I was on my LinkedIn profile the other day and was prompted with an “Enhance your profile” with AI integration. Seeing as it’s still in Beta testing, I decided to give it a shot. This is yet another example of an incumbent slightly enhancing their existing offering with AI integration.
After clicking on the “Enhance” button I was prompted with the following pop-up to get started:
The first order of business seemed to be changing my title from “Associate” to “Business Development Associate @ ESG Book | Economics, Finance”. Simple enough, although I don’t think the ” | Economics, Finance” part is necessary. This might be useful for someone who has a LinkedIn title that doesn’t actually say what they do. Something like “Building the next generation software” or “Leading a team of winners”. Otherwise, developing this headline with AI seems somewhat unnecessary as we all should know what our job title is.
The second integration was for my About summary section. As of now, I do not have a summary on my LinkedIn profile. The following was what LinkedIn’s AI produced:
With over 3 years of work experience in the financial sector, I am a passionate and driven associate at ESG Book, a leading global provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics and data services. I am committed to advancing the sustainability agenda and delivering high-quality data solution to clients across global capital markets. My core competencies include ESG data analysis, finance, problem solving, and presentations. I bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the team, as a Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund alumni and a former caddy at Dedham Country & Polo Club.
In my current role, I am responsible for business development, client relationship management, and market research. I leverage my ESG data expertise and finance skills to identify and pursue new business opportunities, communicate the value proposition of ESG Book’s data solutions, and provide tailored support and guidance to clients. I also use my presentation skills to create and deliver engaging and informative pitches, demos, and reports. I have contributed to the growth and retention of ESG Book’s client base, as well as the enhancement of ESG Book’s brand and reputation in the industry.
Overall, I think it is a decent summary but provides way too much fluff. This might be more of a commentary on the nature of LinkedIn its self but it feels like the summary could have been “I sell data to Hedge Funds & Asset Managers. Previously I worked on the institutional sales desk of a large Asset Manager. The best job I ever had was as a caddy for 9 years to pay for school.” Instead, it’s now the prisoner’s dilemma scenario where I am better off on an individual basis to pad my summary with excess in the hopes my profile stands out, but as a whole the LinkedIn community would be better off if we all were direct and to the point. (side note – can anyone believe we are still using black and white .pdf resumes to submit to job applications in 2023? I can say “I know how to present complex topics to clients” like anyone else but why don’t I just create a website and show them?)
Overall I think the LinkedIn AI integration is more of what we are going to see going forward. A specialized toolset that has a very narrow focus into exactly what that platform or application is aiming to do. The chat interfaces will still continue to have success and be around for a long time but our primary exposure to AI in our daily lives will trend toward one or two features on a site we are already using.
mike murphy 