How is the career platform developing?

Linkedin is growing and continuously. According to Tomer Cohen, CPO of the career network, Germany, Austria and Switzerland obviously play a special role: “The DACH region is one of the fastest growing markets for us. We currently have 20 million members and a new member joins every 18 seconds,” he explains in an interview with t3n. As Chief Product Officer, he is the C-level executive responsible for the global strategy and execution of all product-related activities on the platform. Cohen was “extremely excited” about the current developments.

The fact that Linkedin, contrary to what many users might suspect, sees itself more as an international platform than as an American platform should not come as a surprise when you take a closer look at the global figures: “930 million people are currently romping around on the platform, 80 percent of them are not from the USA,” says Tomer Cohen. Brazil, China and India in particular stand out with user numbers in the high double-digit million range. But Great Britain, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia and Turkey also stand out as countries with user numbers in the lower two-digit million range.

For Linkedin, no two markets are the same, but according to Tomer Cohen, users are largely ticking the same way. “What we see is that professionals all over the world have the same demands on a career network.” Above all, they focus on one thing – the exchange of knowledge. “Today, if someone has a question or problem that they want to build expertise on, they can find someone on Linkedin who has already done it and who can help them.” That’s one of the main reasons why people from different countries use Linkedin is called.

A global work trend fuels this fact to a particular degree, according to the Product Board Member. The upskilling and re-skilling of employees, which is necessary due to the shortage of skilled workers, prompts employers and employees to look for opportunities for further education and training. Professions and industries are changing rapidly. “Some of the skills you need for the same job today are vastly different than what you needed five years ago,” says Tomer Cohen. This is one of the reasons why the career network attaches great importance to the expansion of the in-house education platform Linkedin-Learning.

The manager imagines a scenario for employees: A user is looking for a job. In a job advertisement placed on Linkedin, the person sees which skills are of interest for an application. She compares herself to the job requirements – Cohen calls this a “skill match” – and notes that she has four out of six skills. Job seekers can then use Linkedin-Learning to search for appropriate further education and training opportunities in order to close the knowledge gaps. Linkedin becomes the center for your own career.

With the current hype about artificial intelligence (AI), the question arises as to whether an AI application based on ChatGPT will find its way onto the platform. The AI ​​chatbot from the startup OpenAI, in which the Linkedin parent company Microsoft has invested heavily, is able to easily slip into the role of a career advisor with the appropriate command, a prompt. Anyone who asks ChatGPT what skills recruiters should bring with them in the next ten years and what a further training plan could look like will be presented with helpful tips. Does such a personal AI assistant make sense?

Tomer Cohen does not rule out an AI chatbot in principle, but he does classify “human interactions among each other as still more important”. Linkedin is already further ahead with other AI services. For example, many users find it difficult to put themselves and their professional career in the right light in the profile. A recently released AI tool takes content that already exists within it and identifies skills and experiences that deserve to be highlighted. “Based on this information, the AI ​​creates a profile that stands out from the rest,” says the product director.

The mood seems good on Linkedin. However, not everything that happens on the career network is free from criticism among users. For example, the accusation that Linkedin is developing into a “business Instagram” full of “bullshit influencers” is repeatedly raised. The focus of the criticism is that the newsfeed algorithm primarily rewards image postings with a wide range, which mainly consist of portraits and are peppered with simple messages such as “Know your worth” or “Be yourself”. A platform full of calendar sayings and truisms on photo backgrounds.

Tomer Cohen doesn’t see the solution in changing the algorithm. He believes visibility helps people connect with people. But he acknowledges that this content doesn’t necessarily contribute to the company’s mission, which is that connecting users will make them more productive and successful. The manager explains that Linkedin will continue to invest in the development of new formats in the future. Some of these have already been introduced to further focus on the exchange of knowledge – newsletters are particularly successful.

“We have publications with tens of millions of subscribers,” says Tomer Cohen. Newsletters are among the formats that are much more suitable for exchanging knowledge. This is long-form information. There would be 90,000 on Linkedin. Prominent entrepreneurs like Microsoft founder Bill Gates maintain such a format. He publishes personal thoughts on “Gates Notes”. A whopping 1.7 million interested people read it. But non-prominent users also write newsletters. Gemma Lee Roberts shares everyday tools and tricks in “Mindset Matters”. 600,000 people read that.

Another point of criticism relates to toxic user behavior. Especially in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in general due to topics such as climate change, it is becoming clear that polarization in society has also made its way onto Linkedin. Quite a few users are increasingly exposed to insults, defamation and even hate speech when they personally comment on political debates. Sexual harassment is also a recurring topic, especially towards women. Does Tomer Cohen see a greater need for action here?

“Our priority is to build a safe, trustworthy, and professional community and do it in the clearest possible way,” he explains. “People come to have productive, respectful, and constructive conversations with real people.” But with growth, it’s clear that chasms open up. Tomer Cohen believes two things are key to addressing this type of content: greater use of AI to identify toxic behavior more quickly, and expanding regional review teams to take down content and ban accounts.

“We have a very high bar for what is and isn’t a nurturing conversation on Linkedin, and very clear guidelines on what constitutes a violation of those rules,” said Product Vice President Tomer Cohen. “As with any system, we don’t always get all the decisions right. However, we then double-check and take responsibility.” Linkedin is not alone in facing these challenges. Almost every social network struggles with toxic user behavior. And all platforms from Facebook to Linkedin to Twitter are responding with the same actions.

Linkedin wants to continue to grow globally, opportunities for knowledge sharing have top priority and AI technology will have an ever greater influence on the platform without replacing humans where they make a qualitative difference – this is how the future strategy can be summarized at the moment. Tomer Cohen is not concerned that Linkedin, at least according to user numbers, is still in second place as a career network in the DACH region behind Xing with 21 million registered people: “DACH is important and we are growing rapidly. Let’s wait and see what next year looks like.”

However, it remains to be seen to what extent the two career networks will still be able to compete with each other in the future. Xing itself wants to develop more in the direction of a job platform or job exchange. In March 2023, the parent company New Work SE announced that the platform would also open job searches to non-registered users. Xing is thus increasingly competing with job portals such as Stepstone or Indeed. Linkedin and Xing, even if they are still similar in many areas, could probably diverge from each other again in their core business in the medium term.

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