Some people just don’t want to be on social media—but that preference for anonymity has created a dilemma for one worker, whose new boss wants them to create a LinkedIn profile, even though the worker characterizes social media as “100 [percent] against my values.”
The tale unfolds on Reddit’s r/antiwork subreddit, which is geared towards people who “want more information on anti-work ideas and want personal help with their own jobs/work-related struggles.”
Redditor u/Last-Bread-6173, who just got a new job, says they recently had an “appraisal meeting with my boss where we talked about my career goals.”
“The discussion ended up going to my need to network and talk to senior people in my industry because I’m an entry-level worker,” the employee reports. “He told me that I should make a LinkedIn [account] and that this would be my goal [for] our next meeting. I expressed hesitance.”
The redditor explains why they’re against creating a profile: “For context, I am a private person with no social media, so making a LinkedIn is 100 [percent] against my values. I already told him on a couple of occasions that I don’t like my picture or personal details anywhere. But since I didn’t want to give the impression of being an unreliable employee, I agreed to make one. Especially being a junior employee, I felt pressured. I agreed, even though I was absolutely against it inside and didn’t see myself creating one.”
They say that their boss wants them to create a profile on the platform because “people get weird when they find out you don’t have a LinkedIn.” But the worker points out they got this job, as well as others, without a LinkedIn account.
The worker ultimately says they’ve decided to not create the account: “The next time we meet, I want to stand up for myself and tell him I thought about it and changed my mind.” “What do you all think?” they asked the subreddit.
In an edit, they also clarify, “No, my boss isn’t an a–hole. In fact, he’s the best boss I’ve had. He’s simply a first-time manager, workaholic, and loves to socialize and attend networking events. Clearly, he wants me to follow in his footsteps, but I really don’t care to.”
A number of commenters seem to agree with the worker, with many sharing that they don’t see the practicality of having a LinkedIn profile either.
One person volunteered, “Yeah, LinkedIn is more useful for people who don’t have strong resumes/degrees/qualifications/skills like many skilled professionals. Otherwise, it’s a cringey social media site for ‘business’ types to post their weird little mantras and motivational speeches to get likes from all the other ‘business’ types that value bullsh–tery as a skill. I have one, I don’t really need one, all it gets me is unsolicited emails from recruiters for jobs I would almost never consider.”
“In my decades of work, I have never come across any skilled senior person in my industry that uses LinkedIn to communicate with anyone,” another user agreed. They also pointed out the issue of scam jobs on the platform, writing, “They may make connections just for the numbers, but none actually care and all hate the spam and being cold-contacted by job seekers trying to skip ahead in line for working at the company.”
However, there were a number of people who countered the original poster’s argument, saying that their LinkedIn profile was instrumental in getting them leads and eventually being hired at a number of jobs.
One user wrote, “As a 30-something designer in tech, I’ve used LinkedIn to get every single job I’ve had for a decade, and most of the contacts I’ve made that I haven’t met directly were from LinkedIn, and then when I would meet somebody, we’d follow up via LinkedIn. Most of those were messages … from recruiters and I didn’t have to reach out to anybody.”
“I got a [six] figure salary from a recruiter on LinkedIn. I highly disagree with everyone saying there is no value to having a LinkedIn,” claimed another redditor.
A number of users agreed with the original poster, but also argued that having a LinkedIn profile couldn’t hurt.
“It’s not unreasonable to say no, but I guess you have to decide on whether or not you want to play the game,” one user wrote.
Another suggested, “Just make the account. You don’t have to actively engage with it, you don’t have to put any deeply personal details into it.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the original poster via a comment on their Reddit post.