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LinkedIn is the worst. This is typically a very unpopular opinion to have today, as recruiters and career counselors are constantly talking about its benefits when it comes to finding jobs and building professional connections. As of the start of 2018, LinkedIn currently has over 500 million users, 40% of which use their profiles daily. LinkedIn has over 3 million active job listings, and the website welcomes 2 new members every second. (Aslam) With all of these statistics in mind, it’s kind of hard to believe that LinkedIn could have any disadvantages. As a graduating senior, it seems sometimes that not a day goes by without the mentioning of LinkedIn. My professors, close family members, and peers are constantly referring to the website, as the impending doom of finding a job after the end of college is always a conversation topic. Contrary to popular belief, I think that LinkedIn is the absolute worst of all the social platforms. I have strategically avoided LinkedIn at all costs up until this year, despite the constant encouragement from everyone around me. I managed to maintain this strong opposition until I enrolled in this class and our assignment was to include our LinkedIn profiles on our websites. I couldn’t avoid it any longer.

 

LinkedIn was created almost 15 years ago and has since become known as one of the most popular social platforms. It is extremely unique because unlike other social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, LinkedIn is meant to be professional. It doesn’t draw addicts the way that the other platforms do: no one is up all night checking out their 3rd tier connections, no one spends hours endorsing their friends for random unnecessary qualities, and no one is scrolling through their LinkedIn feed for longer than 10 minutes at a time. Because of this sheer absence of obsession, I think people feel the need to regard LinkedIn as a “good” example of social networking. There’s no drama; it’s simple and straight forward. But hiding behind the simplicities of our résumés is where the problem lies: it’s completely plastic.

 

There is a delusion of confidence and cheer on LinkedIn. People publicize their accomplishments and their success, but fail to acknowledge any sort of problems facing the workplace, corporate culture, unemployment, etc.

 

“There’s an excess focus on simulating optimism and excitement, rather than clear-headed discussion on issues. It’s like a giant, living, breathing résumé, complete with bad formatting, plasticized optimism and synthetic relationships… It’s the worst of social media, combined with the worst of corporate culture, combined with the worst of website design. I hate it, but I have to also pretend to love it for my own work and to communicate with my industry.” (Hunt)

 

Another study published in the summer of 2017 suggests that online social connections made on networking websites are not as important as personal connections, such as close friends and family members, when searching for a job. The study, conducted by Rajiv Garg and Rahul Telang, involved the surveillance of over 400 college graduates and LinkedIn users and the likelihood of leads, interviews and offers based on connections from LinkedIn, job posting websites like Monster.com, and personal connections. It was found through this information that interviews and job offers were most likely to come from personal connections. While networking and job posting sites often result in more leads, the personal connection in the long run will end up being more beneficial in the job search process. (Garg & Telang) The findings in this study are contrary to the popular belief that social networking is the most valuable asset in searching for jobs. Job hunters aren’t the only ones who rely on these so-called advantages of social networking connections, however. Millions of recruiters are also under the same impression. With all of this being said, exactly how effective are these social professional networks in finding the right match for the position?

 

We are constantly told that LinkedIn is the best tool for us to use in finding a job, but upon further inspection, it proves to be almost meaningless. Yes, LinkedIn may inspire the occasional hiring of its users, but at what cost? Is the in-your-face attitude of those bragging of their success and the uncertainty of landing a job really worth it in the long run? Or maybe we should instead be focusing on keeping our professional lives off of social platforms and choose instead to nourish our personal connections…