You DON’T need a LinkedIn profile to get a job!

LinkedIn has done a great job convincing everyone that it’s a must have and without it you are going to miss opportunities or not be able to be found by potential employers, talent acquisition teams or pesky recruiters.

Not true. If you are good at what you do you will get noticed, and LinkedIn has not replaced the traditional CV as a source of ultimate truth about one’s career. LinkedIn is merely but one tool in my kit bag to finding great candidates for my clients. Sometimes LinkedIn works, but often it doesn’t.

I was reflecting about LinkedIn after an article I wrote about Melbourne’s investment leaders. I noted that Matt Kempton seemed to be unusual because he didn’t have a LinkedIn profile, but after further consideration it was interesting to note that a number of senior investment management professionals do not have LinkedIn profiles.

Richard Brandweiner, Chief Investment Officer of the Year 2016 is on LinkedIn but it really isn’t much in the way of a career profile at all. Leigh Gavin was recently appointment to the GM of Investments at LUCRF Super, and he has no LinkedIn profile. I couldn’t find John Pearce (CIO of UniSuper) or Ian Patrick (CIO of SunSuper) on LinkedIn either.

I decided to do some further analysis of a number of recent placements we have made and found that approximately 20% of people we place in positions in the Australian financial services industry do not have a LinkedIn profile. These positions were varied but included investment accountants, investment analysts, client and portfolio administrators and business analysts.

Of the remaining 80% of candidates we placed, only 50% of those had LinkedIn profiles that accurately reconciled with their CVs stated career history. Of the remaining 50% it was interesting to observe the inconsistencies with education, job title, time in a position and job scope. It is little wonder some firms are conducting background checks during their recruitment process.

It’s for these reasons that a LinkedIn profile has not replaced the traditional CV. It’s not a trusted source of career history and no organisation won’t hire you if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile. Actually, I take that back. You might not be hired as a recruiter if you don’t have a profile and 500 plus connections.

I am happy to advise that LinkedIn is useful for your personal (social media) brand and I would agree it’s better to have a LinkedIn profile than not to have one. But having a LinkedIn profile does not ensure you career success or a successful outcome during a recruitment process.

In conclusion, LinkedIn is important social media, personal branding and networking tool but if you are good at what you do, you won’t need it to find a great opportunity. A great opportunity will find you.

Kind regards

Matt McGilton – Director

Kaizen Recruitment specialises financial services recruitment across funds management, wealth management, superannuation, investment consulting and insurance. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney. For assistance or further information please telephone our office at +61 3 9095 7157 or submit an online form.

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