LinkedIn and Millennials

As many of us approach our impending graduation date and the achievement of our Master’s degree, we may be pondering the persistent question: How am I going to find the job of my dreams?

Numerous professional fields are becoming oversaturated and competition continues to intensify despite the millennial generation obtaining higher degrees of education and achieving greater entrepreneurial endeavors than previous generations. CNN (2015) reports dismal statistics of employed millennials compared to Generation X. Men in the millennial generation are working 10% less then the previous generation with women working 6% less.

Yet, this data seems to conflict with the abundance of applications and digital resources that are provided to millennials. This begs the question – are applications and professional networking sites such a LinkedIn actually effective for the millennial generation or are they useless tools when trying to navigate the sea of competition?

Examining the resources and materials provided by LinkedIn exposes the site’s strengths and weaknesses for newly minted millennial graduates.

LinkedIn’s Strengths

1. The site permits examples of professionals’ work through portfolio glimpses, resumes, and letters of recommendation. This helps recruiters in looking at candidates from a wider lens than strictly their resumes.
2. Provides resources to vet competition.
3. Provides resources to evaluate various potential companies and hiring managers.
4. Allows users to connect with professional networks via email contacts that they may not even realize they have.
5. Having a LinkedIn account adds a level of professionalism to a potential employee, since the LinkedIn brand has a level of refinement.

LinkedIn’s Weaknesses

1. If you have not purchased LinkedIn’s premium membership you are at a disadvantage; you can’t see certain recruiters’ profiles and have a limited number of in-mail messages you are able to send.
2. You have to be active on the platform in order to make the proper connections and utilize the site’s benefits. In other words, it’s atypical for recruiters to consistently come to you.
3. LinkedIn is more of a networking site then a job placement site, which may confuse some users and prevent them from utilizing the site’s main benefits.
4. In order to connect with certain people via the social platform you need to prove that you know them, which can prove to be a bit of an obstacle when trying to connect with recruiters and executives that can get you a good job.

What do you think? Why do you think the millennial generation is working less? How can we prevent these statistics from worsening? Can LinkedIn and similar networking applications improve their functions to better serve their user base? Is LinkedIn useful in finding positions? Please comment!

References

Luhny, T. (2015). Millennials: More educated, fewer employed than Gen X. CNN.com,

         http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/20/news/economy/millennials-jobs-college/

Roth, M. (2014). Do you really need LinkedIn to get a job? Experts weigh in.

      MTV.com, http://www.mtv.com/news/1935643/does-linkedin-matter/

Ryan. L. (2015). Don’t waste your time with online job applications—Here’s

why! LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-waste-your-time-

online-job applications-heres-why-liz-ryan