Linked In or Linked Out?

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My 'portal' to my dream job

When I started college, the first thing I did was create a Linkedin account. Like many other “bright-eyed, bushy tailed” freshmen, I strongly believed that my profile was my portal to my dream job. When I entered the recruiting minefield, my use of Linkedin skyrocketed. Yet, as time passed, I noticed that whenever I was on Linkedin, I felt differently about myself and where I stood. And it wasn’t a good feeling.

We always feel the need to compare
ourselves to others

As humans, we’ve always had a fundamental need to compare ourselves, particularly in online and social contexts. Yet, as we evaluate ourselves based on our comparisons, we fall into the classic social media trap; we believe that what we see online is the complete picture. In her paper Social Networking Technology and the Virtues, Shannon Vallor, a philosophy professor at Santa Clara University, states that honesty on social media can be compromised as the “idea of a profile encourages members to construct a carefully edited version of themselves.” We choose to only disclose certain parts of our identity in an effort to portray our best selves, hoping that this “perfect” version allows us to build relationships. Or, find employment.

We only see the pieces of the puzzle,
never the entire picture

But, projecting our best selves is really a double-edged sword; we typically feel great about portraying these positive, edited versions of ourselves to others, but this lack of transparency can also make us feel worse about ourselves when the roles are reversed. As Luciano Floridi, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford, writes in his Ethics of Information Transparency, transparency can become an impairing factor, particularly as partial or misinformation is disclosed to the public. The “I am thrilled to announce” posts we see on Linkedin are simply partial pieces of information that only reveal the end result of that person’s recruiting journey. You don’t get to see the other pieces, like the amount of rejections they received or interviews they attended. Essentially, you see the ‘best’ part of the recruiting journey. The final destination.

Throughout my time navigating this recruiting minefield, I’ve had my fair share of feeling ‘linked out’ by these countless “I am thrilled to announce” posts. While I don’t remember it every time I viciously scroll through my feed, I’ve come to realize that what I see on Linkedin isn’t always the complete picture. I do try to remember one thing though - even if everything is not what it seems, staying focused on your own goals and accomplishments is always more important.

How will you stay ‘linked in’ to you?