[LinkedIn notification sound]
Melody Xu: Recognize that sound?
[Georgia Kerrigan reading her LinkedIn email notifications]
Xu: What about those notifications?
[techno music fades in]
Xu: Chances are — whether you’re a networking enthusiast, or even just relatively invested in social media — you do.
Kerrigan: Founded in 2002, LinkedIn was created to “connect professionals around the world to make them more productive and successful.”
Xu: But is that how it’s actually understood by users? To find out, we asked some Northwestern students and staff their opinions.
[techno music fades out]
Kerrigan: Medill sophomore Sylvie Slotkin is a self-proclaimed LinkedIn enthusiast.
SYLVIE SLOTKIN: I really love LinkedIn. I got LinkedIn the, like, literally the day I turned 16. I have 500-plus connections. And it is one of my favorite things to flex. I think it’s so fun. I love seeing what everyone’s doing and posting about what I’m doing. I definitely like, use it kind of as a social media, like I doom scroll on LinkedIn for sure.
Kerrigan: But as for whether LinkedIn has helped her professional connections, Slotkin wasn’t so sure.
SLOTKIN: I don’t think I’ve actually ever used it to like, find a job. I’m trying to think if like, I’ve made any, like, actual real-life connections.
Xu: Weinberg sophomore Maddie Huang said the same thing — that LinkedIn is more of a social media platform for her.
MADDIE HUANG: I personally don’t use LinkedIn as a way to make connections, I kinda use it as a way to see classmates, see what everyone’s doing.
Xu: Considering that, Huang said there are clear downsides to the platform.
HUANG: Overall, it is pretty toxic, especially because people are always trying to like use it more as a social media instead of a business, academic thing that LinkedIn’s meant for. It definitely makes you feel and have a little bit of imposter syndrome if everyone that’s on LinkedIn is doing all these amazing things and you kinda just aren’t.
Kerrigan: Joshua Sukoff, a junior studying journalism, had yet another unique perspective about what LinkedIn is and what its benefits are.
JOSHUA SUKOFF: I don’t view it as social media I just kind of view it as an interactive resume where people can kind of connect with people and it’s just kind of networking tool.
Kerrigan: As a photographer, Sukoff uploads photos to his website that fit the LinkedIn banner dimensions to help students enhance the optics of their profiles.
SUKOFF: I noticed everyone uses the same photo from like Google and I’m like “Oh I have some great photos too. Why not just make some little banners and just kind of put them on my website and then if people find them they find them?” I find that it’s valuable for people who are trying to make a great impression.
Xu: While acknowledging the platform is a useful tool to make a good impression on potential employers, Northwestern Career Advancement director Tracie Thomas warned about using LinkedIn as social media.
TRACIE THOMAS: Just like social media, I think you have to put it into context. That you’re looking at some person in this very specific period of time.
Kerrigan: Northwestern Libraries Web and Social Media Coordinator, Cory Slowik, theorized about why the platform has started to feel more like social media and less like a career tool.
CORY SLOWIK: LinkedIn has become the like de facto text-based social media for a lot of people who have kind of migrated from Twitter. Which means that there’s now like your professional and your personal life are even more intertwined, which I guess is a trend across all social media and there’s not really a break between professional and personal anymore.
Kerrigan: However, Slowik acknowledged that the platform’s joint social and professional nature has a purpose.
SLOWIK: I guess it’s useful for maintaining networks. People that I wouldn’t necessarily be in contact with, people I went to college with — it’s good to keep those connections alive.
Kerrigan: Moreover, she had an idea of how LinkedIn is helpful to college students, specifically.
SLOWIK: It seems like you’re almost like practicing for when you’ll need it later to maintain those networks, especially as they grow.
Xu: In her role at NCA, Thomas regularly encounters students concerned about establishing themselves in the professional world. When it comes to using LinkedIn to accomplish this, Thomas considers the platform to be a “double-edged sword.”
THOMAS: A double-edged sword. A lot of students will come in feeling anxious about the internship search because they saw someone on LinkedIn who got an internship or they got a job.
Kerrigan: But it’s still important right, because isn’t LinkedIn an industry standard?
THOMAS: Yes. But for some industries, not so much. I think it really depends on the industry that you’re interested in.
Kerrigan: So what is the consensus?
THOMAS: I think it’s important for students to continue to enhance their network, particularly their professional network. I think LinkedIn is one way to do that. The really key piece here is to connect with professionals. There are many, many different ways to connect with professionals. So if it’s not through LinkedIn, it can be through attending employer events. It can be through Our Northwestern. It can be through Ask A Wildcat, through the Waldron Program. It could be through the Northwestern Mentorship Program. There are so many ways to connect, and I think students have to do what feels most comfortable for them.
[techno music fades in]
Xu: For WNUR News, I’m Melody Xu.
Kerrigan: And I’m Georgia Kerrigan.
[techno music fades out]
LinkedIn ringtone audio from Zedge.net
Techno music from Pixabay
