So to start things off, this is a little bit of a different topic and take for me. I’ve only loosely talked about the updates to my career here and there, with a smattering of a lot of other random stuff on this site. That said, I’m finding that I feel quite passionate about LinkedIn messages and I wanted to put down a take — possibly a controversial one at that. So, here we go…

If you’re a Hiring Manager you should set aside time to respond to LinkedIn messages whenever you can

Now let me caveat this take: I’m a recent Independent Contributor (IC) Data Analyst convert to a People Manager within the last year, so I’m still relatively new at this. However, I feel really strongly about this. I recently put out that I was hiring a Data Analyst for my team, and the post got the most reactions and impressions I’ve ever gotten on LinkedIn. I’m not some form of professional influencer or thought leader, so let’s not all act surprised by this. The one thing that came along with this increased reach was a lot more LinkedIn messages with introductions, links to resumes, and statements about fit for the role.

At first this was a little overwhelming, but it was also incredible to see that people were interested in some combination of working at Meta, working on Trust & Safety and Operations work, or working with me (HA — I don’t even believe this one yet). Once I took a moment to sit back, I realized this was a great opportunity to do something I was never lucky enough to experience: As a Hiring Manager, respond back to a potential candidate. I won’t lie to you: Most conversations immediately turned into some form of “Connect me with the Recruiter directly” or “I’d like you to refer me for this position” — Both of those things I would politely decline and explain why I wasn’t able to/comfortable doing those things. A small percentage of those conversations turned into ways for me to answer general questions about working at Meta, being a Data Analyst, and Trust & Safety work that I found to be really fun and invigorating.

As I did this, connected with a few folks, and answered questions I would want answered as a possible candidate, I realized that I’m not sure if this was helpful for folks but I want to keep doing it. As someone who struggled in 2011 after graduating college to find a job, I relied on LinkedIn, and even LinkedIn Premium at the time, to send messages with questions or general outreach to Hiring Managers at companies I was excited about working at. I never heard back from any of them. As a 21 year old kid, that was really disheartening and challenging to work through. Things have obviously worked out better than I ever expected, but if me responding to just one person helps a little with that, then that feels like that was time well spent. So, if you’re a Hiring Manager and you find you have five minutes to spare: Check in on those LinkedIn messages and see if you can respond to few. You never know what kind of conversation you may end up having!