+ Connect. + Connect. + Connect. If this looks familiar to you and you hate it, you’re not alone. For the blissfully unaware, + Connect is what you press to request to add someone on LinkedIn, the popular professional networking app, and I think that us college students need to be more intentional in how and why we use the platform.
As a freshman, we are constantly told by upperclassmen and even advisors that internships will be hard to come by at least until sophomore summer, so why do we create accounts now, or even before we reach university? I understand that it can be useful if you have your own business, but for the majority of us, a LinkedIn account doesn’t add any value to our lives.
It can be fun to pretend and act as if the clubs we join are actual jobs, but future employers won’t have the time to scroll through our posts and see what we thought of a networking event we attended.
But, I’m not innocent either. If you’re connected with me, you’ll have seen my post promoting my first article with TSL. Despite the likes and comments I eagerly checked my phone for, I wasn’t happy about it.
In high school, I always believed that LinkedIn was a far off thing, mocking some of my classmates that had chosen to make accounts as early as the end of 11th grade. Even when I arrived at Claremont McKenna College, I didn’t think I’d have to make a profile until at least sophomore spring, but conversations with my peers made me rethink my opinion. For a week straight, all I heard was “Did you see what X posted?” or “Can you comment on my post?”
Incessant discussion about LinkedIn was my breaking point. There is crushing peer pressure, a constant threat that I’d be disadvantaged for future employment by not having a LinkedIn that logged every goal and achievement. If that wasn’t enough, the number of connections I had mattered too.
If you thought having a certain ratio of Instagram followers to following makes you cooler, the coveted “500+ connections” title shining in the LinkedIn bio is, in the LinkedIn addict’s mind, just as important as being employed. While I have no doubt that professional clout is real, I don’t see how having that as a freshman is useful in any manner, apart from it being a flex.
While college students across the country — and maybe even the globe — might also follow this doctrine, I believe that the 5Cs exacerbate the issue. Being the top talent in the country is generally a good thing, but it also means everyone wants to prove their worth and show that they are different, which leads to the aforementioned posting of club positions and event recaps. Instagram already has its fair share of students using the platform to “flex,” and now that we’re in college, so does LinkedIn.
While you may genuinely be proud of your new internship or job, many students see the optics of their opportunities as more important than the work itself — it’s all about how it looks on your profile. LinkedIn has become the new measure of self-worth.
Many might counter by saying it’s better to start earlier than later, so that the professional environment isn’t new to us when we start working. I understand this take, but I also think that it adds unnecessary pressure on students as they feel they have to constantly keep up with everyone else.
Moreover, having all your middle school experiences explained in excruciating detail isn’t the most helpful either, as employers can only scan for important information. The truth is, coming out of high school, very few of us have multiple relevant jobs or internships to choose from, and it’s easy to see through the fluffing that occurs. Putting your summer spent in the dishpit at a McDonalds on your LinkedIn will not will not be the difference maker in getting a Deloitte offer.
LinkedIn is a great platform for the professional workspace, and the fact that it is still relevant is testament to that. The key word however is “professional,” and to employers, we are all still children. I mean, come on, I haven’t even finished a semester of college yet. Juniors and seniors have locked in their majors and are well on their way to finishing the necessary electives, making them prime candidates. Freshmen and sophomores (to an extent) are still wayward on their decided major and may be less committed as a result.
We make fun of people obsessed with social media, so why do we not do the same for those obsessed with LinkedIn? We’ve made it one and the same. College LinkedIn is where students “do it for the ‘gram” and internships are the new “functions.”
Don’t doomscroll LinkedIn. At least Instagram’s more fun.
Kabir Raina CM ’28 believes we should all chill out about getting internships and LinkedIn clout. He will probably promote this on his account though. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
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