COM0012 – Is LinkedIn Really Useful?

LinkedIn is a site that advertises to help with career progression and job searches but does it really?  LinkedIn sets up your profile page in a resume format and advertises that it is a must have for everyone.  It is the perfect place to look for a job and to advertise yourself to company head-hunters.  LinkedIn is “widely considered the benchmark for a professional networking social media platform” (Doyle, 2021) but is it a must have for everyone.  Alison Doyle’s article “The benefits of using LinkedIn for your Career”, says it is.

I have a LinkedIn profile and have added information into it on many occasions.  I have spent hours trying to have my profile as comprehensive as possible.  I have included all my previous positions, all my education and all my certificates and awards.  I have included my volunteer activities big and small in hopes that someone would read my profile and get all the information that I don’t include on my resume, but is this helpful, are the employers using this tool?

I looked up some statistic on the use of LinkedIn and found that yes employers are using LinkedIn.  The main reason looked like “with more than 58 million companies listed on the site and 50 million people searching for jobs on LinkedIn every week 87% of recruiters regularly use LinkedIn.”(Osman, 2022)  This article continued to outline that “122 million people received an interview, 35.5 million people hired by a person they connected with on the LinkedIn site.  This is 3 people being hired every minute from connections on LinkedIn.” (Osman, 2022).

This information is clearly showing the benefit of LinkedIn profiles.  It is important to have a profile set up to work towards your career goals but is it just that simple?  I am not sure.   I have found many positives to the LinkedIn platform.  As I mentioned before the ability to add the robust information to your profile that you would not add to your resume, but is this beneficial?

Some of the other things that are positives to the LinkedIn platform are as follows:

1. You can request recommendations through the platform – you can give and receive recommendations and it keeps them for you as well.  I believe that this is a benefit because you can build your network and connect and manage your recommendations from people that you currently or previously have worked with.
2. You can upload awards and certificates – on the LinkedIn site you can upload digital certificates and awards or scanned copies of these documents and if someone is viewing your profile you can see your successes across all your previous positions.
3. You can network with people that are interested in the same career goals as yourself.  You can discuss different skills, education, training and thoughts.  This is a large value add.
4. You can also take advantage of training that is offered through LinkedIn to grow your skill sets

And all of this offered on one platform, LinkedIn.

These are my thoughts what are yours?

References:

 Doyle, A. (2021, September 29). The Benefits of Using LinkedIn for Your Career. The balance careers https://www.thebalancecareers.com/is-linkedin-a-waste-of-time-2062320#:~:text=It%20can%20help%20build%20up,develop%20and%20build%20your%20brand.

Koirala, B. (2020, March 19). 10 Pros and Cons of LinkedIn for Professional Profile. HPC Honest Pros and Cons https://honestproscons.com/pros-and-cons-of-linkedin/

Kelly, J. (2021, April 4). Career Experts Offer the Pros and Cons of LinkedIn’s New ‘Cover Story’ Video Feature. Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/04/04/career-experts-offer-the-pros-and-cons-of-linkedins-new-cover-story-video-feature/?sh=323a749aa3e2 

Osman, M. (2022, May 20). Mind-Blowing LinkedIn Statistics and Facts (2022) Kinsta https://kinsta.com/blog/linkedin-statistics/#:~:text=Although%20the%20US%20has%20the,(as%20of%20January%202022)