Why do some people hate LinkedIn so much?
If you’re one of them, here’s how you can change that.
Yesterday, the first thing I saw when I opened my LinkedIn app was a 17-year-old content creator who had built a successful personal brand for herself and was now teaching others how to do the same.
Seventeen. One — seven. Ok, no pressure at all.
At that age, I was still struggling to understand longitude and latitude from my maths textbook, and preparing for certification exams into University.
When I look at the opportunities people younger than me have now, it makes me so happy. But I can’t deny the slight pain I feel, that I had little examples when growing up, to show me how to think outside the box. How to graduate with a 5.0 CGPA from an Ivy League University. Or how to start a business that becomes so successful so early, you can create a startup incubator for other businesses.
So why do people hate LinkedIn?
Well, I can bet that if you’ve ever used that app, you know the answer. Even if you’re one of those who frequently receives accolades for accomplishments. There will always be someone more successful, with much more to brag about. No matter what you do, those accomplishments may never be enough.
But the thing is they don’t have to be enough.
They just need to get you the right attention.
So, let’s take a step back to the number one reason for LinkedIn’s existence. Or at least the reason why you started using it — to sell yourself professionally. To recruiters, scholarship foundations, a university, whoever. You want them to see you and know what you do, and how you provide a positive impact. It’s like a living resume you can update in real-time and amend as you’d like. And compared to a paper resume, you can be more authentic here.
Let’s face it, forward-thinking institutions go for people they feel they truly know.
Accomplishments and accolades matter, yes. But not if they can’t tell your true story from those things alone.
For instance, a volunteer organization may fancy a first-class degree in public health. But something else they may fancy — which you may not pay attention to — is what benefit they provided to individuals around you that shows the core values they (the organization) are looking for.
Nobody is looking for talk with no action.
Still on the same example of a volunteer organization. If you feel you don’t have a lot of certifications or degrees to show, why not just say something? Post about your experience while tutoring fellow students on a course. Even if you weren’t the student president, talk about any little contribution you made during your time, even if it impacted one student or your class alone. It counts.
Imagine yourself as a recruiter. Would you focus only on the awards a potential hiree have received?
I doubt.
You’d want to understand their process, how they work, what they believe in, how they tackle difficult situations. And ultimately how this ties back to the goal of your institution. You would want to hire or select someone that fits a certain standard. And those standards go way beyond getting a Coursera Certificate or graduating with a distinction.
All these accolades are truly amazing. But you need more than that to be noticed on LinkedIn. You need more than that to be someone that is considered truly valuable. So, cheer up.
You see, the reason we sometimes hate LinkedIn isn’t LinkedIn’s fault. It’s our perception. Someone takes a simple statement and turns it into a million paragraphs, and we feel like we’re failures (well, not failures really, but you get the point).
Just like any other social media app, the goal is to tell your audience your story.
But this time, give it a little more structure, ok? Just because your next big job or opportunity could come from there.
And if after reading this, you still hate LinkedIn, well, that’s fine. I hope your resume would do a better job of telling your authentic and ever-changing professional journey. Good luck!
Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section.
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