I don’t have a LinkedIn and it has impaired my job hunts in the past but I always worry that creating one now (without the references of colleagues from decades of past work) would look worse than not having one?

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aunty_helen 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nah that’s not a thing. Get involved spend an afternoon setting it up and then it will suggest a bunch of people you’ve probably worked with in the past. They’ll be happy to connect and then it’s a good point to catch up and drop the “I’m in the market”.

If anybody used to enjoy working with you and they know of something it, should be easy enough from then on.

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dotmanish 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Majority of my LinkedIn contacts don't have any endorsements on their LI profile.

It used to be a thing of the past - people don't seem to bother now. Go ahead and create the profile. Search and connect with your colleagues.

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craftkiller 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Do people still do endorsements on LinkedIn? There was an initial flurry when that "feature" launched but I haven't been endorsed for anything for I think the past decade. Really the only things I do on LinkedIn are update my job history and accept connections from coworkers.

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ethbr1 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Imho, anything past where you've worked on LinkedIn is a waste of time.

And arguably even a negative signal. Productive people have jobs to do instead of grinding Monopoly karma. Yes, this absolutely includes LinkedIn thought leadership.

I know MS and recruiters love to push the 'it matters' line, but I'd ask the reader -- who would you rather hire: someone who wow'd in an interview or someone with LinkedIn flair?

	▲	guiambros an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> who would you rather hire: someone who wow'd in an interview or someone with LinkedIn flair? Who would you rather interview: someone who has a great resume, and a strong LinkedIn profile, and connections to a strong peer community who can endorse them, or a faceless rando that shows up in your inbox with a PDF, amongst thousands of others, with zero referrals? I'm not endorsing LI grind -- I too hate it, but ignore at your own peril. OP seems to be in a rather precarious situation, so maybe it would help being a bit less dogmatic.
	▲	MarkMarine 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		<3 I thought I was alone in this

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acomjean 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Like the saying goes, the best time was years ago, the next best time is now.

I hardly use LinkedIn, but it does show work history. As someone else said there was a flurry of “endorsements” but I haven’t seen many since.

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wcarss 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

not a recruiter: I have never felt that recruiters pay attention to linkedin references specifically.

You can also make one, add people, and then ask for a few references. "I just finally made a linkedin in 2025 on a lark" is a perfectly cromulent icebreaker/reason to ask.