Are there any noteworthy LinkedIn alternatives?

Linkedin seems to have lost its charm in the last 1-2 years. I'm noticing creators moving to substack but it still doesn't seem to be a 1:1 match. Just like there's Bluesky as a prominent X alternative, have you come across any for LinkedIn?

Make personal connections by reaching out to people you want to connect with. Many emails and messages will go unanswered or even unread/unnoticed - but others will get a response.

If you spend time thinking about the topic you want to connect on with the person and add value to their life in some way while communicating clearly, you'll have something much better than 100 LinkedIn connections.

3 days agoby leakycap

It began its first steps down that slippery slope (imho) 10-12 years ago. I only log in when I want to find 'the next job'. You can safely ignore anything that says "add your CV". I usually target mega-big corps, and in that case LI always pushes you to their corporate-30min-per-application systems (keep your CV in Word for easier copy & paste). So in a way it has helped me to limit my efforts to 5-10 CVs, and a couple of them always 'lead somewhere'.

and then some flag is switched and I start getting 'a number of messages' from headhunters that (want to) waste my time. An easy way to be blacklisted by those spammers is to _always_ tell them "I ain't telling you my current $$$ or my $$$ expectations, the effing gig/role/contract has a budget+benefits, tell me what are those and I will respond". That will send those assholes away faster than garlic does a vampire. If they stay, then they mean business and they 'like' the CV enough to talk/negotiate with you.

There are some other 'smaller' ones (Indeed comes to mind) that still stick to 'find a job and nothing else'.

3 days agoby HenryBemis

Not that I know of. It would have to be the LinkedIn before it became just another avenue for self-promotion and advertising for courses, seminars, etc.

Anecdotally, it doesn't appear to be any good for job searching. Lots of un-directed random messages from recruiters, but no real job sourcing.

It seems to be the fate of all socially oriented networking sites. They devolve into yet another advertising, spam delivery mechanism.

4 days agoby GianFabien

If you're a high school or middle school student there's tallo[1]

[1] https://tallo.com/

3 days agoby xyclos

Linkedin seems to have lost its charm in the last 1-2 years.

For most people, the Linkedin experience starts with the excitement of possibility and the line-goes-up endorphin buzz of increasing connections. After a while, it becomes clear that a Linkedin account requires management to filter push notifications and other spam. Finally, the basic physics of business networking replace imagined possibility.

Business networking is Serious work, Real work, Hard work. Linkedin facilitates that work, but about the best likely outcome of passive use is recruiter contact but there’s a big pile of tailings for any nugget…and there’s no guarantee of nuggets.

So is there an alternative? Existentially, No. Networking is work. You can work on Linkedin. You can work face to face. You can work on another platform. But there’s no substitute for work. Good luck.

3 days agoby brudgers

Handshake was working on that until they realized they could be an AI company and compete with Scale instead.

3 days agoby simantel

None of the meaningful help I've had since my layoff has come from people who are heavy LI users. I could leave the network today, and the same people who offered to put in a reference for my application or do a CV review would still respond to my emails.

The few times I've used the messenger to ask for an email from someone lacking a personal or faculty web page, it hasn't been super fruitful.

Kind of like with dating apps, it feels like a small pool of people are constantly searching -- either because they're very prized, or because they're very flawed, and it can be hard to distinguish between the two in either context "early career".

Like, despite reading this site, I'm not a "startup guy" -- my goal was always to find a stable, respectful workplace -- and every crazy side quest on my CV was a result of that quest.

Respect to folks who have a legit product and grow it, but there is a definite "bubble" in Silicon Valley, in the echo chamber sense.

Classic example: bar full of "LI types" demanded the TV be shut off when this scene came up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzAdXyPYKQo. Like, hands slamming on tables level anger about "what is this shit".

Anyways TL;DR I think the best professional network remains email.

2 days agoby firefax

Yes. RFC 6530 + a blog.

Everything else is just flashy marketing.

3 days agoby msgodel