LinkedIn is hilarious

I like LinkedIn. I mean, I agree about a lot of the ridiculous posts - and my personal pet peeve is when it flags up with "do you want to contribute to this totally irrelevant and really stupid article?" but I find it's an amusingly accurate virtual version of the real corporate world.

As others have said - the wanker ex boss who used stupid corporate speak then just continues to come across as a wanker using stupid corporate speak but now I get to laugh at it instead of sit in a meeting with him.

That nice guy who was a genuinely nice guy posts genuinely interesting and amusing comments on things. Great to see what ex colleagues are doing professionally because I mostly like them but certainly am not swapping ongoing whatsapp chats and photos but it's always good to have that little bit of info etc.

And similarly, when you see the ridiculous gushing obviously fake posts, it tells you something about that person/that company which is actually really helpful. Its a far more accurate window than the corporate website or even, often, the specific interview or meeting you attend.

People posting completely made up stories about that one time they interviewed someone who had no qualifications and flunked the interview but they gave them the job anyway because they 'saw themselves in them' (like it actually happened). @Trishna99

I saw one the other day (might have been the same one) from an alleged HR professional who'd turned down an applicant three times but on the 4th time gave them an interview and hey presto, turns out the person was a total genius. A couple of brave souls commented that this just didn't happen but thousands others were complimenting her on her 'honesty'.

But I agree...it's just full of people sharing their so-called wisdom (which is mostly common sense). I'd come off it but I manage a corporate account for my company so I need an account to be able to do it.

I find it so odd that people who walk past me at work without acknowledging my existence suddenly want to be "friends" on LinkedIn. I keep a presence on there in case I want to look for work in future. It's not somewhere I spend much time on at all.

This craze for adding people you don't know - I'm on our works job finding programme with external providers and they actually recommend linking with loads of strangers and dropping weekly messages to people you used to work with 20 years ago to get a job.

I mean sure you might eventually get something from it, but I am not selling tupperware, I am a professional looking for a new job, and if it takes a bit longer to do it in a less abrasive way, then fine I would rather keep my self respect.

I can’t stand LinkedIn, for one I don’t want my CV on public display and I hate the way everyone seems so in competition with each other. I find it all very toxic. I’ve just had to find a long lost relative for someone and I managed to find out everything about them because of their digital footprint which started from LinkedIn.

I get worried when each week I get a notification telling me how many people searched for me that week. I don't understand, who is looking for me?? 😅

This 👆

I haven't deleted my account, but it isn't the professional networking thing it once was. I only connect to people I actually have met, but I am in the minority it seems. How can it be useful to have a bunch of contacts you don't know? It's ridiculous.

I find the entries for my former managers quite shocking - they talk of how wonderful and driven they are and all their cronies support them - in reality they were hard nosed, selfish nasty pieces of work who would bully and walk over others to achieve their promotion.
One recent colleague had a very interesting description of her experiences - she said it basically meant she got the kids to school clean and fed and made sure they did their homework.

I hate linked in so much, but I'm trying to get a new job so I have to use it and like and share the odd thing. It's horrendous, and a great incentive to get a new job so I can stop having to use the damn thing.

😂😂😂

If iLinkedIn was a pub, you'd burn it down.

It's just Facebook for suits.

Find it very useful for following others around the world in my very niche line of work. Not the sort of people who share AI generated content.

It’s hard to find any good things on there anymore. There seems to be a terrifying focus on ‘personal brand’ on there and the whole social media trend of ‘authenticity’ has led to all of those personal posts.

I’m likely to be job hunting in the near future and I’m very worried I’ll have to start doing those to camera videos about ‘my journey’ and sharing stories that make me look like a hustle-mad saint.

Do people actually get approached for jobs after posting something? I don’t mean contacted by a recruiter. I mean that if you’ve built your personal brand as a marketing or sales professional, do you get approached by people who aren’t recruiters offering you a job? I feel like most people still get a new job via the standard routes of a recruiter or applying but maybe I’m missing a trick.

I'm retiring in September - and looking forward to deleting LinkedIn the very next day. Like others I'm encouraged to 'like' and post corporate nonsense.

My boss posts a lot on LinkedIn, mostly commenting on the bot-posts, sharing boss’s professional thoughts but increasingly recently about their ability to manage diverse remote teams and provide excellent line management. So much so that my notifications, every time I log in, provide a reminder that “boss name commented on dull post”.

They are an appalling line manager who has made no effort whatsoever to understand their diverse, remote team.

Yes to all of this. People being 'super excited' to share the news that they went to a meeting. The never-ending, cringy confessional posts, the 'did you know? Posts about the sky being blue and that the sky did this because it used their management consultancy, the photos of a bunch of people grinning insanely at fuck knows what.

Reminds me of chuggers. I guess there's some marketing rationale that the rest of us can't see/find hugely annoying.

Works for a big consulting firm. That should say it all!

It’s vom! But also have to use it for work. And it’s good for job searches. And finding new clients. it’s useful in many ways but I have a client at the moment on there who is THE fucking worst.
It’s all stories about how she gave a dollar to a homeless man on the way to the airport and he shared an inspiration quote with her which she took with her on the First class flight ( I’m blessed I know!) to the Singapore office, and when she got there she was still thinking about so rather than give the keynote she was supposed to, instead she ran a marathon on the fly, cheered on by her co-workers who had all got her face printed in a tshirt ( I know, they’re so sneaky!) And # seizetheday #do-things-differently
and then cue the selfie of her dressed all in white LuluLemon, hair swept back, only slightly flushed from an impromptu 26 miles…

And yes, there’s definitely been a recent shift towards more personal posts like how someone’s kid’s struggles at school are a metaphor for business

😂 My LinkedIn feed is full of this. Then afterwards you get “Great buzz at our “How to organise paperclips conference”” accompanied by a photo of a half empty room of bored people looking at their phones.

It confirms why I would never be self employed.

So many 'consultants' in my field of work who are constantly posting shite to maintain their profile in the sector.

It's absolute shite.

It’s just Facebook for boasting wankers.

It is a total and utter cringe fest. I need to update my job title and can't face the drama.

I have about 500 connection requests from people who just want to sell to me.

My colleague and I now only communicate in the AI suggested phrases on there and that amuses us both. Only reason I keep it.

Like a PP, I have to use LinkedIn to like and share posts from our partners etc. But most of it is people patting each other on the back, pretending to enjoy shite events and being "humbled" to be nominated for some crap award that nobody cares about.