The LinkedIn Problem

LinkedIn has become a changing landscape in the growing years, as I and many others have witnessed. Launched on May 5, 2003, by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly, the platform's goal was to primarily use it for professional networking and career development, allowing jobseekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs. While the goal hasn't changed, the site has dramatically shifted. Today, the Reddit community, "r/LinkedInLunatics," will post either a mix of rampant virtue signaling, cringeworthy titles, or something downright obscene. You can't tell if this person is serious or just in it for laughs. While the site is still an excellent place to find a job or connect with a network, LinkedIn has transformed from a job-seeking site to something more convoluted and complex.

As you scroll LinkedIn, you may find some very cringeworthy posts like "I just cleaned my toilet spotless, and it's taught me something about B2B sales. Let me tell you how!" or perhaps "Haha, I just got into a car accident, but it taught me about the values of a good company!" Or someone offering "stress and stress relief" and much more. Nowadays, LinkedIn has become the new Tinder, Instagram, or Facebook due to the copious amount of individuals showcasing imagery that contradicts their posts or just randomly posting and trying to get clout.

I don't see the context here, so you become best friends with someone at work, which inevitably happens wherever we work. Then, fire them and decide to post this to "help another leader." Why post this? What is the relevance? Are you saying F friendships and you should be a psychotic bastard? I should stop being friends with everyone I work with and say, "F you guys!" and keep working with no friends. Also, why smile? That's not something to be smiling about.

A year ago, an employee of consulting giant Deloitte named Mehrotra decided to post some "Friday Inspiration" to praise the "charismatic qualities" of Adolf Hitler. They listed themselves as an associate director in Deloitte's "Risk Advisory" department in India. They wrote in their post that the fascist dictator who was responsible for the slaughter of six million Jewish people had "several charismatic qualities," adding that "We should all learn from him."

In what could only be assumed as lunacy for inspiration, our employee decided to finish his post with "As the Nazis salute 'Heil Hitler!'" and asks anyone to "add anything about Adolf Hitler" followed by the hashtags #people, #inspiration, #leader, and #AdolfHitler. This was quickly screenshotted, shared to the lunatic subreddit, and shared by multiple news sites like Vice and The Jewish Chronicle. Soon after, Mehrotra wrote an "Open Apology Letter," claiming they had no intention to hurt anyone's feelings and that they should've been more careful and clarifying that they would not write anything about such personalities in the future. After the incident, Mehrotra was fired from Deloitte and decided to delete their LinkedIn account.

A Deloitte spokesperson told JC, "The views on social media expressed by the individual who joined our organization last month are not aligned with our shared values and violate our internal policies. This individual no longer works for?Deloitte?India."

Dan Toomey of YouTube's Good Work pretty much sums up LinkedIn in one great sentence after speaking to Jack Raines,

"Jack's parody posts point out an underlying truth about LinkedIn thought leadership, authenticty matters alot less than being good at writing the specific type of posts that the algorithim is horny for."

LinkedIn could become the next TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Twitter. I can't decide if that's worse or contracting chlamydia and choosing to post about it and weave a cringe-worthy post onto your LinkedIn page. But it's not just thot fishing posts on LinkedIn that are a problem ghost jobs on the site are a common problem, too.

An article by Forbes writer Kara Dennison stated, "Even back in 2016, experts claimed that only the top 2% of candidates received interviews from their online job applications, and job seekers today are feeling that low return on their efforts."

Clarify Capital surveyed 1,000 hiring managers in October 2023 and discovered that 50% of hiring managers created job openings to keep a "warm talent pool" at the ready when they would begin hiring without the intention of even hiring. This is one reason, among many, why job seekers, myself included, find it challenging to navigate job boards, trying to ascertain whether the posting is real or downright bogus. Other reasons hiring managers leave "fake" job posts include:

• Hiring managers admit they want to give the impression that their company is growing.
• Others said they created listings to assure overworked staff they were seeking ways to alleviate their workload.
• Some even admitted leaving listings open, hoping their perfect candidate would eventually apply.

This false hope syndrome that hiring managers will find that Prince Charming needs to stop. LinkedIn isn't going anywhere in the future; it could continue to grow until it becomes the next TikTok or some CEO decides to kill it, and we watch it become a former shell of what it once was. Until that day, though, LinkedIn's horny algorithm is still going to shower us with those cringe posts rather than authentic posts, and for now, we ride the wave and see what happens.