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This is somewhat off-topic, but has anyone felt like they are "typecast" into a certain industry or job position by their LinkedIn profiles? What if you don't

This is somewhat off-topic, but has anyone felt like they are "typecast" into a certain industry or job position by their LinkedIn profiles? What if you don't want to stay with the same industry for the rest of your life? All your contacts probably already endorsed you for your skills in a that industry. It seems like a situation that increases friction in trying to move between fields, industries, and job positions. Should you delete your profile? Would it seem weird to potential employers/business relationships that you are missing a LinkedIn profile? I think this will become a more visible problem in the near future.

dangero 13y ago
Totally agree with your concerns. There's also another piece to this that I've run into: Deliberately focusing my profile on specific skills increased the number of recruiters that contact me for job opportunities. One might say that this is just marketing on my part, but with LinkedIn, your profile actually functions like a webpage would where you need to optimize the keywords and information for their search engine. By being more focused, you rank higher in searches.
yeukhon 13y ago
How does it harm your future? It's nice to have someone who has multiple skills.
- stephengillie 13y ago
  To some people, having multiple skillsets means you're unfocused, because you haven't focused on a single skillset.
  - louthy 13y ago
    And those people aren't worth working for.
    - alok-g 13y ago
      Unfortunately, they seem to be the majority.
  - yeukhon 13y ago
    To be fair, yes, there are these people, but I think the general public wouldn't mind given the technology nature. Even among programmers people tend to claim to have multiple skillsets. When I write my resume / cv I am very conservative. I only mention the one I am confident (and omits ones that I only have a glance or very minimal usage). For example, my first web framework is Django but I don't even put Django in my resume only because I barely do any real Django development. I think in the long run, I don't really want to believe what people said on LinkedIn. I just don't. We all have those moments where we just want to say Yes to every question LinkedIn ask "Does so and so have this skill?"
stephengillie 13y ago
In my last round of job-searching, none of my interviewers had looked at my linkedin profile. Most of them hadn't even seen my resume before the interview.
eli 13y ago
I don't think not having a LinkedIn profile is weird unless, perhaps, you were applying to run my social media campaigns. (And even then, hardly a deal breaker.) BUT... I don't think you should delete it. I think mastery of one job speaks to the type of person who can master another. The real red flag is people who can't point to any big accomplishments in anything...

dangero 13y ago

Totally agree with your concerns. There's also another piece to this that I've run into: Deliberately focusing my profile on specific skills increased the number of recruiters that contact me for job opportunities. One might say that this is just marketing on my part, but with LinkedIn, your profile actually functions like a webpage would where you need to optimize the keywords and information for their search engine. By being more focused, you rank higher in searches.

yeukhon 13y ago

How does it harm your future? It's nice to have someone who has multiple skills.

stephengillie 13y ago
To some people, having multiple skillsets means you're unfocused, because you haven't focused on a single skillset.
- louthy 13y ago
  And those people aren't worth working for.
  - alok-g 13y ago
    Unfortunately, they seem to be the majority.
- yeukhon 13y ago
  To be fair, yes, there are these people, but I think the general public wouldn't mind given the technology nature. Even among programmers people tend to claim to have multiple skillsets. When I write my resume / cv I am very conservative. I only mention the one I am confident (and omits ones that I only have a glance or very minimal usage). For example, my first web framework is Django but I don't even put Django in my resume only because I barely do any real Django development. I think in the long run, I don't really want to believe what people said on LinkedIn. I just don't. We all have those moments where we just want to say Yes to every question LinkedIn ask "Does so and so have this skill?"

stephengillie 13y ago

In my last round of job-searching, none of my interviewers had looked at my linkedin profile. Most of them hadn't even seen my resume before the interview.

eli 13y ago

I don't think not having a LinkedIn profile is weird unless, perhaps, you were applying to run my social media campaigns. (And even then, hardly a deal breaker.) BUT... I don't think you should delete it. I think mastery of one job speaks to the type of person who can master another. The real red flag is people who can't point to any big accomplishments in anything...