LinkedIn Profiles: A Living Document
In the latest episode of The Jim Stroud Podcast, Jim Stroud delves into a fascinating trend uncovered by a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study reveals that one in five LinkedIn users has gone back to rewrite job descriptions of roles they've already left. This isn't about updating current positions but rather altering the history of past jobs. > A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER, found that one in five established LinkedIn users has gone back and rewritten a job they already left.
The Rise of the 'Time Travelers'
The research, conducted by Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom and colleagues, shows how workers are retroactively adding new skills and experiences to past roles to better align with current market demands. Stroud highlights how the emergence of technologies like ChatGPT has led to a surge in edits, particularly those adding artificial intelligence skills to roles that ended years ago. > After chat GPT dropped in late 2022, edits adding artificial intelligence to old job descriptions exploded more than six fold.
Patterns and Implications
Stroud discusses the implications of these findings for hiring managers. One key insight is that such edits are often precursors to job changes, with workers who alter their past profiles being 64% more likely to switch employers soon after. > The researchers found that workers who time travel are 64 percent more likely to change employers around the time they make the edit. This suggests that recruiters should pay attention to these edits as they can indicate a candidate preparing for a job move.
The Role of AI and Market Trends
The episode also touches on how AI is influencing these edits. Many rewritten histories are not even crafted by the individuals themselves but are generated by AI tools. This raises questions about the authenticity of profiles and the pressures driving these modifications. > A growing share of these rewritten histories were not even written by the workers themselves. A chatbot summarized a job the worker no longer holds in language the worker never used.
Stroud concludes by urging recruiters to rethink how they interpret LinkedIn profiles. Instead of viewing them as static records, they should be seen as dynamic documents that reflect what candidates believe employers desire. > The profile is not trying to tell you what happened. It is telling you what the candidate believes you want.
