JLee and I are going to be at the Social Recruiting Summit in the Twin Cities in May – see more details here. She’ll be leading some 15 minute, mamby-pamby quick hit session on mobile recruiting, while I’ll be hanging out on the front row, working all day long and doing what hosts do – alternating between Starbucks and Gatorade while trying to be clever when introducing speakers who shut down the hotel bar the night before.
Five bucks to the first person at the Social Recruiting Summit that goes Tyler Durden on me:
Tyler Durden (You): How’s that working out for you?
Narrator (Me): What?
Tyler Durden (You): Being clever.
Narrator (Me): Great.
Tyler Durden (You): Keep it up then.
As I was looking at the lineup of speakers for the Twin Cities, I thought about this little nugget from the first SRS that was held on the Google campus in 2009.
“LinkedIn profiles maintained by a candidate are more accurate than the Resume maintained by
the same candidate…:
Think about that one for a second. Wait for it – there you go – the clarity and realization that if you’re truly looking for “what’s up” with a candidate, you need to rely on the LinkedIn profile. Why is that true? Because there’s a community of co-workers, friends and past colleagues that always have access to the LinkedIn profile, and there’s no such community with constant visibility to a random resume the candidate sends in, and you have no means to circulate the resume to that type of community to fact check.
The result? As Reid Hoffman discussed at the Social Recruiting summit in Spring 2009 - people won’t lie in public via LinkedIn. With that in mind, the core elements at play in most LinkedIn profiles – the titles, the dates, etc. – are always going to be more accurate than the resume.
Here’s the tricky part – when you’re looking for a candidate to unfold what they did at ACME Inc., the LinkedIn profile doesn’t usually include the 5-6 bullet points you’re usually used to seeing on the resume, right? That’s a key component to understanding the context of what they did.
With that in mind, is the day coming (from an accuracy and honesty perspective) when we’ll ask candidates to update their LinkedIn profiles with more detailed information on what they did at ACME?
If you have over 100 contacts on LinkedIn, I’d doubt you’ll lie in a big way. Too much crowd-sourcing going on…
Long live the LinkedIn Kool-Aid drinkers like me… What’d you expect? Me to rip them like you ripped The Ladders in the comments of this post? Like Rome, you’re the mob.
I hadn’t thought about the “keeping you honest” factor before. Nice.
But in regards to more detail, my question would be why the candidate hasn’t done this already.
You have more room on your LinkedIn profile than you do on your resume. You can use text creatively to create sub-headings. You can do those bullet points, just put in all ten you select five from when you personalize your resume to the company. Unless there are confidentiality concerns there’s no reason not to use it as a full-fledged CV.
Although, I suppose that’s kind of your point. That if you put in detail, it has to accurate, correct detail and perhaps less inflated than some people choose to use on their resumes.
I am writing not as a recruiter or hiring manager, but as a job seeker. I enjoy this blog as it gives a different perspective on the hiring process.
I am actively looking for a new job. However, my current employer is not aware of this. I currently have a profile on LinkedIn, but it only lists the positions I have held, because I am concerned that through the expansion of the network, my employer will become aware of my active search and somehow hold it against me.
I have nothing to hide, stand behind the good work that I do and would be more than willing to furnish a resume upon request in order to engage with interested recruiters and employers.
Is my paranoia justified?
Hi Kris,
I think you’re right about the LinkedIn profile becoming more the currency of the moment than the resume. But I think it’s more about the cycle time reduction than the tool – we’re dealing with much more immediacy than even. People still only update their resumes infrequently while they do seem to attend to the quick format update style of the easy to use LinkedIn profile.
Than ever! Badfinger…
AGREE. AGREE. AGREE!
The flexibility for the seekers is there and removes the excuses for not including things in a paper resume.
The crowd factor and accessibility is there for the recruiters.
It’s evolution.
@Vivian – I’d say that your inclusion of your current role(s) on LinkedIn is overdue – whether you’re looking for a job or not.
Need to address it with your employer? It’s a matter of including your updated information to meet more peers in your industry and expand on your current knowledge base – it’s good for the business.
Best of luck, either way.
Great stuff, Kris.
Ch
Social media increases transparency . . . which increases honesty . . . because the consequences of lying are bad; very bad.
I don’t run into too many “former Navy SEALs” or “former Delta-Force operators” anymore – that’s cool with me
Unfortunately, I guess these people didn’t know that I could tell they were lying in the first place!
Spot on KD… Spot on!
Another blow to the traditional resume! It is my hope that soon they will be dead!
Dave Kaiser
http://www.BigAndBoldCoaching.com
I don’t totally agree with Kris…one of my colleagues from LinkedIn has fabricated information. I believe there are people who will still lie.
See, Nana. Here is where you help to reinforce the goodness that is social – who is it that has false info? C’mon… you know you wanna’.
Ch
@Vivian: Go ahead and update that profile. I’m not sure what industry or role you are in, but if its sales or something like that, wouldn’t your boss want you to have an attractive profile for clients to see who they are dealing with? Sounds like the boss is the one with paranoia, and you should definitely be on the prowl hard.
It’s a self branding tool. Whether its for a new job or just to get more notoriety in your field (for speaking engagements, etc) its a good practice. Separate your anxiety from your intrusive boss and be free.
@ Chris and Pete-Thank you for your insights. I realize that the benefits to updating my LinkedIn profile and putting myself out there far outweigh whatever “risks” may be involved. Pete, I do work in a field related to sales, and, since my initial comment last week, I have expanded upon experiences and accomplishments on my profile.
I am proud of my work and stand by it, and I cannot overlook this valuable tool in my career search. So I won’t.
It’s a stretch to say that people on LinkedIn do not fib about their resumes.
Solution: http://www.preverify.com.
PreVerify enables anyone to obtain their own employment history verifications and references from their former employers and then choose with whom they want to share the information – including prospective employers.
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web-App-Tools/preverify-com-preverifying-employment-histories
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/08/prweb2645354.htm
Interesting. People won’t lie in public, but they are more likely to get caught because of their connections who can readily confirm or deny contents.
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an email. I’ve got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great blog and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.