Why do people put “ex-Goldman”, “ex-Citadel”, “ex-Citi” in their LinkedIn headers
We get it, you work at a shitty startup now and it’s the only way for your fragile ego to remain intact, but seriously why? This shit is cringe as fuck. If you are trying to say that you are so important because you USED to work in banking or whatever, why tf didn’t you just stay if you are still flashing the title for clout. LinkedIn is total cancer 🚀📈🤪
Bump
i dont know whats worse this or people who start off any sentence with “back in my day”.
Back in my day we didn't have linkedin to have to worry about this shit.
one of these are not like the other
yep. citadel is way more selective than gs or citi
Congrats on citi man
ex goldman is extra funny when they were back office
Back office always have the most fire LinkedIn headlines
”Analyst at Goldman Sachs | Global Investment Banking Firm | Ex-GS Applicant | Future-Politician | Current-Goldman Sachs, & Co”
Current Position: revenue accountant in Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Salt Lake City
I agree. Some chaps even put investment banking on their LinkedIn profile heading but actually, they ain't doing IBD or even close to it
even funnier when you're seeking an internship this late with quite literally 0 chance of even receiving a back office offer
Only time this isn't cringy imo is if they're a retired senior and specifically write "retired" instead of "ex"
Typically back office people
Have seen people do it after a 2mo internship lol
Common in tech (as if working for 8 months in GS KYC or MS SWE is somehow a flex)
Tech people are awkward, Ex-Uber, nobody cares
Passing an internship off as a FT role on LinkedIn is the absolute worst
In this bad job market, even JPM SWE is considered a top offer. My nephew who studied CS @ target school went for it this year and he said he's super lucky getting it. Tough market, be more lenient on people
low eq
I once saw a woman with "ex-BCG" in her NAME. She spent one year with the firm... 20 years ago as an analyst.
It is not always an ego trip.
Many people are struggling to find jobs and need to try to make their profiles stand out.
Working at a top company for a lengthy period of time can show people that you were intelligent and dynamic enough to get into a competitive place. It is the same exact rationale as listing your education on your linked in if you went to a top college. I’ve also noticed some people don’t list their education history since it is likely they went to bad schools.
If you’re post was to highlight that LinkedIn is cringe, then yes we know. It’s cringe just like any social media is.
Some people just aren’t as cool and accomplished as you man.
How can it possibly be compared to listing your school on your linkedin page? FWIW, I also think having ex-Ivy in linkedin header is cringe haha
I am yet to meet someone who got a job because of their LinkedIn profile. Linkedin is a platform for networking and helps in getting updates on job opportunities from their apply for jobs tab
I’ve had several friends get jobs via their profile, in the sense a recruiter messaged them after perusing their profile about a job opportunity and they converted. The one that sticks out to me was from last year. He was at a LMM pe firm and through a cold email LinkedIn message, he got to a mega fund, I’m not saying it’s likely, but it is definitely possible.
Remember that you are trying to make your profile more searchable and pop for these recruiters.
It is obviously kind of embarrassing, but it’s a tough job market and people can get desperate if they have been out of work for awhile. I just feel like OP is making fun of people down on their luck, and that is also cringe.
I would say most of us are prob cooler than you considering we don’t need subsidies from dad despite making $1mm+ per year lol
You got me there!
Being rich myself, and having a rich family to support me definitely ain't cool!
Burn!
Looool
Key word here is "were".
This may be the first SmokeFrog post I didn't throw MS at
People with headlines like that do write the best LinkedIn Broetry though.
"(Nonsense about leadership/thought leadership/whatever else)... Here are the 5 things successful people do before pooping in the morning."
One of the biggest assholes I know lists ex-FAANG company’s name, ex-Big 4 firm name on his LinkedIn. It’s basically the bat signal for insecure losers. It’s a useful sorting tool though, see it on a LinkedIn and insta ding them if they apply citing poor cultural fit.
Who is out here bragging about ex kpmg
Not on WSO circles but it carries a fair bit of weight on the corporate/f500 scene
Ex-FAANG = Amazon lol
Just like Top 4 CS = Berkeley
couldn't agree more makes screening a lot easier
more on cringe LinkedIn headlines:
"Retired and living my best life!"
"Retired from work but not from life".
Linkedin influencers could actually be the worst genre of people on the planet
I beg to disagree. Instagram and Tiktok so-called influencers are the worst
Can anyone chime in if this helps from a recruitment aspect? The only reason I can somewhat understand is that it might slightly increase your chances of recruiters hitting you up e.g. if you spent 3 years at BCG and then 2 years at a f500.
Otherwise yes incredibly cringe and insecure.
Ha OP is a Citi employee
I think the practice is tacky, but I'm also confused by your question: their reasoning seems pretty obvious on its face
duh, bc companies hire based on these signals? recruiters get told all the time... "get an MBB consultant. get a BB banker". so yeah if you want to continue to use your experience to compete for lucrative jobs then you need to make it visible
Found the guy who uses this or plans to use it
Recruiters for ops jobs will reach out to them first
ex-gs (think goldman sachs/gleacher shacklock)
Helps mostly for fundraising. Not sure how recruiting got thrown into this
Very true but that's now probably the case 1 out of 5000
They do it because they suck. They haven’t accomplished much beyond landing a corporate name on their resume, so that’s their calling card.
A basic career goal should be to never be a person who has to lead with that.
Same people who 10+ years after they graduated say they went to an ivy in every conversation
Only people I know who say they went to an “ivy league school” went to Cornell
I had someone recently try to connect that not only had they were HBS alumn ex McKinsey but after the ex McKinsey put “3x promoted” telling you how many times they were promoted at the firm. I guffawed
many are saying this is back office, I’ve actually found it’s usually HBS people at least half the time
Deja vu, a couple of days ago I saw a similar thing from a GSB Candidate. It was a consultant and he put "promoted to post-mba role" in the description for that role. I was like dude.... cmonnnn.
In French finance, have seen many people who did 6 month internships refer to themselves and be referred to (including in finance publications) as “ex-Roths” and “ex-Laz”
yeah lol i've seen many europeans on linkedin list a bunch of banks in their header even though they don't work there anymore and they just did an internship there
The equivalent of poppin a double or triple polo shirt collar
A member of my gf’s family claimed to work in “investment banking” when he’s an FP&A analyst (basically audit) for a regional healthcare company. He also graduated with a 3.4 from western michigan university lol, good luck spinning that as IB.
In all fairness, some FPA roles do have a bit of M&A involved. Not sure if that’s the case but either way, he’s definitely not doing investment banking.
Start-ups are not shitty, many of the millionaires made their fortune from startup equity.

And nope, they didn't do it for prestige. They just wanna tell people that they have climbed out of a shithole and wanna connect with people who did the same
Jane Smith, MBA (Ex Goldman)
Either insecurity or as a marketing gimmick that targets the uninformed
I saw Goldie's LinkedIn, it says "ex-WSOer" - such prestige.
(joking)
I really miss that guy...
Same reason I put "Ex of Jennifer Garner" on my Raya profile. Helped me bag Ana de Armas. So now I have upgraded to "Ex of Ana de Armas".
Ana de Armas is how I imagine an angel would choose to take human form.
The best comment I’ve ever seen on this site
It's cringe but it makes it easier for recruiters to find your profile.
I find it just as cringy as you do, but UNFORTUNATELY, with so many people now active on LinkedIn, there's a lot of noise. A job appreciation post every week, 'influencer' cult followings, a post everyday for random life lessons, to point out every little thing happening in their lives and workplaces, every certifications they have done no matter how insignificant, every goddamn interview and every chance to kiss ass, I find myself having to honk louder. It's a f.ing marketplace.
people want to be bankers without having to work in banking
The same reason tech nerds put "Ex-Google", "Ex-Facebook", "Ex-Stripe" in Silicon Valley...
Bc they got that micro
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