I’m genuinely curious as it seems like these type of posts have become the norm for the younger generation on LinkedIn, why do people post these? You’re not a 5 star football recruit I couldn’t care less which option you decided to pick and your thank you shade you throw at the companies you rejected. Why can’t just updating your work experience on LinkedIn be sufficient? It tells the same story about the job you took and where without sounding immature. Is the motive ultimately based on the gratification given by the number of likes and comments you get or is there some other motive?
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I don't disagree with you, but LinkedIn has become much more than networking; it's also become a place to share your work-related achievements. I'm sure people do it for the likes and gratification, but it also feels nice to share with your network when you've accomplished something. People also generally publicly thank their mentors and people who've helped them out, so it's not always just about them I guess.
I have a much bigger issue with those "self-help gurus" spouting nonsense about the perfect workflow, or any post that ends with "Agree?"
Amen. If I could rid my LinkedIn of all the self help or entrepreneur people and posts I would. I get the thanks and all but if you’re really that thanksful a personal email or better yet handwritten would be much better than just throwing it in a post. I don’t think I’m old school, this seems like a further development from starting with the incoming summer analyst positions
Hey, my name is Tim Sykes, millionaire trader and mentor
You make a good point about the mentors, but if they were truly your mentors, wouldn't you just call/text/email them personally to thank them? Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I went to grab dinner with some of my mentors when I got my full time offer. It's much more rewarding to be able to talk to them in person, and you don't risk coming off like a huge hardo who "got the preftigious offer from ______" to several hundred strangers you only kind of know from your undergraduate studies and early work years.
I agree with you. I think it screams "tacky". But there are a lot of people out there who like having their egos stroked. It's not just the posters who look for some form of gratification, but also many people/mentors enjoy being publicly recognized for something, even if they won't admit it.
On a side note, I don't get the monkey shit. Nothing I said was false. Like it or not, it's just a fact that LinkedIn has evolved.
It’s very disturbing that people are so thirsty for attention
No, you're absolutely right. It's entirely for attention.
I love watching people comment on controversial topics on LinkedIn and commit career suicide.
Same.
I saw someone (from Ontario) take on the unpopular opinion of the re-reform of our grade school system's sex ed curriculum and I just DM'd him and said that either he had balls of steel or was extremely secure in his position to afford to post something so public. Lol.
itll be hilarious when it comes to a point whereby we unveil new analysts like football players signing new contracts
Be careful. I’m just imagining someone posting a video and reading one of these posts, I don’t know if we are too far off from that.
I think for any incoming analyst it is important to consider the message you are sending when you post something like this or even responding to posts on LinkedIn. When you begin to treat LinkedIn like an active social network and not as much as a networking tool (there is a difference, this isn’t Facebook or Instagram) you are opening up your actions, comments, and point of views to current and potential employers with words that are permanent and public, and that will be judged with very little context.
We're not. Had a buddy's little sister read off which job she'd accept in like a HS football recruitment way in a video, that she shared with close friends and family. It's her first job out of college.
I just said good luck and that's it. But thought to myself, wtf man....
I completely agree.
Between those and the news articles more suitable for Facebook, I'm wondering if there will be a LinkedIn alternative on the horizon.
If there isn't, one of you young strapping Entrepreneurs out there might want to consider it.
This is actually a very good point. LinkedIn controls the career oriented network, but I think they are making a mistake if they continue to move towards being a social media platform. That is definitely the route they are going and the self promotional nature is turning many (typically more senior and strong networked folks to begin with) off. If these folks start to disengage or find an alternative platform, like you mention, LinkedIn could suffer. Then again, perhaps they just keep growing with these insufferable self-promoters and end up doing ok.
My two favorite things on LinkedIn are putting ", MBA" after your name and people who take one certificate program from Harvard online and use HBS as their headlining education. This is even better when combined with the ", MBA" to make it appear as if they went there. I honestly don't understand how these people believe that will ever aid them when any serious employer will snuff that out by literally scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Saw one that used Columbia as his headlining education after receiving an online single course certificate. He also listed ones from Harvard and MIT, and his only completed degree was a high school diploma. In his bio, he listed "Triple Ivy Leaguer". I don't think he knows MIT is not an Ivy.
There's a strong correlation between the clowns that do that and those same clowns that have "INCOMING" job titles.
Love it.
Hear hear
Only thing worse than doing this are posts about how much you love your team and company.....LinkedIn brownosers are just the worst tools on this planet.,
I call them Oscar acceptance speech posts. I bet this is what the douche-canoes that post them want to say:
“Ahem. Thank you so much to EVERYONE for helping me advance in my career. I’ve overcome so much and worked so hard to get where I am. From mommy and daddy doing my college applications for me and making sure I’m on track to submit everything on time (god forbid I develop independence by age 18), to them getting me my first internship making copies and eating (not getting) donuts in my uncle’s 3-man office, I’m grateful. Special shout to to list 3 impressive names of professors or friends, and my virtual mentors, tag Tim Ferris’s and Gary Vee, I’m in awe of the likes and jealousy I’m about to receive from them and my LinkedIn-stalking classmates. I’m excited to start as a Sales Rep at Northwestern Mutual / Equities Analyst in Dallas / HR person for a sketchy nonprofit. The best is yet to come!!!! #hashtag #poundtag #pleaseloveme”
I don't say this to too many people... but this was genuinely funny. Especially the "mommy and daddy doing my college applications for me" and the "Gary Vee" parts. Keep it up, slugger. +1
You know you made it on WSO when you get MS for complementing someone.
"You never meet a hater doing better than you"
“Northwestern Mutual” lmao Hit the nail on the head
The liar's poker reference at the end really does it for me
this goes into the category of self promotion for non-practical reasons. you're either a narcissist, insecure, a sociopath, have bad mentors, or all of the above. news flash: when you change your position, there's a notification. people will be made aware
if you use linkedin as a business building tool, sure make an announcement with a link to a brochure showing your new firms capabilities, but because you moved from JPM to KKR? big fucking whoop.
these same people give unsolicited advice on facebook, try to be pseudo motivational speakers/polymaths on instagram, likely are rude to wait staff, have no clue how few people actually give a fuck, and don't realize that external love is secondary to loving thyself.
if you're truly happy, you don't give a fuck what others think, love thyself first and foremost, everything else is secondary.
also there's no such thing as a humblebrag, you're just a douche
Completely agree. It's so douchey and unnecessary. People are always like "I want my network to know" - well you know what? They'll know when you actually start the job and your job title changes. 6 months advance notice isn't going to change shit.
I may be in the minority but I am relatively accepting of the "incoming" title for summer internships/grad roles, but find the posts congratulating/accepting a position posts 100x more annoying (especially when its something like spring weeks).
I was fucking ecstatic as a kid in university to put incoming IB SA on linkedin to flex on my non^100-target comrades. reason i dont hate on eager university students when they accomplish something they've worked very hard for. announcing it via post is a special kind of cringe though
the fact that you get a jolly from bragging is a dangerous personality trait. humility is key. self promote to recruiters, interviewers, potential investors, but not to contemporaries/friends/colleagues, it's very unbecoming.
Eh, fine line..lots of those that brag are the ones that'll achieve. It's in their nature, experience will get them to keep it to themselves later in life but the young ones will push it.
i agree with this...in a perfect world.
but we don't live in such. the majority of your peers or competitors - depending on the situation - are taking every opportunity to self promote to anybody who will listen. i would like to believe that the average intelligent person would see right through this and mentally disregard this person. but most people simply don't have the capacity or perspective to see through this and/or no longer value humility. so for those of us who still value humility, avoiding gossip, etc we are at a disadvantage. that's the game, unfortunately. i don't like it but i think people need to play it to an extent...it's a fine line.
as a current junior, I see these posts all the time. I think, like people said, Linkedin is being used as an acceptable place to show off to peers. I personally didn't do it because it is annoying and the people who I want to know about it will hear about my offer in person.
I wonder if part of it has to do with accelerated recruiting timelines-how else will students be able to indicate that they have secured a good sophomore summer+fall internship without either listing it as incoming or posting in some way?
I think that is the reason behind "incomings", but shouldn't have anything to do with the posts. I got to see people posting these kinds of stuff for no name company/sketchy family connection job so it doesn't make sense at all.
I would agree that a lot of it is bizarre flexing, but some of it may also be weird attempts at corporate sycophancy. Seen a lot of people making posts lately about how excited they are to be part of [MBB] lately, and given the culture of the first one, would not be surprised if its part of some drive to strongly associate with the firm.
Agree with this all the way. If you’re really grateful, announce it to the people that give a shit about you. Text your family in a group chat or write out a letter to your mentor.
When I see them I tend to ignore them. Signing up for that site has done nothing to further my career and is basically only good for receiving corporate propaganda and sub-business insider articles. I suppose that it may also have some value if you enjoy looking at business friendly glamour shots of people trying to oversell their skills and experience.
Virtue Signaling from undergrad kid. Like incoming analyst at. Who give a f?
Things that need to be announced as incoming are not good, ie mortars. So if something is announcing itself then it must be really bad.
Anyone here who says NOT to write "incoming IB summer analyst" as a job position is an idiot. When I did FT recruiting, no one wanted to talk to me until I let them know that I was an incoming IB analyst. If I had just waited around until I started, I would have had much less success networking. LinkedIn is for showing off your professional ackomplishments and getting a job offer 13 months before the job starts is a huge ackomplishment and it it'd be dumb to not put it on your profile until you start, especially if you want to use that job as a stepping stone.
k
You spelled accomplishment wrong twice, leading me to believe...
Ouchhhhhh!
banker2018 - There are people here with ACTUAL experience telling you not to do something. I assume 2018 means you graduated this year?
You mean you were an incoming operations analyst, right?
k
it depends on how you want to be perceived, and what your long term goals are
I can definitely see how posting that can help you in the short-run, but what about in the long run? How do you want people to remember you? That stuff matters.
It's lame to see it on LI, but when people copy everyone in the entire IB on an email saying they're leaving, it has been great, many life long friends, etc. I feel the same way. IB has massive turnover. Everyone is and should be grateful to be here. When you leave, that's cool. Copy your team, maybe send a few notes to senior people that you worked with that impacted you, etc. Unless you're an MD, don't copy the whole IB.
I just use LinkedIn as a public resume, basically, with maybe a little more details. I don't check it outside of updating or receiving messages from recruiters.
This kind of behavior gives me zero desire to increase my usage of LI, lol. All of this sounds extremely cringey.
the defense of "incoming IB..." and other types of posts tell me humility is dead, and it died with a whimper.
Some call it "virtue" signaling, but I think it's more like "I'm seeking affirmation" signaling. Everyone just wants to feel important. Announcing your accomplishments is a way to feel important. Quiet confidence is the best indicator of ability in my mind and that isn't manifest in shouting your accomplishments from the rooftop.
I wrote a whole freaking post about this (search for “If I see another incoming..” on WSO) because of how annoying and ridiculous I find this. Jeez when are people going to learn
Personally I like hearing about when my friends are enjoying some level of success. Doesn't bother me at all and it makes me very happy to them doing well!
There was a point when I hated the posts on Facebook, but in my experience, Facebook has become relatively "tame." The worst behavior comes out on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Doesn’t bother me. I think it’s rather funny to read through them because of how they wrote it. (I.e. humble bragging)
As an undergrad I haven't done of those posts myself, but I don't have a problem with them. It's neat seeing where current classmates/high school acquaintances/random connections are placing. Especially if you see someone a few years your senior going to a firm that's on your radar but now you "know" someone there to reach out to going forward. I can imagine it's probably cool for past teachers/relatives/etc to see what you're up to without stalking your profile or FaceBook.
Of course, 90% are definitely the "look-at-me" scenarios and that's why I wouldn't do it myself
Can’t you just go to their page and see if you’re that curious? Also anytime you update your work experience with a new job it makes a post on all your connections feeds...so completely unnecessary
Maybe it's a generational thing. If I took a new job I can't myself posting about it in LinkedIn, but then the average 20 year old is used to "sharing" a lot more than an ol' fart like me does.
Students are always trying to compete to get the best jobs/internships out there and seem like the top student in their class. These "happy to announce" posts are students looking for instant gratification (like you said) from likes and comments. The reason I get so irritated by these posts is because if you really wanted people to know/thank people for helping you, why can't you just pick up the phone and call them? Why can't you send an email? It's not that often that you have so many people to thank that you can't reach out individually. And even if it is a lot of people, they would much rather receive an individual thank you than read a post on LinkedIn about how you have this new job/internship.
They do it in the hopes that hot girls notice
theaccountingmajor in the near future:
"I am proud to announce that I have accepted a position as an Audit Associate for KPMG in Sioux Falls. Thank you to all of my family, friends, teachers, and co-workers who have helped teach, guide, inspire, and motivate me along the way; I look forward to the new experiences and challenges ahead of me following graduation in May!"
nope lmao
Hilarious!
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