Is LinkedIn currently fit for purpose?

 I was a very early LinkedIn user, somewhere around member number 12,000 back in 2005, so I’ve witnessed its evolution firsthand. 

Originally, it was a platform designed to support job seekers and recruiters, essentially serving as a rudimentary digital résumé hub.

Over time, LinkedIn introduced fees for recruiters while simultaneously offering low-cost, direct hiring solutions to employers, making it increasingly difficult for recruiters to compete. It felt a bit like a long, drawn-out “dry January” which the pub industry has every year.

Between 2013 and the pandemic, internal talent teams dominated hiring. Many fast-scaling startups seemed to have more recruiters than necessary, raising questions about their day-to-day impact. But when Covid hit, the need for external recruiters surged again as internal teams struggled to keep up.

Post-pandemic, many of those internal teams were downsized, and mass layoffs across industries followed. This significantly impacted LinkedIn’s revenue, prompting a shift in focus. Today, the platform feels more like a newsfeed filled with content that doesn’t always resonate, corporate updates, political discussions, self-congratulatory posts, and, increasingly, AI-generated content.

With AI now shaping job applications, we see hundreds of applicants within minutes, many filtered by algorithms before a human even gets involved. 

The hiring process often feels more detached than ever, almost as if companies are relying on a town crier to announce job openings.

Right now, LinkedIn seems to be navigating an identity crisis, experimenting with different approaches while filling our feeds with mixed content. That said, there’s still value in the industry and tech discussions and debates.

For me, as a recruiter and business owner, LinkedIn has strayed far from its original purpose. Ideally, it would refocus on being a dynamic digital résumé repository, one that truly helps job seekers connect with recruiters and employers in a meaningful way. 

Perhaps LinkedIn itself will be the one to solve this challenge, but in its current state, it feels like it’s still searching for direction.