GenZ Networking Questions with Benjamin Chipman

Late last month, timed with Cannes, we began testing our new Collaborative Posts feature on LinkedIn to show how professional success is often driven by collaboration. In the weeks since, we’ve seen many great collaborations light up the LinkedIn feed from our early testing group.  Starting today, we are starting to expand access to this feature across the globe on LinkedIn, for both professionals and brands. As you receive access in the coming weeks, you can simply go to the sharebox and click “add collaborators” to use the feature, then publish as usual. From there, anyone you invited will get a notification to review and accept if they want to be listed as a collaborator on the post.  Our new Collaborative Posts feature is a great way to show how you’re teaming up with others to produce strong results, as well as to potentially reach new audiences on LinkedIn. Access will also include Company Pages, so that they can share these posts with customers, partners, or creators to broaden reach and build credibility. Here are a few quick things you should know about the feature: Q: How many people can I collaborate with on LinkedIn? A: You can invite up to five collaborators per post.  Q: What post formats support collaborations? A: You can collaborate on almost any format, including standard posts (text, video, image or posts that include a third-party link) and formats like documents, polls, events and celebration posts. Q: Is this feature available around the world? A: Yes, we are beginning to roll Collaborative Posts out globally beginning today. Q: Is this available to both members and Company Pages? A: Yes! When different minds connect, great ideas happen. We’re so excited to see the stories and insights you'll share together with Collaborative Posts. Got questions? Let's chat in the comments.

The story of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman started sketching the idea for LinkedIn at his kitchen table in late 2002. He had already lived through one internet company, a social network called SocialNet that failed to find its footing during the dot com crash. That experience taught him something most founders at the time were ignoring: the internet was not just for connecting friends. It could connect careers. He gathered a small team to build it. Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly, and Jean-Luc Vaillant each brought different pieces of the puzzle, from product design to engineering to marketing. They launched the site on May 5, 2003, from Hoffman's living room, inviting his own network of colleagues and friends to join first. Growth was slow at the start. On the first day, only 20 people signed up. For a professional network, that quiet beginning made sense. Trust had to come before scale, and trust took time to build. The team focused on something deceptively simple: helping people manage their professional identity online, long before most companies understood why that would matter. They resisted the instinct to chase viral growth the way consumer social networks did, choosing instead to build a platform people would actually use for their careers. By 2006, LinkedIn had turned profitable, an unusual milestone in an era when most internet startups burned cash for years. In 2011, the company went public, and Hoffman later became one of the most influential investors in Silicon Valley, carrying the same instinct for spotting where trust and technology could meet. What began as an invite only experiment among a small circle of contacts grew into the professional network more than a billion people now use to find jobs, build reputations, and stay connected to their industries. What do you think made professional networking succeed online when so many early social platforms built for other purposes faded away?

I’ve got one kid in college, so I’m living through this right now: The path to building a career seems wildly more challenging than anytime I've witnessed. And we’re certainly seeing that in our data, which we're out with today as part of annual Grad’s Guide. This report looks at what grads and recent job entrants are facing and where opportunity is actually showing up – from fast‑growing jobs and industries, to cities that are gaining momentum: https://lnkd.in/dzWRJyZm. One thing that jumped out to me: more grads are spreading their chips vs betting on landing a great first job. Some are taking “bridge” jobs while they keep applying. Others are freelancing or contracting – 51% of Gen Z globally say they’ve shifted their focus from traditional full‑time roles to freelance or contract work. And many are building experience wherever they can — including starting their own companies — instead of waiting for the ideal title to appear. Expect to hear a lot more about solopreneuring, composite careers, and industry/role jumps that might not have made sense in the old world of working. I loved this video from Gianna Prudente, who sits down with a former pre-med student who pivoted into marketing – waiting tables to make ends meet, build skills, and grow his confidence before landing a full-time role: https://lnkd.in/gradinterview. That’s the takeaway from this year’s report: don’t wait for the perfect role to start. Look for opportunities that help you build skills, gain experience, and learn what kind of work you actually enjoy. Careers rarely move in straight lines, especially at the beginning. What matters most is learning as you go, meeting people along the way, and using each step to move you forward. #GradsGuide2026 🎓

We are all hearing so often “How will young people graduating get jobs??”  Parents and folks in college are quite worried right now.  LinkedIn is here to help! We have published our 2026 LinkedIn Grad’s Guide and we provide insights into what is happening in the job market and how grads can position themselves to succeed. https://lnkd.in/gBkWP7yG The good news is that there ARE jobs. Opportunity isn’t disappearing so much as shifting. Roles connected to revenue, operations, and AI/emerging tech are stronger. Certain industries continue to bring in early talent, and there’s growth happening in cities that haven’t always been top of mind for new grads (check out Orlando, Atlanta and Salt Lake City, folks!).  The Playbook: What to focus on right now -- Start with the skills you already have. Rather than fixate on titles, take stock of the skills you already have and where they might apply. Job titles can vary a lot, but the work underneath them often overlaps more than you expect. LI’s AI Job Search allows you to put in your skills and desires, not just simple job titles. -- Find ways to build experience as you go.  Work on internships, a part-time role, a freelance project, or start a venture on your own. (Using AI tools is making starting a business easier than ever!) Having something concrete to point to makes networking and interviews much easier. And share these projects and learnings on LinkedIn.  Showcase how you are growing! -- Get clear on your story. What you’ve done matters, but how you connect it into a clear story is what helps someone else understand your potential. Be ready to explain what you’re interested in and how your experiences connect to where you want to go next – especially in interviews, informational conversations, and moments where a connection can open a door.  -- Prioritize structured entry points. Pay close attention to new grad programs, rotational roles, and early-career pipelines. Many companies hire this way, and those roles often open earlier than people realize. -- BUILD your network and lean into it. It can include classmates, professors, alumni, family friends, former managers from internships or part-time jobs, and people you’ve met through extracurriculars or volunteer work. Connect with these people on LinkedIn. -- Find new people to learn from: Sometimes hearing from people who have been there and done it can help you as you think about  your own career journey. To discover people to follow on LinkedIn to see what they share (or connect with if you already know them) try our new AI powered people search. Simply type what you’re looking for into the search bar For example, “I want to find someone who graduated from my same university, and now works in customer service in Arizona.”  Spend less time searching and more time connecting and building your network. You've got this!! Be flexible, build your network, showcase your experience and keep at it!

14 years at LinkedIn and 14 lessons learned. Every year on my work anniversary, I add one lesson to the list of lessons I have learned from my time at LinkedIn. Lesson # 14: Change is the only constant. Great leaders are like surfers who don't fight the wave but learn to read and ride it. They are agile, effective at decision making even when faced with ambiguity, and energized by the world evolving around them.    Here are the lessons compiled from years past: 1. Happiness is to have purpose. Purpose in the task in front of you, in your day-to-day work, and in your organization’s vision and mission. 2. Leaders work for their teams. You’re there to help them unlock their potential and clear roadblocks. 3. You can have a successful career, and a family too. Like any healthy relationship, clear boundaries and mutual respect are vital. 4. Communication is a skill every leader should master. That’s all communication e.g., 1:1 discussions, email, video, meetings, and large-format presentations. All comms should reflect the “why,” along with the “so what”. 5. The truth will set you free. Fully own the bad news, and deliver it with compassion. You’ll build trust with others, but perhaps just as importantly, you’ll release the stress and weight you’re carrying. 6. The best career paths aren’t neatly mapped out. They’re tailor-made and ever-evolving.    7. Next to every great leader is a great team. The more diverse the team, the more superpowers that team will have. The more included they feel, the more comfortable they’ll be leveraging their superpowers to get the work done. The more they feel like they belong, the more likely you’ll retain and nurture those superpowers. 8. Relationships are everything, but that doesn’t mean you can’t respectfully disagree. 9. Perspective is about balancing optimism with healthy doubt. It’ll get you through the tough times, and it will also keep you from resting on your laurels when times are good. 10. Dream big, but don’t forget to get stuff done. Scaling LinkedIn >15x over the last decade took a combination of visionaries and operators, and both have been equally responsible for LinkedIn’s success. 11. Simplicity speaks volumes. The best leaders break down complex ideas into clear, actionable insights. They avoid jargon, buzzwords, and ambiguity. A well-placed “yes,” “no,” “good,” or “bad” can be highly effective communication. 12. Connecting the dots is an underrated skill. It’s not about always having the right answer; it’s about seeing patterns, bridging gaps, and helping teams align. 13. Great leaders bring out the best in everyone, including those who don’t report to them. Influence isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about impact. The most inspiring leaders elevate the entire organization, not just their immediate teams.   Adding one of the first pics I took at LinkedIn (1 month in) and reminds me how far we have come as a company…

Can you see the "🛑 Looks Like AI Slop" button on LinkedIn? Hari Srinivasan, Chief Product Officer of the LinkedIn Ecosystem, shared a post about this and other changes on the platform. "People come to LinkedIn to connect with real people and share their real perspectives, ideas and expertise," he said, listing automated defenses but also describing why we all can play a role: "Slop is hard to define and the definition changes; this lets us tune our models and make better feeds." But many of us don't see the button yet. Do you? See Hari's post: https://lnkd.in/e9hHc8-8

I am obsessed with the tension between needing to be “more human so humans can trust you” and yet at the same time “appeal to large language models so AI can cite you”. We hosted Samsung Electronics America at our LinkedIn office in the Empire State Building in New York for an afternoon to explore this somewhat contradiction. We began by exploring what makes a LinkedIn creator unique, what works, and why video on LinkedIn carries a weight other platforms can’t replicate (hint: the trust, real identities, the depth of the comment section) in a fireside chat hosted by Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah. A few soundbites from our conversation: Colin Rocker, Career and Money Creator, founder of For The Firsts On why video builds trust: "Video is harder. It's a harder barrier to entry and that's why quality video on LinkedIn is rare." Brandon Smithwrick 🧠 founder of Content to Commas, formerly content lead at Kickstarter and Squarespace. On what works: "Polished in delivery, but raw in emotion." On LinkedIn's depth: "The comments aren't just 'That's fire' emojis. It's really deep dives, 'I disagree with that.' It creates actual conversation and dialogue." Patrick Zielinski, CEO & Talent Manager of The Drive Agency On consistency: "It's a marathon, not a sprint. To build that trust, it takes time." We followed this discussion with 🔥fresh-off-the press 🔥insights from a Meltwater study we just released by our illustrious AI discoverability subject matter expert Robert Yanik. Happy to announce: LinkedIn remains the #2 most-cited source by LLMs (and is #1 across a variety of categories). Whilst other platforms have shifted their position. and A massive 75% of those cited posts come from individual profiles: creators, subject matter experts, executives. Not just brand pages. The discussion across the afternoon landed us at a new playbook that anchors us on needing both: → Human authenticity, because people build trust with humans with experience, expertise, and the stories that make us relatable. → AI readability, because those same people want nuanced answers fast. That calls for structured, scannable, long-form writing, and video captions that machines can parse. And here's the part sitting with me: video does the human work in a way text can't. It builds familiarity, earns trust, and for the most part, sidesteps the AI intervention layer entirely. You're watching a real person. So while I know many are focusing their efforts in making sure their AI discoverable. Don't forget these strategies don't compete; our data shows that on LinkedIn they compound. A big thank you for all involved for unforgettable afternoon of insight and discussion. It was an absolute joy. Isai Reynoso, Esther Rim, Lauren Kessler, Jasleen Singh, Salman Taufiq, Colin Rocker, Brandon Smithwrick 🧠, Patrick Zielinski, Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah, Chinedum N., Petra Hailu, Chas Stahl, Cat Digney

As we enter the age of AI, we’re at the start of what I think will be the greatest disruption to work in human history. And, as we enter a critical year of choices about where work goes next, it’s worth remembering how recent our current world of work is, the one that feels fixed and forever, the one that so many of us are anxious to leave behind. The one that was never built to be human-centric. For millennia, we humans lived in small bands where everyone knew everyone. Work meant partnering, building, learning, growing, together. The tasks of work and life were varied, creative, shared. And behind that work was the most impressive structure in the known universe - the human brain. That brain hasn’t changed much in 40,000 years. It’s got the same incredible wiring, the same inspiring capacity for language, art, connection and curiousity. In fact, a baby born tens of thousand of years ago, raised today, would be largely indistinguishable from a kid born today. And yet, just a few hundred years ago everything changed when the Industrial Age arrived. New forms of energy, from steam to electricity, created new possibilities to produce goods and services at greater speed and scale than ever before. Efficiency became the new thing. Then the everything. Suddenly work for humans became about efficiency above all else. Most of us, in one way or another, started spending our days helping machines and technology do more better faster. Day after day. Week after week. Year after year. On assembly lines in factories. On laptops in offices. Here’s the thing. Efficiency isn’t what our brain is best at. Doing more, better, faster with machines isn’t human potential at its fullest. And yet that’s what work became. And suddenly. Compress 40,000 years into a single year. The Industrial Age arrives around December 29th. The internet arrives on December 31st. AI is the last few minutes before midnight. No wonder it all feels so disorienting. It has been for centuries, even if we didn’t realize it. But with the advent of AI, and the arrival of a technology that can handle more and more of the efficiency work needed to support speed and scale, we can focus on the human work that supports entrepreneurialism and innovation. This time from all humans for all humans and across a broad range of challenges and opportunities for all of humankind. That’s never happened before. And not with the speed and scale of human ingenuity that’s possible in the coming years. Whether or not we get there is not a decided question. There’s nothing inevitable about this moment. It all comes down to the choices we make, as individuals, organizations, and societies. Next year will be critical.

If I trace the dots back to how I landed in my current job, it's someone who I met years before I had any LinkedIn-related question for her. Actually before LinkedIn was even a company. This morning on Today, I mentioned how relationships were integral to my own career as a way of talking about how essential networking is for all of us. Whether you think you may want a new job now or down the road, want to change careers, or are just getting started, networking is critical. But it's also terrifying. In a recent survey, we found that 63% of people say they’ve never been taught this essential business skill, and the #1 reason people hesitate to reach out is fearing they’ll waste someone's time. My message: You aren't wasting their time, and networking isn't as transactional or uncomfortable as it sounds. 85% of people actually want to give back and offer advice. A few simple ways to make networking feel less intimidating and far more effective: • Widen your definition: You're probably already networking without realizing it—whether chatting with colleagues or connecting on the sidelines of a kids' sports game. • Gamify in-person events: If you hate entering rooms where you don't know anyone, do what I do and set a challenge to meet two new people before you allow yourself to leave. • Engage genuinely online: Leaving thoughtful comments on posts makes you 3x more likely to receive a connection request and 5x more likely to get an inbound email. • Be hyper-specific with your asks: Never, ever say, "Can I pick your brain?" Instead, state specifically why them, what you hope to learn, and ask for a focused 10 minutes. • Maintain the connection: Only 27% of professionals regularly maintain their network. Stay in touch by celebrating their achievements or sharing helpful updates, rather than only reaching out when you need a favor. Oh, and thanks Shannon Brayton for getting me here :)

This post. Period. The shift from audience size → audience quality is very real, especially in a world where content is infinite. For knowledge creators, being in front of the right people matters far more than being in front of the most people. The people you’re reaching here aren’t passive scrollers, they’re decision makers, buyers, operators. A big part of what we’re building at LinkedIn is making that shift actionable, giving knowledge creators the tools to turn trust and expertise into real opportunity. Couldn’t be more energized to be part of it!