Ok this was riotously funny, but in defense of LinkedIn, it's a <i>great</i> place to hire and a great place to get a job if you take the time to write a quality, genuine profile — which is certainly a rarity and makes good people stand out.<p>I just ended a hiring campaign on LinkedIn. The stats were that it lasted 35 days, cost $704, our job ad was shown to 1001 people, and 233 applied through the platform.<p>I didn't keep exact stats of qualified / non-qualified people, but there were at least 5 people I thought were <i>wow</i> good, and another dozen or two that I wasn't sure immediately about but who were possibly really good. We hired two people.<p>These numbers outperformed their algorithm — they estimated that we'd get 40-60 applications for $600 across 30 days, and we got considerably more. I think our ad was pretty good and unusual, it was a condensed version of our team hiring page —<p><a href="http://ultraworking.com/work" rel="nofollow">http://ultraworking.com/work</a><p>As for whether "fake social networker" cred helps... I don't think so. I make a quick checklist of things I'd skim rapidly for when looking at profiles to do first pass analysis. Basically, I'd look for any sense of ownership, service, or self-direction.<p>Things like genuine volunteer activities, excellent academics, leadership roles in student clubs are all obvious examples.<p>But actually, there were a bunch of things that are doable for everyone that I looked for, and which surprisingly few people do.<p>For instance, the vast majority of candidates wrote their profile in first person tense. "I'm a skilled marketer with X years of..." or "I'm looking for a job doing..."<p>Very few people wrote in any second person tense at all. EG: "If you're looking to hire a marketer and you have a great company, I'd love to help you develop your..."<p>I also saw only 2-3 profiles out of 300 that mentioned being happy, smiling, or service oriented. One guy didn't have any fancy brand name education or work experience, but he wrote something like, "I did this job with a smile every day and looked to make everyone I worked with happy." Okay cool, yes, I'd be delighted to talk to you.<p>Your culture will vary of course, but I was also impressed with people that had a mix of any kind of art/aesthetics alongside any math/engineering/analytical pursuits, and noted anyone who mentioned a disciplined history of sports, martial arts, or athletics.<p>What didn't factor much at all for me were the self-descriptions of jobs (I skimmed briefly to make sure they weren't a total non-fit, but otherwise don't really trust it) and in the Hiring Portal, you can't even see how many connections someone has easily. Or maybe you can, but I must have just parsed over it if so — I didn't notice it once.<p>I was skeptical of Linkedin for a long time. The "LinkedIn: The Game" thing. But it's a legitimately great way to put good opportunities in front of people looking for a new job, and a good way to seek companies doing what you're interested in if you're jobseeking. I'm legitimately very impressed with Linkedin excited to work with the two people that joined the team. In my book, a <i>very</i> good use of $700 and 15 hours.