How little can I put on LinkedIn?

[Mehmehmehmehmeg]

I’ve been reluctant to use LinkedIn as I don’t want a narcissist I used to know some years ago to find out ANYTHING about me. I generally avoid putting information about myself online and tend to refuse anyone who asks me to.

I have a 20+ year career history but I took the scenic route. It wouldn’t be difficult to identify me from some of the things I’ve done. Only the work from the last few years is relevant to jobs I’m applying for in the future.

How little can I put on LinkedIn without it looking really really weird? I’m also not keen on a profile photo or putting my town. But I’m aware if I duck and dive too much I risk looking like I’m lying.

Does anyone avoid using photos of their face?

I am aware that you can restrict access to recruiters and contacts. I assume that using a fresh email address would avoid the risk of any of this man’s flying monkeys finding me.

Also, if you apply for a job with a very brief LinkedIn CV and then they later see a much more colourful CV with a lot more on it, is that unusual?

You don't have to use a photo and you can adjust the settings to certain people viewing the profile.

Why be on LinkedIn at all?

What are you doing to be using it for?

@LouisiannaMonroeCake A surprising number of company website recruitment pages want a link to your LinkedIn.

@cocksstrideintheevening Applying for freelance roles. I work remotely so usually think to myself that it’s good that companies can’t see how old I am. Too much info online would also give that away.

You don't have to use a photo, but profiles with a photo get far more hits, which, if you're doing it for job-hunting is something to consider.

You can put as little or as much in your profile as you like, but it would be odd if you didn't include your most recent jobs.

You can also fill in keywords for skills, but I would expect to see some evidence of that under your profile.

A lot of recruiters will ask you to send your CV, even if it's all in your LinkedIn profile anyway.

It depends on your field, too. I'm in IT, and a lot goes through LinkedIn and CV to recruitment agents; partner is in education and he mostly looks at Times Educational and then fills in application forms.

It also doesn’t seem possible to put education on there without including dates.

(As you can see, I’m talking myself out of using LinkedIn)

This may be of interest to anyone viewing this thread at a later date.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/guidelines-combat-ageism-bias-your-job-search-crystal-furtado

There comes a point where you have to eliminate some of your work history from your CV as otherwise it’s just too long. If you’ve taken the scenic route, I just wouldn’t include some of the earlier roles that aren’t relevant. I’ve taken the scenic route and the only reason my early career is on there is because I’ve had LinkedIn since the beginning of my career. I don’t use LinkedIn for job applications because I don’t want to update my LinkedIn a lot, I’m not a prolific social media user anyway and a company that solely uses LinkedIn I probably wouldn’t fit with the culture anyway. I don’t have a photo and have no intention of putting one up.

You can an actual CV to LinkedIn which might help. You can also block people.