Are you a Uni student? Don’t join LinkedIn.
I joined LinkedIn quite a while back. Peer pressure is what it took me to join the “Professional Network”. It was a fantastic platform at one point in time. Now, not so much.
Why, you ask? Well, you don’t have to scroll down to much to find out. You remember why you stopped using Facebook? Because, your uncle who lives in the next town doesn’t like the neighbors kids? Well, he’s on LinkedIn now. He might be the director of a firm who makes drills and he advertises himself the same but, his activity on LinkedIn is still the same.
A question you would have asked by now is, “well, why isn’t LinkedIn removing his post if it doesn’t meet the professional network’s standards?” Honestly, I’m stumped too. A professional network is not to show off your new BMW or a new house you bought or talk about geopolitics or even your neighbors kids…no matter how much noise they make. A professional platform was, is and will always be where you maintain a professional decorum at all times. An online office, if you will. But, a little less boring than that.
The Conundrum
We conducted a survey across Pakistan, targeting university students, and asked them if they had a LinkedIn profile. Most of them said no and very few of them said yes. And, the ones who had said yes either rarely use LinkedIn or haven’t even put up a profile picture. Interestingly enough, our statistics align with LinkedIn’s own statistics. Statista states that a measly 20.5% of LinkedIn’s user base is between the 18–24 age group.
We wanted to dig deeper and understand why weren’t students interested in using LinkedIn at all. Hey, you have created the profile, you only need to log in and scroll down once in a while. It can’t be that boring, can it? Well, “boring” wasn’t the word we found. The single most used word in our survey when we mentioned LinkedIn to university students was…overwhelming.
It’s just so overwhelming because I’m a student with little to no experience going up against these industry veterans — Sara Khan, IBA 2023
Yes, overwhelming. But, why?
Let’s put it this way. The more active users on LinkedIn have more years of work experience under their belt, when compared to the age of the university student willing to create an account on LinkedIn. Simply put:
Experience of LinkedIn Active User > Age of University Student
But, that was not all. The constant “humblebrags” on LinkedIn were a downer for these users. A student who doesn’t even have a job comes across some random post from an experienced user who has just bought a new Rolex. It adds to the stress.
Finally, the cherry on the top was the lack of relevant opportunities. This one is important. LinkedIn’s employers mostly advertise jobs in which they need someone with experience. A university student who is graduating (or has just graduated) has little to no experience. They’re automatically flagged when they apply. To add salt to the wounds, those opportunities which are in fact relevant have a massive number of applicants.
So, what is the answer? I think you know already.
QriosityNet — LinkedIn for Students
Yes, you read that right. But, that is not all. We’re a gamified version of LinkedIn.
Meaning: do you want to be rewarded for your engagement? Do you want to compete with the global student body to win prizes and such? Do you want to have custom avatars for your professional platform?
If the answer to all three was a resounding YES then, QriosityNet is for you. Yes, you!
