How to Get a Job at Linkedin

Linkedin Details & History

LinkedIn is a social media platform for job seekers and professionals. It was launched in 2003 from cofounder Reid Hoffman's basement, and has since grown to become the world's largest professional network with over 740 million members in over 200 countries. Microsoft acquired Linkedin in 2016.

While Linkedin started as a job-finding platform aimed at connecting tech workers, it has since exploded to have features of most social media platforms. Linkedin allows users to create profiles, connect and follow other professionals, apply for jobs, and read the news. They also have their own job posting and recruiting products to help identify top talent quickly. In 2015 Linkedin acquired Lynda to bolster their Linkedin Learning platform-- something we recommend often on Bridged as a great means to learn about other careers in an affordable way.

Linkedin Office Locations

Linkedin believes in remote work, but they also have several offices spread across the globe. Their headquarters, like many big-tech companies, is in Sunnyvale, California, but they also have one an hour away in San Francisco.

Linkedin also has North American offices in Chicago, Omaha, New York City, Carpinteria (California), Detroit, São Paulo (Brazil), Seattle, Toronto, Washington DC, and Mexico City.

We were actually surprised to see their European/Middle Eastern/Asian presence as well. Linkedin has European offices in Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Graz, Milan, Madrid, Munich, Paris and Stockholm. In Asia/India Linkedin has several more locations including Bangalore, Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo, Gurgaon, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Shanghai. They also have office locations in Sydney, Melbourne, Tel Aviv and Dubai.

Linkedin's Primary Competitors

Linkedin has several different products, and therefore compete on different levels with different company models. We'll call out a few of the most prominent ones here.

• For their social media platform, Linkedin is competing for consumer attention with the likes of Facebook and Instagram (Meta now), Twitter and Tiktok.
• For their job-finding platform, Linkedin is competing with Indeed, Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter.
• For their Linkedin Learning platform, they're competing with Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, and surprisingly YouTube. And countless other bootcamps.

Top Linkedin Departments for Entry-Level Roles

• Product
• Marketing
• UX Design
• Engineering

Diversity at Linkedin

Linkedin puts out an incredibly thorough annual diversity report in October. In 2022, their workforce consists of 47% women, with a 45/55 split in leadership roles. This is actually one of the best stats we've come across.

They list several other diversity factors in the report, but it's important to call out that 63% of their workforce in 2022 self-identified as non-white.

Is remote work allowed at Linkedin?

Yeehaw, yes it is. In addition to their several offices, Linkedin supports a full time work-from-home policy.

Does Linkedin have good benefits?

In a word, yes. We've ranked their benefits package a 7/10. Some unique perks besides healthcare, 401k match (50% up to ~10k/year), and remote work:

• Free breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks at the office
• Unlimited PTO and sick time (a pro or con, depending on your stance)
• $2,000/year in wellness reimbursements - for gym memberships or similar things
• $80/month in cell phone reimbursement
• 12 weeks for BOTH maternity and paternity leave
• Employee stock purchase program (ESPP) -15% of base salary at 10% discount

Who is Linkedin looking to hire?

Linkedin values people of all backgrounds to create community in their workforce. They especially seek out those who demonstrate their company values.

Linkedin Company Values

• We put members first
• We trust and care about each other
• We are open, honest and constructive
• We act as one Linkedin
• We embody diversity, inclusion and belonging
• We dream big, get things done and know how to have fun

Linkedin Interview Process

The interview process for Linkedin heavily depends on what position you're going out for. Expect a completely virtual process that lasts around 3 rounds and 4-6 weeks.

Round 1 Interview at Linkedin: Recruiter Screen

A recruiter screen is extremely normal for larger companies to vet you for the role you're applying for. They will ask some "screener questions," often written by the hiring manager, to try and weed out the applicants who are not qualified to save everyone time. Expect to talk about previous experiences that mimic the wording in the job description.

Round 2 Interview at Linkedin: Assessment and Technical Screen

There is a take-home technical assignment and a technical screen (if applicable) with a hiring manager.
‍
There will be a mix of technical and behavioral questions in this round. They'll be looking for things like critical thinking, thought processes, problem solving capabilities, and teamwork styles. If it's an engineering role, expect a couple coding challenges.

Round 3 Interview at Linkedin: Meet the Team!

After getting past the hiring manager, they'll want you to meet members of the team. Instead of rapid-fire back to backs, usually this is a panel of 2-3 people. This will be primarily behavioral and collaboration focused-- they're sussing you out as a culture and team fit.

Linkedin Internship Program

Linkedin fosters a great internship program to both undergraduate and graduate students. They cover a lot of the nitty-gritty on their internship site but we'll recap the highlights for you here:

• They offer a range of programs, including technical (engineering, product, ux, etc), business (strategy, ops), and creative (ads, copy, etc) internships.
• Internships open in early September for summer of the following year. They close early March.
• The internships are onsite and based in Charlotte, NC.

Linkedin Associate Product Manager (APM) Program

Linkedin actually provides a super robust associate product manager program that is extremely small and competitive. It's a 24 month program (2 whole years!) and offers a single rotation in-at the 12-month mark. Linkedin offer targeted PM training, hands-on learning for things like product roadmap creation and stakeholder management, and mentorship activities. At the end of the program, you're offered a role on one of the teams you rotated on (or you can join a new team entirely!).

Our favorite part of the APM program is their annual international trip-- for a company as big as Linkedin/Microsoft, we loved the startup-y nature of a group company trip.

Linkedin's APM program usually open to candidates in September and are only open 3-4 weeks.

We have a tried-and-true process to help our Bridged readers get hired. It's 5 primary steps, but the meatiest is finding ways to get specific experience. Read on for recommendations.

Identify Your Target Role

Do your research, through Bridged or another company, to identify roles that may align well with your interests and core competencies. You can start here with our review of Best Entry-Level Tech Jobs to explore some options.

Explore Ways to Get Experience

There are lots of ways to gain job experience without being on the job. Bridged gives several recommendations in our Job Guides for each job, but you can start by exploring programs like Coursera or Udemy to get valuable, resume-ready certifications from reputable sources.

Use Jobscan to Optimize Your Resume

We've written a whole article about this, but you'd be surprised how many resumes NEVER see the eyes of a human! That's because of a pesky-little thing called an Applicant Tracking System (or ATS for short) that scans and ranks resumes based on their matchability to the job descriptions. Unfortunately, a lot of these programs are outdated, and won't pick up the best candidates! Jobscan helps you get around this with comprehensive resume scanning and improvement recommendations. Get our full review writeup here.

Use Linkedin Premium to Find and Reach out to Linkedin Recruiters (is this repetitive?)

Roles these days, especially entry-level roles, are pretty competitive. There's no getting around it. However, showing you have the chutzpah to reach out shows wonders.

Premium subscriptions allow you to view more profiles and send more Inmails to locate and reach out to a recruiter that works on an area that hosts your target roles. Be funny, and emphasize the work you've done to match with their company. Mention Linkedin's values, and how you'd relate. A little human connection works wonders.

And Finally: Be Patient

It's a weird world out there in the job market. Everyone is getting rejections. Don't let it get to you, and keep upskilling in the process. Someday you'll see you're exactly where you need to be, and on the right path. Good luck!

Linkedin is a great target company for an entry-level tech role. Be persistent, and keep applying. You've got this.

Here at Bridged we are huge fans of stacking micro-certifications to achieve desired career results. We're building a product to make your career planning fun and affordable, and we'd love to talk to YOU! Was this article helpful? Did you land an interview at Linkedin?

Let us know at hello@getbridged.co