What Really Drives The LinkedIn Job Search Numbers?

There have been some recent studies involving LinkedIn that bring into question some of the strategies LI members use to get a job. I pulled them using Perplexity.AI to see what I could find that pulled it all together for job seekers.

Lately(2022-2025), LI has been working on using verifiable job placement to help shift the platform to a more recommendations based platform, and participated in a 5 year study with several research groups to find out what the real numbers are.

It turns out, the strongest predictors of job placement on LinkedIn aren't hitting apply to as many as possible (big surprise? no), or working to deepen existing connections with your existing network.

It's the number of diverse connections, and your visibility.

They found that LI and other social job board sites function less as traditional job boards, and more as networked ecosystems.

In these situations, it turns out that 'moderately weak' social ties are significantly more beneficial for job seekers than building stronger connections -- which has ironically been a heavy recommendation for some.

The study found that:

• connections with people outside immediate circle were more likely to lead to new employement opportunities.

• those who cultivate broad diverse networks experience greater success than those who deepen existing strong connections.

What About Just Having a Profile and Applying to Jobs?

Sadly, the study found that being passively recruited on LinkedIn means you'll be subject to more bias, as placement through passive recruitment is still tied to socioeconomic backgrounds - which could be inadvertently adding to labor market inequalities.

What Should You Be Doing To Improve Your Odds?

It looks like the biggest factors in getting a job through LinkedIn are to actively engage with other members on the platform, so:

• Sharing your ideas and relevant content to connect more broadly across LinkedIn
• Commenting, liking and sharing content from others in your network
• Strategically connecting with other members and lightly engaging with them to remind them you exist

Passive platform membership is insufficient --- active engagement and content creation substantially improve outcomes.

That means that regular, lightweight engagement with a broad network is more effective than intensive networking with a small group.

Trust Signaling

Apart from being a consistently engaged member on the platform, LI members who have personal endorsements highlighting skills, accomplishments, work ethic are getting more interviews.