LinkedIn Activity in High Finance - Why So Different?
Noticed something about LinkedIn that I wanted to throw out there and see if others have caught onto it too.
We all know how LinkedIn works, especially for students wanting to break in and juniors in IB. It’s normal to see them liking and commenting on everything. Friend gets a summer internship? Congrats in the comments.
Someone they met at a networking event posts about an offer? Big like. Even small stuff like finishing an online certification can get engagement. For a lot of juniors, their feeds are basically a mix of likes on random company posts, articles they found interesting, or congratulatory comments for almost anything someone they know (even loosely) achieves.
But here’s the thing: I’ve noticed that mid-level guys in PE (think associates at MF's) or SM hedge funds like Tiger, as well as senior bankers, don’t seem to do this. If you look at their LinkedIn profiles, you’ll see little to no engagement. No “thrilled to start my new role” posts, no constant liking of others’ updates, and maybe—maybe—a single comment from a few years back. Their feeds are almost blank.
At first, I thought maybe it’s a generational thing, like older professionals not really caring about LinkedIn. But many of these guys, especially associates or analysts at prominent SMs, are in their mid-to-late 20s, so they’re definitely aware of LinkedIn. Could it be the nature of their work? Long hours, no time to scroll? That might be part of it, but I also noticed they didn’t really post or engage much even when they were in college. Their profiles from back then are just as quiet.
Why the big difference? In other industries, even at senior levels, people use LinkedIn quite a bit. Partners at top VC funds, for example, are often liking and commenting on posts—whether it’s a buddy’s new role, a founder they’re working with hitting a milestone, or a colleague moving firms. In those circles, being active on LinkedIn seems pretty normal, even expected.
So, is there some unspoken rule in high finance about LinkedIn? Like, does being too active come off as overly eager or not in line with the “polished professional” image? Is it better to stay low-key and only use LinkedIn for the bare minimum such as connecting with people, but not constantly engaging publicly?
As someone still junior in my career, it feels like staying active is the point of LinkedIn is to keep your network up to date, build connections, and stay visible. But maybe as you climb higher in high finance, it’s less about public interactions and more about private messages and direct connections?
Would love to hear others’ thoughts if you have you noticed this too? Is there a downside to being too active on LinkedIn, or is this just a high-finance-specific thing?
Me and my buddies were actually discussing this yesterday… crazy!
I am one of those ppl whose relatively active on LinkedIn, but keeps a low profile. I am 34 yrs old. If you look at my feed, I maybe liked one or two posts in the last two years plus. I just don't want the world to know who am I engaging with. I am a private person
Posting/engagement crap on linkedin is cringe. if you are posting about winning a finance certification, i immediately write you off as unserious once you are no longer a student.
Not true at all they are super active on LinkedIn but careful with likes and comments. One MF in NYC just promoted a bunch of VPs to Principals and they all had the automated "Promotion/New Job" LinkedIn Activity update (my network being one of them so I saw all of them). Some of them certainly had more coworkers/peers from the company liking than others.... kinda toxic haha
It’s simply based
Its incredibly cringe to do all this shit on Linkedin for engagement
Real Gs move in silence like lasagna
This is basically it.
Also LOL at “mid level guys like associates in PE”. Tells you all you need to know.
Yeah, seeing associates be called mid-level gave me a chuckle.
I think it's maturity/realizing particularly if you are in a stable seat that it's ultimately just a job, and you want to do what you have to do and then use whatever free time you have to devote to stuff that is non-work or not tangential to work. Also it's generally better to keep a cleaner professional image than a more discombobulated one.
PE culture is all about not standing out too much or having an individual brand or personality. Cultivating one on LinkedIn is thus not really valued and likely just seen as detracting from your actual job. Of course, a lot of LinkedIn posting is cringe, but I do think in many other industries thoughtful posts are helpful
90% of people who post a fuck ton on LinkedIn have absolutely nothing going on in their lives.
LinkedIn can be very useful in some industries but I’m tired of seeing another one of my peers post about a 2 hour online certification they did. It literally does not matter at all and you look like a fucking tool.
and yet you're probably the kid with incoming IB summer analyst a year in advance...talk about the pot calling the kettle black
What in the world…
this is honestly a very interesting post. i’ve never thought about it before but i definitely agree with your sentiment. i get the sense when you are at a MF or work at a big hedge fund you get nothing out of engaging on linkedin - you just kind of stay in your lane and your work product mostly speaks for itself. it’s probably a bit self selecting in that people working at these top roles have almost always been finance studs who don’t even remotely feel the need or desire to peacock on linkedin
Probably correlation between people who didn't waste time in college doing dumb stuff like curating their LinkedIn profiles perfectly and becoming senior investment professionals
Part cultural — “we are elite — I was never a know nothing college student celebrating getting an internship — we are and always have been — if you know you know — a collection of logos speaks louder than words — you can trust me with $10B because I’m not a regular person”
Part practical — “I just did OCR and oncycle and mba cocktails — no one ever asked about my LinkedIn”
Part deliberate — “my network is best maintained in person — there is no material benefit from being active on LI but there is a possible downside — being nondescript on here is probably for the best since we fired half the workforce at one of my portco’s this year”
There may be some small reasons that are specific to LinkedIn. For example, what is the point of these likes and congrats anyways?
But I think the big reason is that this is how all social networks (digital and physical) work. The more important/successful people in the room are bringing the credibility that draws everyone else in. Any conference planner will tell you that this is a central issue with conferences. Everyone is there to network with the big shots, and the big shots have little to gain.
Many things work this way. Forbes 30 under 30, 40 under 40 etc . . . a few people get invited to give it credibility and the rest pay for the right to draft off of it. Many CNBC guests pay to be interviewed as a guest on air, but you can be damn sure Bill Ackman doesn't.
LinkedIn doesn't do a whole lot to get successful people on there. So successful people just check the box by making a simple profile just in case it somehow benefits them one day . . who knows, maybe that old friend from high school finds them or something. But they don't have anything to gain from engaging regularly.
Spot on. I have essentially nothing to gain by creating a flurry of public activity on LinkedIn. At worst, it makes me look like a tool.
I do have a profile because there could be some incremental value if someone I know comes across me and we exchange messages, etc.
Not posting a lot publicly is synonymous with a “been here, done that” attitude. Act like you’ve been there before... there seems to be an unspoken rule across high finance to keep LinkedIn activity to a minimum. But I bet a lot of people use it privately.
I could not care less about farming for congratulations on a new role or company. I would get zero value add from commenting, posting, or liking anything on LinkedIn. I don’t need to explain how I saved the world at my prior jobs or what I specialize in. If I want to build a relationship, I speak to the person. If I want to find a role, I get inbounds constantly or I leverage my network. If I need to impress, I lean on the reputation I’ve built with the people I’ve worked with and my abilities in whatever applicable environment.
I would flip this around and say why do some people do all of the engagement? What do they tangibly hope to get out of it?
People with real stuff to do, do real stuff?
why are guests on Bloomberg and CNBC always strategists and economists and never traders and PMs 🤔
Because when good PMs and traders have a winning strategy, they keep it to themselves to make money with it instead telling other people so that they can crowd the trade. And if they don't have anything, well nobody wants to hear about a losing strategy...
Same reason why you will never have good academic research in finance. Why would you tell the world when you can just keep it to yourself and be better off?
As someone who is very very junior- I always wondered why ppl cared so much about LinkedIn. Filled with tons of irrelevant posts that people barely react to. A post about what they gained in a class to “beef up their profile.” Seems like everyone just tries to put on an image and attempt to impress, but to me it’s the opposite. I want to hear what people have to say to me, but I have friends that also say “look at this guy that just posted on LinkedIn about a hypothetical start-up they had to create for a class, kinda weird”
To me LinkedIn is a way to connect with people you barely know just to have that “connection” or maybe just to eventually reach out to.
Kinda makes sense more senior people don’t use it bc if they want to reach out to someone - they can probably get in touch with their own REAL connections
Those posts are just ultra cringe
1. grow up it's cringe - I never did that and never did IB so ig I'm not a sheep
2. High ups in the HF industry keep a low profile so they don't get Luigi Mangioned by some random college student disillusioned with capitalism
3. When you're established you don't need any presence anywhere...your eminence speaks for yourself
as someone who grew up dirt poor and then did the eb ibd --> mf pe --> sm hf path, i can give my $0.02, although it may not hold true for all.
when i was in college, especially during my early years, i was ecstatic and grateful to my target school for giving me a full ride, where there was no way my family could afford full sticker price, so naturally, i wanted to make as much friends as possible at the school.
when my friends got great internships, i was v happy for them, the way i was happy for myself about being able to attend this school and get great internships, so i would comment my congrats, react to posts, and share my love and positivity to both friends and peers.
i was also actively involved in my school, both in greek life and clubs, so i would also like posts and comment congratulations to others' posts as a way to show that i was v happy for them.
after graduation, i began my FT role in a good eb ibd group, from where i went to mf pe.
my years in mf pe was a road paved with misunderstanding, betrayal, and sacrifice - during this time, i became extremely jaded.
furthermore, i heard the news that my target school, which i once loved so much, was one of the defendants in both the college admissions scandal and the recent financial aid price fixing scandal - from this, my eyes opened and i realized how someone from my background was in the absolute minority in both elite colleges and wall street, and how, no matter how good my work, i will never truly fit into this industry, all because i dared to use wall street as a way to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that had run so deep in my family for so long.
from my mf pe days, i gave up on linkedin and just began to focus on myself and my closest friends only.
i realized that i was better off investing into a select few relationships with my closest friends and family, rather than have a large network of people i have shallow relationships with. remarkably enough, when i began to keep my circle small and focus on doing well for myself only, i found that more people around me respected me more and my reputation got much better.
i had confused people pleasing with a good reputation during my younger years, and once i realized how different these two were, i stopped doing the former and i have been able to live a happier life as a result.
since then, i don't go on linkedin (or any other forms of social media) much, and i never looked back!
oh, and with my spare time, instead of using social media, i just read lots and lots and lots of books!
SB’ed
Lol
Hey, could you DM me please? I am in a similar situation and would really appreciate to talk to you in private.
Easy.
At this stage of my career (10+ years at HF and Commodity trading), >90% of the LinkedIn requests are one-sided; people trying to get something out of me. I don’t even bother.
Additionally the firm I worked for and the one I currently work are pretty secretive and we like to keep it that way.
I don't post on LinkedIn. I will, occasionally, congratulate someone if close enough to them.
I *sometimes* (rarely) re-upload, retweet whatever it's called, an article I find interesting.
I am purposeful with my likes. I don't like whatever, I like things I'm happy for others to see that I liked. Perhaps it's something from my university, perhaps it's a deal my team closed. I always like things that are generally inconspicuous, nothing controversial (ever). There might be things that I strongly agree with politically, but I won't like posts about them on LinkedIn because you should not be able to infer my political leanings etc from LinkedIn, because that can introduce bias into people's judgement of me.
One must admit, there’s a certain lack of subtlety in curating a LinkedIn profile as though it were some digital trophy case. True refinement lies in letting one's achievements speak for themselves—quietly, effortlessly, and far removed from the performative clamor of networking platforms. After all, self-promotion is so... pedestrian.
My 2 cents. Junior investor at a pe shop. I use linkedin to follow companies in the industry I cover and top thought leaders to see how they think about xyz. I also comment like and engage with posts that I feel compelled to react to cuz why not. I make sure to keep a professional filter on my engagement at all times
B/c it's almost as cringe as using the phrase "high finance"
Pretty senior in PE and I keep a VERY low profile on LinkedIn - I’ll post a press release about a deal, occasionally like something relevant like a former colleague joining a new firm, etc. That said, I do “lurk” a lot more on LinkedIn than my lack of activity would imply. Some of it is to keep up to date but frankly some of it is just wasting time when I’m bored (I don’t have any other social media).
I never thought about it much but I would say in PE, there is an unspoken rule about posting too much on LinkedIn. I personally don’t take people who post a lot on LinkedIn seriously, at least not in our industry. If you are really good what you do, you don’t need to say it, just do it. If you’re trying to stay networked, then set up calls / meetings with people, not post on LinkedIn.
The older you get the more reserved you become, especially in a conservative industry like high finance.
You want to say as little as possible and give away as little as possible about yourself. Also, the more motivated you are, the less you care about getting an internship and the more you care about the next big move / moving up wherever you are. Ergo, not worth posting.
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