People get jobs on LinkedIn, but I didn't understand that for a long time. When the whole world shifted into running digitally in 2020, I didn't exactly catch on with the train. So things like X, LinkedIn and others that gained more activity—I wasn't even existing on them. But for a long time now, I immersed myself in many of these spaces to learn and see how things are done there.
There's something entirely different about LinkedIn. It's so not like the others. Generally, people are way more serious there than pretty much anywhere else. I don't go there to randomly find weird and unwelcome things, or trashy posts in general. People are either building, sharing useful knowledge, or connecting.
There are productive spaces on other platforms and ways they can be used to boost one's personal brand and/or business. LinkedIn is just king in that regard.
"Your network is your net worth" is taken literally on LinkedIn. And that's how so many people have covered a lot of miles on their journey to success. People define success differently, but at the very least, connections go a long way. All those people that say they're self-made whatever—God knows you've had people come through for you along the way somehow.
Interestingly, some companies and businesses request LinkedIn profile links from job applicants. It's almost like the way Devs are asked their GitHub profiles so learn a little more about them from their public repos and all.
Before enlightenment on the power of networking and portfolios and whatnot, my LinkedIn profile was nothing to write about. When I saw what others had out there, I looked at mine and knew that I wouldn't even take me seriously with what I had. It's not comparing oneself to others but looking at standards and measuring up. So I took action to revamp my profile.
Thankfully, I knew my way around Canva well. I whipped it up and spun a few things for my display photo and background image. I wanted something minimalist and professional yet visually appealing. In matter of time, I had those arranged and uploaded them.
The next thing was to put out information about my experiences and skills and write up something good enough for an about page. Looking around at what professionals do, I put out something real good soon enough. I wasn't about to try to be perfectionist this time and stall forever... again.
To my surprise, these little changes were not so little after all. To say the least, it became easier to get job interviews and present myself professionally.
But beyond making connections and having a professional profile on LinkedIn, there's much to gain by just being there. Rather than doomscroll, watching funny babies on other social spaces, I could do a similar thing on LinkedIn, but the result is always very different. I would have learned more, become more inspired, or even unlocked new insights to refine my ambitions and goals with. I found some of the books I have now read there, in fact.
People say there's a lot of intimidation on LinkedIn. I think it depends on how you see it. People have their different paths, but being in such an environment helps remind oneself of what's heights that are attainable. But I'm curious, though: what do you think about LinkedIn?
Images in this post belong to me