I visit LinkedIn daily, and I hate LinkedIn.
Like most social media platforms, it’s an engine for self-loathing and anxiety. It’s a hall of distorted mirrors. It’s full of puffery, half-truths, and humblebrags.
At all times on LinkedIn, someone you know is succeeding in some way that probably gets under your skin. Someone else is explaining how a technology or trend you haven’t paid attention to holds the key to growth in your chosen profession. Maybe there’s a job posting you see that’s awesome, and when you click through to take a look you notice that 100 people have already applied, or it’s no longer open. Someone you didn’t like that much in school has a job title you envy. Another person is crowing about the leadership lessons they learned while waiting with their kid for the bus, or taking their dog to the groomers. It’s exhausting.
Ugh.
Still, we’ve got to be there, right? And if we’re there, we’ve got to look professional, and sound professional. Right? Right??
So what should you say in your LinkedIn Profile? How do you optimize it? Are you making a crucial mistake?
There are career coaches EVERYWHERE who make this into their pitch. They drum up the anxiety and self-doubt that LinkedIn is so good at creating in smart, accomplished people, and crow about the “7 Mistakes That Are Killing Your Job Search” or “This LinkedIn Mistake is Costing You Opportunities.”
I won’t do it. And you are too smart to fall for it. Right?
The answer for whether we need to be on LinkedIn at all, and if so, how to use it, requires us to zoom out. Way, way, way out.
LinkedIn is a tool that you may or may not wish to use. Like any tool, it has capabilities that make it appropriate for some things, and not for others.
Think of it like a waffle iron or a hammer, a hose or a pencil sharpener. Whether you use the tool — and how much you need to read articles or consult experts about how to optimize your use — depends on what you’re trying to achieve by using it, and what other tools you’ve got at hand.
Which requires you to have a theory of career happiness, and an understanding of how you might deploy the tools at your disposal to move through the process.
Most people, even really smart people, have only the vaguest idea about how to attain career happiness. Instead, LinkedIn seems to exist in people’s minds as a sort of spellbook. “If I get the magic words in the magic order, someone out there will find me and pull me into this place I don’t have to choose, I don’t have to find, I don’t have to describe.”
I’m sorry to tell you that nobody is coming to save you. No matter how good your LinkedIn profile is. There’s no genie who will pop out and grant you the exact combination of challenge, compensation, and collegiality you need right now.
The good news is that this means you don’t have to wait for someone out there to choose you. You’ve got the autonomy to do this.
I believe there are 5 distinct steps for increasing your satisfaction with work — my CHART framework. You can use LinkedIn for some of these, although it’s best deployed only in 2 of the steps.
- Criteria — What will make your work feel good? What are you optimizing for in this chapter of your life? Besides noticing a pang of envy, which could be a clue, LinkedIn is no help for deciding what you really want to prioritize.
- Hypothesis — what kinds of roles might align with those top priorities? What’s out there? There are much better tools for exploring roles and organizations. LinkedIn’s algorithm is not here to serve you. Don’t bother.
- Assess & Adjust — this is when you gather data to confirm or adjust your hypothesis. In this stage, you need information and gossip. This is how I use LinkedIn: to tap the network of people I know and trust in real life for conversational research.
- Reach the Right Person with the Right Message. What does a decision-maker need to know or feel about you so they conclude you are the best choice to fill a role? Here’s where to evaluate whether your LinkedIn profile is helping you tell that story.
- Trade-offs: Negotiating an Offer and Making a Confident Decision. LinkedIn’s probably not your best tool here.
So why do I visit LinkedIn daily if I think it’s a bitter brew of self-loathing, empty corporate-speak, and self-promotion? I’ve found a way to use it that makes me happy, rather than anxious or envious.
Instead of thinking of it as a magic spellbook, I think of it as a magic address book. (I’m old enough that I had several of these — and I remember scratching out physical addresses, phone numbers, and even emails when someone I knew had a life change). It’s a way of keeping in touch with people you like and admire — even if they move across country, or change their phone number. When you’re ready to reconnect, LinkedIn gives you tidbits of context about what they’ve been up to. You can cheer people on, or let them know what you still remember them being great at. You can do favors for people — make introductions, forward their postings to others, answer their questions when you can. Instead of thinking about it as a tool for promotion or discovery, remember that it is a tool for deepening your connection to the people you know and like.
Use LinkedIn to show others that you are thinking of them. DON’T use it to try to force others to think of you.
Got a different hot take on LinkedIn? I’m all ears. Come to my free monthly office hours and tell me what you think.
