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Comment by ziddoap | Hacker News Reader

>It's unfortunate people expect you to have social media like a girl asks me if I have Instagram and I'm weird to not have one

Outside of reddit/discord/hn, I haven't had any social media since roughly 2010, and I don't use reddit or discord for anything remotely "social media"-ish.

While I still get the occasional look as if I'm wearing a tinfoil hat when I say "I don't have FB. No, no insta either. No... not snapchat either", I find it's a lot less common now, thankfully. When I first left social media in ~2010, it was rough. Not only dating scene wise, but I lost out on a few job opportunities (at least a few, probably more than I know) as well.

Now you're just considered kind of weird/fringe, instead of being borderline insane. Moving (slowly) in the right direction, I think.

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I wouldn't care a whole lot if someone told me they weren't in IG, FB, Snap, Twitter, etc. However, if someone told me they never bothered with Linkedin, it would be hard for me to resist bowing at their feet.

I know that people here on HN love to dump on LinkedIn. That said, for some industries, it is the primary way to connect with headhunters and future employers. For me, I don't use any of the social aspect. I only post my CV details and wait for headhunters to contact me directly. It works well.

Are there any women (in highly developed countries) under 40 who aren't on some form of social media? I never met any. I think it would be more difficult than men for social reasons.

I have no idea how. But after I quit social media I managed to convince my wife to give it a go. That was 4 years ago. Has linkedin for work, and goes to a couple of sports related subreddits, but that's it.

I deleted my LinkedIn several years ago.

I can only recommend it if you are independently wealthy, want to become an ascetic, or more broadly, your goal is to never be hired or really even evaluated for much in the business world again.

None of the rest of the social networks serve as a sanity check on your resume/application/meeting.

I've round linkedin extremely useful recently for finding a new job after being made redundant. It's where the recruiters are, and where the jobs are posted, at least here in the UK. I even paid for a couple of months enhanced membership, or whatever they call it, as a career investment. I'd say its worth the money over the short-term.

As for maintaining an up-to-date profile, I think its worth dialing-down the access unless you're actively looking for a new job.

But the bs that people post to try to get "engagement" makes my head hurt. I'm about to start a new job in a few weeks and it'll be a relief not to have to bother with linkedin again for a few (hopefully many) years.

I deactivated my account after finding a job and will reactivate when I am on a new search.

It is scary that one platform has so much control over people's lives. If LinkedIn were to ban me for whatever reason tomorrow, finding a job would become virtually impossible.

I could still get a job but it would require more effort. I keep my network updated on what I'm doing and new opportunities, not just jobs, present themselves to me. People who avoid LinkedIn remind of those who scoff at the stock market. Yes, it sucks if you hold it wrong.

    > People who avoid LinkedIn remind of those who scoff at the stock market. Yes, it sucks if you hold it wrong.

This is pithy. I am adding this to my copy-pasta arsenal. Thank you.

Wait, really? I must be old. I technically have a LinkedIn but haven't really been on the site since the last time I was in the job market 8 yeras ago.

Very occasionally a potential client messages me through it but they are almost very low quality contacts.

I mean that's the correct way to use LinkedIn: it's a job board.

It's a social media platform. Full stop.

Headhunters are trying to be influencers, they have games, news feeds are full of junk or agenda pushing (lots of anti-WFH pieces because the wealthy owners need to keep their commercial property prices up), etc.

Out of all the social media I don't have, that's the one that has lost me the most job opportunities for sure. I probably would have caved and signed up if I didn't end up getting a job through some old-fashioned (face-to-face) networking.

We were required to make linkedin profiles as part of the computer science career preparedness class. I got an internship out of that career day though so it was a win for me

It's not the miracle you seem to imagine! I deleted my linkedin account at least fifteen years ago now, disgusted by their spammy, underhanded recruitment tactics, and I have never had any trouble finding interesting work.

I understand that some people find it reassuring to receive a constant stream of recruiter inquiries, but from what I hear these messages are mostly low-effort, shotgun-blast attempts to fill undesirable positions, so I don't feel like I am missing out.

Maybe you're just iteratively refining your friend group.

I agree. In my 40s and at work most people my age do have fb instagram and TikTok but everyone’s super understanding when I say I like my privacy

How did you miss out on job opportunities by not being on social media?

The first step in the resume vetting process was looking the applicant up on LinkedIn. If they didn't exist, the resume goes in the bin. I doubt it's that severe still as more and more people move away from having social media (it's been awhile since I've been on either side of job hunt/hiring).

On more than one occasion the direct feedback of why I didn't move further in the hiring process was a lack of internet presence.

But, again, keep in mind this was early 2010s. Social media hadn't had as much time to show the world how poisonous it is.

Oh I see. I’ve never found LinkedIn useful, but I still have a profile for some reason. I suppose I’ve never fallen into that particular trap.

I've found work via twitter. I left it last year, but I can't deny it had some networking benefits which can lead to job opportunities.

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