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Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Friday September 19, 2025 @06:36PM (#45307575)
I have to disagree. I looked for a long time before I found my last gig (that ended in 2022). I had a LinkedIn and it wasn't much different, it took me months to find something. I still have a linkedin account to look for jobs, but that's it. No connections, no work history. What's relevant is on my resume anyway so I don't see what having a regular linkedin account would do. I deleted it when I found that job because, even as a job seeker, I saw no value in it and as a user, I saw no excuse to defend it.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by sanswork on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:18PM (#45307945)
You've applied to 400 jobs and had 3 responses and no success to be blunt your option about what you need to do to get hired is worth zero.

You refuse to change anything about your process, you aren't working to improve it, you are arguing against people telling them you don't need to do common/standard things.

This thread is a pretty good insight into why you are failing and what you need to work on.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Friday September 19, 2025 @08:55PM (#45308696)
Like I said, i had a legit linkedin account before i closed it and it never felt like it did anything for me. I have changed plenty about my process, from cv iterations and reviews, ai assistance to cater to job posts in cv and cover letters, etc. Of course i think all the information is great, but i also have first hand knowledge and experience. If you think all that's missing is a furnished LinkedIn account then i can tell you that it isn't accurate - in my experience.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by ihnorton on Friday September 19, 2025 @09:26PM (#45308974)
LLM-driven application sites were not a thing in 2022 (used by both real humans and scammers).
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by milkshakes on Friday September 19, 2025 @10:04PM (#45309452)
also fake workers were much less of a thing as well
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by milkshakes on Friday September 19, 2025 @10:05PM (#45309464)
to put it bluntly, the game has changed. what you knew from before is not correct now. if you keep applying your previous intuition and experience to a job search in todays market, you are going to be in for a hard time.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by FreakLegion on Saturday September 20, 2025 @03:34AM (#45311286)
> If you think all that's missing

They said it's necessary, not sufficient.

I have a couple dozen open roles right now, at a 50-person company. Each posting gets thousands of applications. Most are fakes, or AI-generated, or AI-generated fakes. Realistically, we're going to respond to 1%, maybe 2% of them, because again, 50-person team. Half the time, you get someone named Ralph McGuinness on for a quick code screen and they have a thick Mandarin accent or something equivalently implausible.

The best first filter we have at the moment is to programmatically toss out any resume that doesn't have a LinkedIn, that has a hallucinated LinkedIn that doesn't resolve, that resolves to a name that doesn't match the resume, that has no connections or history, etc.

It's an absurd state of play that hurts those of us trying to hire and those of you trying to get hired, but also a trivial hurdle for you to clear, so stop arguing and just do it.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Saturday September 20, 2025 @07:01AM (#45312232)
Of those 400 applications, my LinkedIn profile was viewed 16 times. LinkedIn is not as essential as everyone is trying to portray it. Especially outside of the US where people actually care about data privacy.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by FreakLegion on Saturday September 20, 2025 @07:44AM (#45312481)
LinkedIn only shows you authenticated viewers. You have no idea how many automated systems have filtered you out because you didn't include a link in your resume/application or because, as you said, the account has no connections or activity.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Saturday September 20, 2025 @08:13AM (#45312665)
Do you know of any such automated systems or are you just making that up? I've never heard of recruiters or ATS that looks for a linkedin URL in PDFs, extracts it along with employment information and validates it against what's in the resume, or an form that validates that a given entry leads to a valid LinkedIn profile, and that the profile corresponds to the one that was submitted.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by queenkjuul on Monday September 22, 2025 @04:24PM (#45338972)
Every job I've applied for in the last two weeks has asked for a LinkedIn link on the application. I have more interviews this month than you've had in three years.

Just saying.

I hate LinkedIn too but i very much consider it an important part of the "finding a job post pandemic" game.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by james_marks on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:48PM (#45308173)
No connections and no work history, I would blacklist as spam.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by dzhiurgis on Friday September 19, 2025 @08:07PM (#45308318)
How do you ensure linkedin history isn’t falsified?

I’ve seen all sort of false claims, but ultimately small programming task is best to sift out people.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Friday September 19, 2025 @09:30PM (#45309033)
Seriously. I could write 20 years of fake FAANG experience, connect with every rando posting AI slop since they just farm connections, and that would be better according to what i'm reading here.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by james_marks on Saturday September 20, 2025 @09:55AM (#45313452)
No, because that would be a lie and seen through.

You made a big jump from “post your work history” to “commit fraud”, so you can justify ignoring consensus.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by james_marks on Saturday September 20, 2025 @09:23AM (#45313167)
You check references and watch for clues that it doesn’t add up.

Imperfect, but effective enough that this is how the world has solved for this forever.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by selectodude on Friday September 19, 2025 @06:46PM (#45307662)
Well, keep on keeping on then. Sounds like you got this.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by mvdtnz on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:51PM (#45308198)
I don't think you're in a position to arbitrarily disagree with advice.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by yelirekim on Friday September 19, 2025 @06:41PM (#45307623)
You are delusional if you think having a good LinkedIn doesn't improve your chances of getting hired... Maybe not for every job, but for many of them, surely.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by pluc on Friday September 19, 2025 @06:46PM (#45307663)
I guess my experience hasn't shown value. I think people think of LinkedIn like Facebook - it only works if everyone agrees to stay hostage. I don't like the platform, I don't like that Microsoft is being all Microsofty about your data (have you looked at the new settings lately? That they added without telling anyone? Settings → Data Privacy → Data for Generative AI Improvement) and being a data-aware netizen, fuck linkedin.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by Aurornis on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:16PM (#45307935)
Hiring manager here. It's standard practice for every hiring manager I know to review the candidate's LinkedIn as an additional input to the hiring process.

Not finding a LinkedIn page for someone can range from a neutral signal to a negative signal depending on the hiring manager. I personally don't read anything into it, but I know many hiring managers who feel that lack of a LinkedIn page is a negative sign. I don't like it, but it's how the world works some times.

A seasoned LinkedIn page is also becoming very valuable for applying to remote jobs. Remote employers are getting nervous with all of the overemployed people and fake applicants. Having a mature LinkedIn page with a decent number of connections to real people is a major positive sign for remote hiring.

It's not something you will be able to see or detect as a candidate.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by X0Rsyst on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:59PM (#45308264)
I’m a manager in a cybersecurity consulting firm. I’ve hired half a dozen people for my team in the past year. I always check LinkedIn as well.

If someone isn’t on it, the chances are significantly higher they are fake or trying be be “overemployed.”

Does not having LinkedIn mean you’re not qualified or not real? Certainly not. Does it mean I will pass your resume over when sorting through a stack of qualified applicants? Absolutely.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by egberts1 on Saturday September 20, 2025 @05:52AM (#45311899)
Overemployed? Wow.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by scarface_74 on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:29PM (#45308034)
100% of people I know without a LinkedIn profile are overemployed.
Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by sanswork on Friday September 19, 2025 @07:45PM (#45308152)
Those people probably have very strong personal networks and a willingness to reach out to them for opportunities or a very high profile in their niche.

OP appears to have neither.

Re:Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years? by WarOnPrivacy on Friday September 19, 2025 @08:50PM (#45308656)
> You are delusional if you think having a good LinkedIn doesn't improve your chances of getting hired... Maybe not for every job, but for many of them, surely.

This isn't universal in every market. Business is very insular here and work follows referrals and introductions. You have those and you have work. Without them, Linkedin won't help.

I'm 35yr in IT; I plug into my clients in a way that I learn their processes - inc hiring. Few white collar employers here use Linkedin. I've never worked with one who did.