Ah, LinkedIn. For all of the amazing networking and research capabilities the site offers, there have always been an equal amount of frustrations involved in using the site — and numerous changes have been made to the platform that are downright head-scratchers.
As an example of this, many users may have noticed that LinkedIn recently decided to adopt an AI-only search approach that replaces the conventional job search filters that worked like a champ for 20+ years. Given this change, users no longer have the ability to tell the site EXACTLY what they’re trying to find. You can’t say you only want to see jobs that have “Director of Product Management” in the title, for example. Your only option is to spell out your general desires in the top box, hit the button, pray, and hope AI gets you close. And generally it does. But again, sadly, the new AI approach doesn’t offer nearly the precision that one used to have access to through the “All Filters” menu.
All of this being said, there’s still ONE key setting most people overlook that can help you cut down on erroneous leads flooding your inbox. If you haven’t done so already, visit LinkedIn and click on the Jobs > Preferences > Job Alerts menu — then scroll down and see if the “Top Job Picks for You” setting is enabled. If so, I’d recommend you switch it off, since it’s turned on by default and gives LinkedIn permission to send you listings for roles that (in most cases) only relate marginally, at best, to your career goals. Honestly, in most cases where people accuse LinkedIn of sending them completely unrelated employment leads, this setting is the culprit. So double-check and switch it off, if you haven’t already!
