LinkedIn feels like the wrong way to find a job | Hacker News Reader

LinkedIn feels like the wrong way to find a job

10 pointsefields14 comments

On LinkedIn, job posts for anything software engineering adjacent read like a Cheesecake Factory menu of duties and experience requirements. It’s hard to decipher what a given organization is looking to accomplish sometimes. Not only that, seeing that a role had “200+ applicants” is a bit demoralizing.

This isn’t original insight, but I find myself actually trying to see what else is out there, and it’s hard to tell.

I’ve always gotten roles through networking. Has anyone used LinkedIn _regularly_, like many times over years, to find a job?

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>I've always gotten roles through networking.

LinkedIn IS made exactly for that. You should never blind apply to a job ad you see on LinkedIn, it is a feature that they added for no real reason other than to cannibalize job websites.

You should be using LinkedIn in mainly 2 ways:

1)As a way to connect to recruiters.

2)As a way to connect to people in companies that you want to work for.

From my experience, for anything beyond junior/entry level jobs nowadays the number of job applicants doesn't matter at all, i.e no difference between 50 people applying or 200. As long as there are 10 candidates who came through recruiters or via networking/personal recs you will likely not get the job as an "outsider" going through the job application corridor.

All of the above is my experience in finance, would be willing to bet it's the same thing in tech.

Thank you! This is illuminating.

For 2), are you just adding people on LinkedIn and sending them a message?

Basically yes. In finance this is considered to be pretty normal AFAIK. Maybe not directly sending them a message immediately after adding them, but in general people try to add other people from big shops(Goldman, MS, UBS, big hedge funds, market makers,etc.) and then once they want to start exploring a move it isn't really that uncommon to be able to reach out. If you announce yourself that you are leaving a company and looking for something new you might not even have to go looking yourself.

Sorry if the question seems very basic, but what are you looking for in your next job, precisely?

I find that writing this down helps to make the search process easier.

To reply to your comments:

> Has anyone used LinkedIn _regularly_

1. We hire regularly via LinkedIn and see that many job applicants use this regularly as well to find jobs. LinkedIn is a hugely successful hiring platform.

> It’s hard to decipher what a given organization is looking to accomplish sometimes.

2. Not all companies want to reveal their intentions publicly, for many different reasons. These are good questions for the first interview.

> read like a Cheesecake Factory menu of duties and experience requirements

3. For sure, LinkedIn and all the other sites have their quirks. Which other sites have you tried so far? Which site seems right for you?

> seeing that a role had “200+ applicants” is a bit demoralizing.

4. Yes there are a lot of applicants out there. Consider it from the perspective of the people hiring: When I'm hiring people, usually only 1-2% of the applicants stand out from the crowd with their LinkedIn profile and resume / CV.

How can your make your profile and CV stand out, so you're invited for the interview?

When you have a great profile and CV, you can be confident that you're putting your best foot forward, and if they don't invite you for an interview, it's probably not a good match anyway.

> How can your make your profile and CV stand out, so you're invited for the interview?

Rhetorically, this is a good question that I think I need to do more to address. What does a stellar LinkedIn profile look like?

Aside from the basic profile tips (such as https://www.cleverly.co/blog/how-to-optimize-your-linkedin-p...)

in my view it's worthwhile to speak with a professional career coach or mentor (I'm a career mentor and coach myself), because there are too many variables to cover in a list or even in a whole book.

This is because, even if you follow all the best checklists and guides:

1. You might not be making the right "impression" which matches for the role you wish you obtain

2. There may be something in your profile which triggers a red flag during the hiring process.

A good coach/mentor will help you fix such problems so you don't waste time, energy, and frustration.

You get roles through LinkedIn with networking too. You need to contact recruiters and hiring managers directly. Applying randomly for positions almost never works. LinkedIn is a great tool to find the right people.

Thank you!

I have used it to find all the jobs I have worked as a SE (3), including some that shifted me internationally. Many more interviews for other jobs were started through it too.

I have a nook in the geospatial field that helps narrow the competition but for the most part it’s been great.

I can see that mileage may vary depending on circumstance through.

I got gigs several times both just linkedin cold-applying and from recruiters contacting me.

> It's hard to decipher what a given organization is looking to accomplish sometimes.

They don't care about sharing what the job is exactly about. The reason for that is... complicated.

Right obviously certain specifics can’t be divulged for organizational opsec.

I’ll be connecting more directly with recruiters. Thx.

> Not only that, seeing that a role had “200+ applicants” is a bit demoralizing.

I think this number increases simply when users click on the "Apply" button, not if a successful application has been completed.

90% of people don't properly apply in LinkedIn as per the HR person at my last office so 400 applicants is only 40.

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