The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/linkedin/)
Coming into college, we are conditioned to curate our profiles to provide a solid first impression to the friends we make in the first weeks. However, as the months pass and the rest of our lives come into focus, those old memories are replaced with new ones, and the only thing that actually seems to matter becomes our core relationships and times spent with others — not superficial perceptions.
But during one of these LinkedIn benders, knee-deep in a bout of self-pity, a funny thing happened: I started to admire the audacity of the platform. I mean, LinkedIn’s really got nerve. These days, all other social networks hinge on some tightrope of contrived authenticity. There are endless paradoxes for how we should present ourselves online: Appear unattainable, but remain relatable. Ooze commercial appeal, but project authenticity. Impress effortlessly.
All this stress and worry raises a valuable question: why? Why do we toil so much over our resumes, to the point of unhealthy self-comparisons? Why do we pursue shiny executive board positions in professionally-oriented clubs when there are so many other interesting uses of our time? Why does everyone seem to have their professional futures figured out, while I can’t go a week without contemplating dropping out and becoming an “influencer”?
At its best, LinkedIn succeeds in its mission of, well, linking us in with professional contacts who can prove to be valuable sources of information or mentorship. At its worst, LinkedIn is a kind of professional cult composed of one part autofill inspirational stories, one part humble bragging, and one part career FOMO.
Sometime last week, I stumbled across a LinkedIn post titled “Boy + General category = no future.” Attached was a first-person-account of the tech industry. A male candidate and a female candidate had taken a coding challenge for a Google Internship. The former scored 200/200 and the latter — the female — scored 5/200. The female was selected. The rant went on: “I saw 100s of posts on LinkedIn where only girls have been shortlisted for further interviews …
In today’s digital era, LinkedIn has become an essential tool for many to find job opportunities, network and cultivate career interests. While a handful might consider themselves to be pros of the work network, for those just starting out on LinkedIn, the art of marketing yourself online can prove to be tricky.