Looking for a new challenge? The chances of you finding your future job on LinkedIn AND that AI can help you do so are quite high.
LinkedIn is the virtual meeting place of choice for professionals, who use the platform to build and maintain their business network . Over the years, the platform has evolved tremendously. The business aspect took on a personal touch, and AI also created changing processes within the platform.
“The changes within the platform are a natural evolution that we at LinkedIn embrace,” says Marcel Molenaar, responsible for LinkedIn Benelux. He takes us through how LinkedIn has evolved over the years partly because of the pandemic and the advent of AI.
LinkedIn as a business card
The business life and career of many a professional can be found on LinkedIn. “In Belgium alone, there are about five million member profiles, which is roughly equivalent to the total working population in the country,” Molenaar said. In the early years, the platform was mainly used to find a new job. “Once that job was found, members paid less attention to the platform.”
“Today, the use of LinkedIn looks completely different. The platform is now strongly focused on connecting talent with economic opportunities, and sharing and gathering knowledge. We want to make everyone on the platform more productive and successful,” Molenaar says.
Every minute, more than 9,000 members worldwide apply for jobs on LinkedIn.
Marcel Molenaar, responsible LinkedIn Benelux
When it comes to the value of the platform in terms of finding a new job, it should not be underestimated. “Every minute, more than 9,000 members worldwide apply for a job on LinkedIn. Of those 9,000 members, seven are hired every minute. These figures show the strength of the platform,” Molenaar states.
Boundary between business and social
LinkedIn is known to everyone as a business platform. Yet more and more personal contributions from connections are appearing in our feed, or we ourselves are already daring to give a glimpse into our non-professional lives via LinkedIn. According to Molenaar, this all has to do with a natural development.
In recent years, corona pandemics have drastically changed the way people work. “Before, people had a clear division between work and private life,” Molenaar says. Since the pandemic, that line has become increasingly blurred and work and private matters are intermingled. “As a result, several topics about professional life come up such as stress, work-life-balance or difficult choices. Users feel the need to share such issues on LinkedIn as well,” Molenaar explains.
This natural development was well received at LinkedIn. “You are more than your position,” Molenaar says, and this highlights that. The addition of private matters to the business platform creates a complete picture of the user. And that is of particular interest to recruiters. “In today’s tight job market, recruiters want to know more about you than just the diploma on the wall,” Molenaar says.
AI searches and finds
In addition to the pandemic, new AI developments also caused changes at LinkedIn. For example, generative AI facilitates job searches, helping recruiters find the right candidates in this ton of information.
“Generative AI helps to bring the power of the platform more strongly to the surface,” Molenaar states. One clear example he gives of this is the Conversational Job Search. That’s a new way to find a job on LinkedIn using AI. “Instead of scrolling through all the jobs yourself, you can simply ask AI a question, for example, ‘I’m looking for a job where I can work on creative social media campaigns,'” he says.
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Conversely, this tool is also available to recruiters as the LinkedIn Recruiter. This allows them to find the right candidate for a job opening faster with the help of AI. AI is not far behind the scenes at LinkedIn either. “We also use AI tools ourselves to automate repetitive tasks in order to give employees more space for more important tasks,” Molenaar explains.
Privacy priority
As usual, AI developments bring new privacy challenges. Within LinkedIn, not only is a lot of information shared about personal and professional matters, but the use of AI models makes us question our privacy. To ensure member privacy, LinkedIn puts its users in control. “They have full control over what data they want to share, which can be easily changed via settings,” Molenaar states.
We created a comprehensive suite where users manage what data they do or do not share.
Marcel Molenaar, responsible LinkedIn Benelux
Finally, LinkedIn keeps a close eye on laws and regulations. “That way we stay abreast of changes in legislation and can anticipate them to stay compliant with new developments,” Molenaar concludes.