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Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

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Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#51

Post by lifeisstillgood »

gergles wrote: post #25

> But the question for everyone else is, why are employers > (who pay to access the database) and job seekers (who > pay for database positioning) playing along while > LinkedIn sells everyone out with this game of payola? There is no "payola" in searching the database. Job seekers aren't paying for database positioning, they are paying only to be at the top of the list of "here are people who applied for your job".…

But it's all about perception - LinkedIn has got perceptibly more slimy, less about connecting, and it has now started taking money for rankings. If the sign on the brothel door says our women will give head for cash but they have to love you to screw, do you think anyone will believe it?

Admittedly like all walled gardens, there is no business model - the value lies in the network and any and all attempts to monetize that are called taxation. We only accept that from one place

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#53

Post by kvcrawford »

rgbrgb wrote: post #50
kvcrawford wrote: post #46

I hate LinkedIn. The pay walls and forced semi-hidden profiles are insanely annoying. I wish I had the resources to build a competitor centered around openness and UX. It should monetize on really strong programmatic job matching, driven by the improved data from reducing all the UX friction. Somebody, please accept the challenge.

What resources would you need?

I suppose if I were to undertake it, all I would need is time (i.e., some savings) to produce a rough first version. To really build it, the help of other engineers on the back-end, especially to implement job matching algorithms. I'm mostly into UI.

Getting users would be a whole other challenge. I can see the web/tech crowd adopting something for its superior UX, but then you're up against Github, which provides far more utilitarian value and accomplishes a bit of the professional social networking in one fell swoop. When it comes to everybody else, I think that business partnerships, marketing, and sales are key. That's more help needed.

I think it's totally viable, I'm just not in the position to do it. I hope somebody is.

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#54

Post by bobbles »

danielweber wrote: post #9
WestCoastJustin wrote: post #2

Age and skills seem to be a factor. The people in the video are 40+, with many doing marketing/sales. The HN community, based off the what is your age? poll [1], suggests the majority here are between 21-35, so we probably are not experiencing their problem. Second, networking is a major factor, if the software keyword system is really the issue, you need to find ways around the system, email your old co-workers, etc…

Taking a lower-paid job can reduce your salary once you get back to your primary field. Workers have legitimate reasons to treat wages as sticky.

How can that happen? It's not like your new employer will know what you were making at the last job, and even so why should that matter?

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#55

Post by tieTYT »

bobbles wrote: post #54
danielweber wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a lower-paid job can reduce your salary once you get back to your primary field. Workers have legitimate reasons to treat wages as sticky.

How can that happen? It's not like your new employer will know what you were making at the last job, and even so why should that matter?

They ask. Are you just supposed to lie or refuse to answer?

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#56

Post by nostrademons »

tieTYT wrote: post #55
bobbles wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can that happen? It's not like your new employer will know what you were making at the last job, and even so why should that matter?

They ask. Are you just supposed to lie or refuse to answer?

Refuse to answer. It's none of their business, and nobody can compel you to answer a question.

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#57

Post by nostrademons »

dragonwriter wrote: post #43
richardjordan wrote: post #41

I think the broader principle of this post is solid. It's one that I've been thinking a lot as a friend asked me to advise his dating-site startup. I don't like the space for one major reason (and job hunting is isomorphic with dating): to optimize making money you have to fail to deliver on the expectations of those for whom you're matchmaking. With dating/jobhunting if you create a supremely efficient market place…

> I don't like the space for one major reason (and job hunting is isomorphic with dating): to optimize making money you have to fail to deliver on the expectations of those for whom you're matchmaking. For job hunting (but probably not dating), its at least conceivable that you can structure the charge model to one where one or the other party (or both) is paying for success in making a match (basically, that's what…

Another approach is to do something like take a cut of the first year's salary or difference between the first year's salary and what the jobhunter was previously getting. That conditions success not only on making a match but on making a good match, as you get paid virtually nothing if an employee gets hired but then gets fired 2 weeks later. Many recruiting firms take this approach.

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#58

Post by rastered »

Charging the applicant for a monthly premium listing service does nothing to help companies find good employees, though I think a small change could make it beneficial to both parties.

Offer "premium" application placement on a per application basis instead of monthly. This would provide a signal to the employer that the applicant is particularly interested in this listing and not just spamming resumes.

It would provide a similar signal to a customized cover letter, but the employer can see the signal without the necessary investment of time to read a cover letter.

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#59

Post by themodelplumber »

nostrademons wrote: post #56
tieTYT wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They ask. Are you just supposed to lie or refuse to answer?

Refuse to answer. It's none of their business, and nobody can compel you to answer a question.

"I don't have to answer that." They can't compel you to answer, but good luck landing that job.

Re: Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?

#60

Post by sokoloff »

nostrademons wrote: post #56
tieTYT wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They ask. Are you just supposed to lie or refuse to answer?

Refuse to answer. It's none of their business, and nobody can compel you to answer a question.

You're right, and that strategy works great for those of us who are in-demand.

Someone in the article, or someone who took an interim lower-wage job out of desperation may rightly not feel quite so empowered.

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