2 LinkedIn Hiring Trends to Pay Attention To

I’ve discovered two hiring trends recently that I like:

1) More and more recruiters and hiring managers look briefly at your resume but immediately switch to LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is more visual, more detailed and typically more comprehensive than a 1-2 page resume where everything is squished on.

So make your LinkedIn great.

You’ll be rewarded.

2) With LinkedIn, people find what they’re looking for in a cover letter by reading your profile description/bio.

In most cases, if your profile is compelling, people don’t need it to be customized to their business.

On the contrary, the greatest recruiters and hiring managers are looking for your why and who you are, which shouldn’t really change.

The best companies want authentic people.

One way to look at cover letters is that we are asking people to manipulate and contort themselves for our company.

Inherently, it’s an exercise in reducing authenticity, often with a white-centric male personality at the top of the list.

Currently, we often pick candidates based on how well they fit or align, instead of who they are and what they bring.

Of course, I recognize cover letters have a place, but I’m still not convinced they are conducive to building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive companies.