[^1]

among all voting members who chose to disclose their age

[^2]
among all voting members who chose to disclose their gender

Can your profile truly increase your chances
of (being) getting hired for a job?
by Keith Giomeer R. Petrola, Licensed Nurse (RN-BSN), former ESL Instructor, Online Freelancer:
Data Entry, Researcher, Blogger, July 13, 2012


The question above is the sole reason why 2 polls were launched by the author on
September 2011 and July 2012. He has been a member of the website, founded on 2002, for
quite some time now but he's still curious about the greater impact that the website does
specifically based on its core objective to provide an effective relationship-powered job network.
A poll was done in September 2011 to serve as the source of data that served as points of
comparison with the latest ones.


Figure 1. September 2011 poll Figure 2. July 2012 poll

The poll was opened to all members of LinkedIn and it was also advertised by the author
on all of the LinkedIn groups he joined. As the poll ended on June 11, 2012, some changes were
observed in the responses. These are the findings derived from the poll:

1. Lesser members answered the poll with a dip of 33.5% (405 from 609).
2. Members aged 18-29 had the most number of votes with an average of 32.1% share
among all votes
[^1]
.
3. More male members participated on both of the polls
[^2]
; but,
4. Female votes got closer by decreasing the margin from 43.16% to 25.88%
[^2]
.
5. From 2nd rank in the previous poll, the option "Yes, according to its purpose" got the
most votes in the latest poll with 31% share.
6. "Yes, proved that myself" votes declined by 9%.
7. "No, but looking forward it will "consistently ended up in the 3rd rank with only a
decline of 1%.
8. With a boost of 2%, "Yes, according to my friends/others" is still on the 4th rank.
9. "No, not expecting for such result" ends on the bottom spot again even it gained 3%.

We can therefore conclude that there is a marked difference with regards to the
perception of people on the ability of their LinkedIn profiles to help them get a job. The
difference is observed to be quite negative though since lesser people proved it themselves. The
hopefuls reigned on this poll by believing that it is one of the purposes of the website.

Here are some of the notable comments left by the voters on the aforementioned polls:

'YES' Have hired do:ens of people from their linked In profiles primarilv (sometimes no
other resume at all) and I personallv landed one of mv best fobs ever without a resume - I showe
d up to the interview and directed the CEO to mv Linked In page. This was 7 vears ago... it work
ed then and works even more now that more people are on board with Linked In.`
- Tiffany Felicienne,

'Unfortunatelv, I havent had much success LinkedIn. I am active in mv groups and conn
ect with professionals within mv business marketing field but no one has reach out to me regardi
ng fob opportunities. Can anvone suggest a fix that will prove mv thoughts about LinkedIn wrong
?`
- Ren Vega,


'LinkedIn is an excellent tool for Networking with various and manv valuable resources f
or finding that right fob such as Job/Career Fairs, Government Agencies & DOD Groups & rele
vant Job search Tools that help assist & support vou in vour Job search' One valuable Group Iv
e found on LinkedIn . has various Job/Career workshops everv week for developing Resume &
Cover-Letter Tools, Interviewing Tools & Closing Skills, Networking, and various meetings thro
ughout the week bv inviting Recruiters & Staffing Folks to host most meetings that help encourag
e, support and provide valuable tools to help find the fob s of vour dream and to give Networking
skills & information to help vou get hired quicker. Mv experience with LinkedIn is it works and i
t gets results that vou are looking for'`
- Stewart Jenkins,


'I dont know. Can it?`- Davyd Breeskin,


'I seek candidates on linkedin everv dav. Those with a complete profile will be found bv t
hose who are looking to hire. Linkedin is in the Top 3 for sources to locate qualitv talent for CIB
ER and our clients.`
- David Slaymaker,


'With mv field of work, referral is the best source of attracting clients. Not one source wi
ll get vou the result. You have to use everv venue of marketing possible that fit in vour budget. Li
nkedIn gives vou an easiest wav to tell evervthing about vou and what vou can do. This is a great
venue for promoting vourself, fust keep track of vour profile views and trv to improve.`
- Muhammad Saleem,







REFERENCES:
Keith Giomeer Petrola. (2011, September 28). Can your LinkedIn profile truly increase
your chances of being hired for a job? Retrieved from:
http://www.linkedin.com/osview/canvas?_ch_page_id=1&_ch_panel_id=1&_ch_app_id
=80&_applicationId=1900&_ownerId=0&appParams=%7B%22section%22%3A%22result
s%22%2C%22poll_id%22%3A%22143595%22%7D
Keith Giomeer Petrola. (2012, June 11). Can your LinkedIn profile truly increase your
chances of being hired for a job? Retrieved from:
http://www.linkedin.com/osview/canvas?_ch_page_id=1&_ch_panel_id=1&_ch_app_id
=80&_applicationId=1900&_ownerId=0&appParams=%7B%22section%22%3A%22result
s%22%2C%22poll_id%22%3A%22313828%22%7D
LinkedIn Corporate Logo 250px wide [Image file]. Retrieved from:
http://press.linkedin.com/sites/all/themes/presslinkedin/images/LinkedIn_WebLogo_Lo
wResExample2.jpg
LinkedIn Press Center. (2005, March 1). LinkedIn Launches Relationship-Powered Job
Network. Retrieved from: http://press.linkedin.com/75/linkedin-launches-relationship-
powered-job-network