(2025-02-05) Procopio Maybe No One Can Find A Job Because Linkedin Is Just A Social Network

Joe Procopio: Maybe No One Can Find a Job Because LinkedIn Is Just a Social Network. Very few job seekers are finding a job using LinkedIn... While the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming, it’s mostly anecdotal, because the only data I could find comes from LinkedIn, and those numbers are all pre-crunched and aggregated to paint big, broad strokes that… honestly, really only exist to put a positive light on the potential value of LinkedIn as an influencer in the recruiting process. (job market)

"Job seekers with comprehensive LinkedIn profiles have a 71% higher chance of getting a job interview."
Nothing in there about the chances of landing a gig

The rest of that article’s advice basically boils down to using LinkedIn’s social features to enhance those chances.
And maybe that’s the problem

Maybe the reason why you can’t find a job on LinkedIn is because LinkedIn is a social network.

I brought this concept to one of my independent recruiter friends.

“No, no, no, Joe. The problem isn’t that LinkedIn is a social network. It’s that companies have adopted the social media structure, including into their hiring.”

This is an evolution that goes all the way back to the emergence of the business internet in the late freakin’ 1990s. That’s when companies across the board started realizing they needed to become brands, not just musty business organizations.

As the driving force of engagement slowly but surely shifted from a friend-to-friend relationship to the current influencer-to-follower relationship, that same shift started happening, a little late but just as pronounced, on LinkedIn.

the influencer-follower relationship is much more embedded into the fabric of the company the closer the industry is to the digital lifestyle.

it stands to reason that asking how much LinkedIn contributes to the chances of a person finding a job is like asking how much TikTok contributes to a person’s social growth.
Why bother even measuring? That’s not what it’s for.

LinkedIn’s job isn’t finding you a job, it’s getting you to engage with other influencers (companies) and followers (employees) by constantly maintaining a — hold on let me go back up and copy/paste some words from that quote above — “comprehensive LinkedIn profile.”

LinkedIn is doing its job as long as it makes you “feel” like you’re finding a job. (cargo cult)

My theory

• LinkedIn started over 20yrs ago, with the core thesis that building out a single multi-level networking site would fix the job market. For awhile it helped.
• Once it stopped helping they didn't really have a Plan B.
• They figure Posts would give more transparency into the "minds" of both people and companies. Alas, most posts are as empty/mid as instagram posts
• They probably had some other hopes: make employers post better salary ranges, make employers provide job descriptions/requirements in a structured/standard ontology, then force individuals to do the same with their skills, etc. But:
  • they found this was too hard for most people
  • since there was no way to "prove" any of it, there wouldn't be much better signal So they've fallen back to busywork/cargo-cult.