[soneca]

I am a midlevel frontend developer. I had to look for a job one time per year for the last 3 years.

3 years ago I tried everything. I applied to (literally) hundreds of position. More than 100 on LinkedIn, which led to nothing (50% ghosted, 50% automated rejection). Applied to a few from HN (“Who is hiring”), a couple of interviews, no offer. A fez dozens on AngelList, a few interviews, one offer, got hired.

2 years ago I mostly gave up on LinkedIn. Still applied to a couple of dozens there, same result of 50% ghosted 50% automated rejection. Applied to a few dozens on AngelList, a few interviews, no offers. This time, on HN, I applied to all positions that I could be a match (for two “Who is hiring” threads). A few interviews, got hired by one of those.

Last year I ditched LinkedIn completely for applications. I did not apply for a single job there (but kept my profile updated and I could see that my profile was visited by people from the companies I was applying). Applied to all of HN positions of December’s thread, several interviews, two offers. Applied to about 20 positions on AngelList, a few interviews, one offer, which I ended up accepting.

So LinkedIn is a complete waste of my time when applying to jobs there, but I believe keeping a profile there helps a little (although probably a good enough resume file could do the job).

Some caveats, with more experience my application-to-interview-to-offer ratio improved a lot, except on LinkedIn. There a couple of reasons for this I think. Big companies use LinkedIn more. Big companies have more silly (imo) requirements, having a CS degree (I don’t) or the recruiter recognizing where I studied (I went to college in Brazil).

Also, this last time I was back living in Brazil, so I wanted companies that hire globally remote and that’s mostly small companies that don’t use LinkedIn for hiring.

[octobus2021]

Seconding that. The quality of positions on Linkedin is not just down, I found them essentially worthless (applied to less than 100 positions but still a lot). Some positions are there for more than 1 year (and shown as recently posted), dead links, some links lead to job boards that force you to register with them just to show the job description, etc etc.

The "Home" page feed is full of inspirational quotes/memes and heartwarming videos, so they're building a social network which I have no need for. I only have the profile because recruiters/employers increasingly require LinkedIn profile with your application.

[abledon]

export resume function is their killer feature imo