LinkedIn & the Job Seeker Market: Solution or Problem?

The biggest issue in the job market today is LinkedIn…

We see forums and threads centered around the same issues in the job market like phantom/fake roles, unqualified candidates flooding pipelines, bad advice by talent influencers, and unclear salary ranges. What we don’t see however, is how LinkedIn is indirectly CAUSING all of them. Let me explain:

Phantom Roles: Have you ever applied to a role to later find out it was fake or non-existent? Certainly, a frustrating experience. Why would a company or recruiter post a fake role? While never recommended, it’s typically to drive leads to a recruiter for candidates on an upcoming/expected project or to get an understanding of a current talent landscape more directly.

Did you know that LinkedIn reps encourage new recruiting firms to post phantom roles directly starting out to generate lead activity? They might say “we recommend early on to use your job slot as a marketing tool to generate some leads.” It’s certainly in their best interest as it allows them to sell more job slots, but negatively impacts the market from encouraging fake roles. At the current rate recruiters are being laid off and starting search firms, how many companies do this today?

Unqualified Candidates Flooding Positions: From the hiring manager perspective, one of the last roles I hired from the corporate side was for an entry level recruiter. I received 422 applications for 1 opening in 5 days, more than half were qualified, and a third were fantastic on paper. Decisions like these are very crowded, challenging to get right, and tend to lead to biased decision making.

Why did applications shoot through the roof the last 2 years? LinkedIn Easy Apply. The barrier to entry for an application is 10 seconds today vs. 15 minutes a few years ago. Combine that with a larger than normal job seeker audience and a sprinkle of candidate desperation, you have a saturated supply problem. This causes a litany of downstream issues that usually lead to poor communication throughout the process, because the recruiter is overwhelmed.

Distortion of Salary Ranges and Application Numbers: We’ve all seen huge applicant numbers on popular job postings, or the salary range from $50k-$950k, but that’s companies being shady right? Well, there is certainly some of that. On a larger scale though, it really is much more of a data mapping/availability problem.

Salary Ranges – Where does the salary range on LI Postings come from? LinkedIn pulls salary data directly from the posting description, but when the description doesn’t have one, it guesses based on the market, did you know that? When you see a salary range at the top of the posting on LinkedIn AND in the description itself, then that is accurate. When it’s not in the description, it’s an educated guess.

Application Numbers – Have you ever seen a role that’s a great fit with 250 applicants and just thought “never mind.” Well, hold your horses because that’s not an applicant count, that’s a click count. How many people clicked the link to go to the corporate website/ATS? There’s still 10+ more clicks and an application to fill out. So, what’s the real number? It’s highly dependent on the length of the application and several other factors, but latest studies show that the drop-off rate has recently been as high as 92%! Those 250 clicks are more likely 20 real applications.

What to do? Remember LinkedIn is a social media site and a representation of the business world, not the actual business world. If job postings that peak your interest are missing key data, tread carefully. If you think a job is a long shot to apply for, it may be. When you see details around a role like salary and application numbers, take them with a grain of salt. Remember anyone posting anything is usually selling something. Find out what they are selling and if they are good at it before taking their advice to heart. Keep grinding out there job seekers! LinkedIn can be your friend!