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I get enough legit and illegitimate ones every week on LinkedIn that it's become really easy to tell the difference. Hard to pinpoint in a comment because it's

I get enough legit and illegitimate ones every week on LinkedIn that it's become really easy to tell the difference. Hard to pinpoint in a comment because it's mostly a gut feeling. But, in rough order: 1. Look at the person's LinkedIn profile contacting you and examine their post history. In one comical scenario the "recruiter" had a long 4 year gap where they were writing comments in English and all of the sudden they switched to Spanish. Mostly short, pointless comments as well. 2. Look at the company and make sure they have a legitimate website and are still actually in business. Even better, see if there's a public team page that lists this person. 3. Give the recruiter an email (I usually use something like SimpleLogin) and ask them to forward you the details. Of course, pay close attention to what address they send it from. 4. In addition, or alternatively, ask the recruiter for the public job listing (scammers almost always "paste" it into a DM or upload a clearly AI generated PDF doc). Once you learn the game it's not too hard to start picking up on them. I've made it a game to play along sometimes just for fun. Ultimately, at the end of the day, make sure you report them on LinkedIn. I've had the account disappear within a hour of doing so.

stevekemp 2mo ago
Honestly unless I'm planning on quitting my current job, or if I were unemployed, I just ignore the linkedin. Sure they spam you with "XX wants to connect", or "I'm awaiting your reply" emails. But real contacts and friends can call/email you, and everybody else can wait six months. Despite only connecting with actual people I've worked with, not recruiters, I still get "suggested" posts which are slop, and "that happened". The site is a cesspool.
- milkytron 2mo ago
  I haven't had LinkedIn since... 2014 I think. I deleted my account after I got my first job offer and have never used it since. If people dislike the site so much, I don't understand why they don't delete their account. Is there any value provided, or is it the fear of missing out on potential future value?
  - wredcoll 2mo ago
    Every single job app I filled out in the last two years asked for my linkedin url. I don't know if not having one was disqualifying, but it does worry me.
    - floatrock 2mo ago
      It's not disqualifying, but not having a linkedin is a signal that could drop you towards the bottom of the resume pile. Companies have problems with fake applicants, and ATS systems do create "how likely this person is a human" scores. Having an online identity is one signal, and for better or worse, that is often a LinkedIn history. Like a fico score, you can't escape the game if you want to play.
      - DrewADesign 2mo ago
        Being dropped to the bottom of a resume pile in this job market is effectively disqualifying.
    - jjav 2mo ago
      As a hiring manager, I can say that not having that linkedin profile is not disqualifying, but it sure hurts your chances, a lot. Your resume must be extremely exceptional to survive the first pass if there is no linkedin profile to correlate to it. How can I know if anything is true? I don't like it. I mean, I hate it. But when you receive 1000 resumes per day for a job posting, agressive filtering is the only way forward. My days don't have a 1000 hours. Combine this with so many people who fabricate a fake resume with AI to sound like a perfect match to the job description. I need to review it against a linkedin job history to see if the story is consistent. Hard to believe the number of people who have their linkedin job history say one thing and their resume is completely different. This means I must be very suspicious of people who don't have a linkedin history, because it means the resume may be completely fake. So it goes to the reject pile. It's not fair, but I have 999 resumes to review after this one. To summarize, if you are famous from conference talks, published papers or such, you don't need linkedin. If you are a regular non-famous person, you do need it.
- aliasxneo 2mo ago
  I got my last two jobs from recruiters contacting me via LinkedIn. I've also kept in touch with a good group of recruiters over DMs who regularly bring me new offers. My experience might be unique, but I've gotten a lot of value being on LinkedIn. I don't interact with the social part of it (posts or whatever they are called) at all.
- red-iron-pine 2mo ago
  linkedin is a mess. there was a glorious ~5 years in the late 2000s to ~2015 where it felt like it could and would work -- I know people who got hired and through it and I got one legit interview but since then it's slop slop slop

stevekemp 2mo ago

Honestly unless I'm planning on quitting my current job, or if I were unemployed, I just ignore the linkedin. Sure they spam you with "XX wants to connect", or "I'm awaiting your reply" emails. But real contacts and friends can call/email you, and everybody else can wait six months. Despite only connecting with actual people I've worked with, not recruiters, I still get "suggested" posts which are slop, and "that happened". The site is a cesspool.

milkytron 2mo ago
I haven't had LinkedIn since... 2014 I think. I deleted my account after I got my first job offer and have never used it since. If people dislike the site so much, I don't understand why they don't delete their account. Is there any value provided, or is it the fear of missing out on potential future value?
- wredcoll 2mo ago
  Every single job app I filled out in the last two years asked for my linkedin url. I don't know if not having one was disqualifying, but it does worry me.
  - floatrock 2mo ago
    It's not disqualifying, but not having a linkedin is a signal that could drop you towards the bottom of the resume pile. Companies have problems with fake applicants, and ATS systems do create "how likely this person is a human" scores. Having an online identity is one signal, and for better or worse, that is often a LinkedIn history. Like a fico score, you can't escape the game if you want to play.
    - DrewADesign 2mo ago
      Being dropped to the bottom of a resume pile in this job market is effectively disqualifying.
  - jjav 2mo ago
    As a hiring manager, I can say that not having that linkedin profile is not disqualifying, but it sure hurts your chances, a lot. Your resume must be extremely exceptional to survive the first pass if there is no linkedin profile to correlate to it. How can I know if anything is true? I don't like it. I mean, I hate it. But when you receive 1000 resumes per day for a job posting, agressive filtering is the only way forward. My days don't have a 1000 hours. Combine this with so many people who fabricate a fake resume with AI to sound like a perfect match to the job description. I need to review it against a linkedin job history to see if the story is consistent. Hard to believe the number of people who have their linkedin job history say one thing and their resume is completely different. This means I must be very suspicious of people who don't have a linkedin history, because it means the resume may be completely fake. So it goes to the reject pile. It's not fair, but I have 999 resumes to review after this one. To summarize, if you are famous from conference talks, published papers or such, you don't need linkedin. If you are a regular non-famous person, you do need it.
aliasxneo 2mo ago
I got my last two jobs from recruiters contacting me via LinkedIn. I've also kept in touch with a good group of recruiters over DMs who regularly bring me new offers. My experience might be unique, but I've gotten a lot of value being on LinkedIn. I don't interact with the social part of it (posts or whatever they are called) at all.
red-iron-pine 2mo ago
linkedin is a mess. there was a glorious ~5 years in the late 2000s to ~2015 where it felt like it could and would work -- I know people who got hired and through it and I got one legit interview but since then it's slop slop slop