers. Keeping the profile current, and have your skills section up to date as recruiters use that to filter applicants. Block any recruiters that send you insultingly low-ball offers. Connect with those that provide value.
- pjmlp 4y ago
  The headhunter spam helps to keep aware of who's hiring in the region, then when you will something that might seem interesting apply directly. Although some of them are also good, and might help you to at least skip directly to the interview on site.
- notfromhere 4y ago
  My last 4 roles came out of recruiters on LinkedIn reaching out. Having detailed job descriptions with rich detail as to what you did and a good number of connections in the industry you’re looking in is what drives the algo
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  I got my current job in mid-2021 after a "cold" reachout from a recruiter who just happened to have a position that was perfect for me. I wasn't looking, but was open to suggestion. My profile at that time probably hadn't been touched in about 5-6 years. After talking with her I cleaned it up a bit, but it's nothing more than a basic resume and a list of past positions going back about 10 years. IME, all they care about is that you provide enough context that they can compare against the openings they have. The "extra" skills, projects, etc., can come out when you have a pre-interview discussion. I've been in industry 30 years and every position except my first has been through a recruiter. They're good at this (some of them anyway): make them do the hard work.
flangola7 4y ago
Isn't LinkedIn basically social media? I will have no part in that.
- whateveracct 4y ago
  You can basically port your resume to it and do nothing else and it can get you the occasional lead on a job. 3/4 of my last jobs were from LinkedIn recruiter outreach. One of the recruiter I told I wasn't ready, and then months later I pinged them and got right into the interview process and eventually got a new job.
  - musha68k 4y ago
    I never let anyone else do the company vetting for me, not even for preselection. I also want to have the leverage of negotiating with my future employer / stakeholder directly, recruiter cut including. So from my POV and with all the spam that comes with it, a LinkedIn is not only useless but a major nuisance.
    - whateveracct 4y ago
      Every recruiter who I connected with via LinkedIn was a salaried employee of the company fwiw. Going around them wouldn't have given me more leverage.
      - musha68k 4y ago
        Maybe that changed over the years, I only remember professional recruiters. But even so, this still mostly amounts to noise as to me the majority of companies are just not interesting to work for at all. I usually target 3 to 5 (max) interesting companies / openings which I thoroughly research on beforehand myself. That approach has never failed me so far, keeps me interested and motivated to go through interviewing plus an upper hand during negotiations. YMMV of course, that's just the approach that has consistently worked for me.
        4y ago
musha68k 4y ago
Counterpoint: I've been working in this industry for ~20 years by now and have deleted my LinkedIn around the halfway point. Turned out it was even more useless than that Facebook account I had axed around the same time (sadly had to go back there for access to the marketplace recently). TL;DR don't bother with all that recruiter spam and general engagement tactics for yet another data hoarding, privacy violating "social network". If you are doing a good job and keep investing in yourself there will always be good jobs in this industry. Build Trust and Carry On

vineyardmike 4y ago

I’ve actually found LI to be good for leads for generic companies as an alternative “resume drop” - any time the company paid to distribute the job you know they’re actively recruiting for it.

maleldil 4y ago

What should one do instead?

ebiester 4y ago
Find someone in the company that’s a second order connection and ask for a warm intro. Most companies still have a recruitment bonus for internal employees and after a short conversation most will tell you they’ll tell the internal hiring manager to look at your resume. The higher up on the career ladder you are, the better this works and more important it is if you’re not getting in via recruiter.